As the pandemic has disrupted countless traditional learning environments, many have begun to move classes outdoors. But as Project Learning Tree educators know all-too-well, taking lessons outdoors offers many more benefits than just germ control!
Helping kids learn from nature is all in a day’s work for Project Learning Tree’s 2016 National Outstanding Educators. Here’s how they do it.
Karen Johnson Folsom is lead teacher at Nature’s Classroom Environmental Education Center in Florida, reaching 15,000 6th graders each year.
Annie Oxarart is an environmental education program coordinator at the University of Florida in Gainesville, who led Florida’s GreenSchools pilot program.
Robert Raze is a professor at St. Petersburg College in Tarpon Springs, Florida, where he uses PLT to prepare pre-service teachers for their careers.
Rebecca Wolfson is a music teacher at Florida Virtual School in Orlando who advocates for sustainability at schools and leads many local service initiatives.
It’s clear why this Florida school was selected to help pilot the national PLT GreenSchools program.
Strong support for PLT comes from the principal, teachers, and students at this Florida K-8 school.
PLT GreenSchools investigations provide a firm foundation at Walden Community School in Winter Park, Florida.
The Learning Gate School community, including teachers, students, and families, lives and learns by the fact that “nature is the best teacher.”
