- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
UC ANR provides the California home of Project Learning Tree, a national program founded in 1973, during the height of an environmental movement sparked by Rachael Carson's seminal book Silent Spring.
“Everyone began to realize we were having an impact on the environment,” said Sandra Derby, Project Learning Tree state coordinator.
Project Learning Tree (PLT), working with the forestry industry, developed an environmental education program and trained teachers to present it to children in formal and informal educational settings. In California, the program is funded by CAL FIRE.
Another UC ANR program, UC California Naturalist, has collaborated with PLT since 2013.
“There is a lot of shared interest in environmental education, stewardship and service in our two programs,” said Greg Ira, director of UC California Naturalist (CalNat). The CalNat Program recruits and certifies a diverse community of volunteers across California to conduct nature education and interpretation, stewardship, participatory science and environmental program support.
During the coronavirus pandemic, CalNat offered PLT courses to school teachers, volunteer educators and parents online. Completion of the six-hour course over three days resulted in their certification for teaching PLT curricula. The book, aimed for children pre-kindergarten to eighth grade, includes 96 activities, with objectives, assessment opportunities, online teaching connections, and more.
The teacher training course offered by CalNat engages participants with the same activities they will employ when teaching nature appreciation to children.
Learning to appreciate the environment
Even though online training focuses attention on a computer screen, the PLT curriculum gets pupils outside. After writing about and discussing a favorite tree from memory, the participants were asked to go outside to gather a variety of leaves around their homes, classrooms or offices. They observed leaf details, and sorted them by observable characteristics.
The participants reconvened and shared their leaves, divided into categories onscreen: Leaves with rough edges, rounded, oval or palmate; rough, waxy, furry and thick; drooping down or reaching up.
Teachers can use additional activities outlined in the curriculum to help students understand natural variations and biodiversity by engaging with the leaves through observation and art. For example, if the training is taking place in person, the children can trade leaves and then look for the trees where their peers found them. Or they can put a leaf under a plain piece of paper and rub the side of a crayon across it to show the leaf's margin, veins and other details.
There are also activities related to common core skills and abilities. For example, different leaf characteristics can be charted in a Venn diagram, with leaves' common characteristics appearing in the center – such as green, pliable, veins – and singular characteristics in the sections that do not overlap.
Making environmental learning accessible
PLT advances environmental literacy using trees and forests as windows on the world, said Cynthia Chavez, PLT community education specialist in Southern California. The hands-on, engaging activities help “teach students how to think, not what to think” about the environment and their place within it.
“Environmental education could be taught in a daunting way,” Chavez said. “PLT opens the door to kids who are different kinds of learners. This is important for environmental education.”
PLT's comprehensive collection of activities have won the confidence of the education community. Curricula is only offered to teachers who have completed workshops so PLT can share a proven system of implementation.
“PLT training encourages students to care for the environment and be interested in pursuing careers in environmentalism. They learn science is not just in the classroom. They could become a field biologist, if that's the way their brain works,” Chavez said.
Expressing engagement with nature in words
Among the ways to connect with nature outlined in the PLT curriculum are reading, journaling and writing. To close the educator training, participants were given 10 minutes outside to draw inspiration from nature and write a poem – haiku, free verse, rhyming or other style.
Below are samples of poetic nature observations written on the fly by teachers who will inspire California young people to appreciate and help conserve the natural world with the help of PLT.
Haiku:
A droplet of sun
Planted firmly in soil
Linking earth to sky
Free verse:
I have botany blindness, always looking for things that scurry, not sway
But I am asked to acknowledge the tree, and I do
A lone palo verde
There's a chevron lizard on the trunk
A small, yellow verdin in the branches
A line of busy ants along the roots
So I am grateful for this tree, after all
It sways, and upon closer inspection, it scurries as well
Rhyming:
A fly comes by
As wind hits my hair
Almost as if
It moved here and there
Then Winston, my dog
Hears someone bark
And a bird starts to chirp
Like a crow or a lark
Green Jobs Personality Quiz Project Learning Tree offers a one-time free trial intended for adults to test its Green Jobs Quiz. The quiz helps kids learn what green job fits their personalities. You'll receive information about how to administer this quiz to youth you work with. |
- Author: Eliot Freutel
The UC California Naturalist program is expanding! As we continue to grow, we seek meaningful and intentional partnerships with diverse organizations that serve as informal and formal science centers and as gathering spaces for their communities. These organizations not only provide CalNat courses to their communities but a long list of other services. Continue reading to learn about the newest CalNat partners in the Southern California area. Please help us spread the word about these new program partners as we welcome them to the CalNat family!
Community Nature Connection – Nestled between Dodger Stadium and the LA River, Community Nature Connection provides programming to undeserved community members throughout the Los Angeles area. Their team of superstar educators and activists have global education and conservation experience. Focus: Environmental justice, equitable access to outdoor spaces, urban outdoor space and ecology.
“Community Nature Connection recognizes that historically undeserved communities face barriers to accessing nature and public lands. For over 25 years our programs have removed these barriers, connecting tens of thousands to their nearby natural surroundings. These programs drive forward our mission to increase access to the outdoors for diverse communities through innovative programming and in partnership with the communities we serve.”
Bolsa Chica Conservancy – The Bolsa Chica Conservancy will be marked as our first program partner in Orange County. This iconic and well known wetland is a magnet for migratory birds and community scientists alike. It is flanked by 2.5 miles of the Pacific Coast Highway and shares PCH as a border with a very popular state beach. Focus: Wetland & marine ecology, migratory birds, invasive organisms.
“Established in 1990 by a coalition of government, community, business and environmental leaders, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, a private, not-for-profit organization, provides services that inspire and connect all generations through community involvement and leadership in hands-on restoration and education in wetland science, watersheds, coastal ecology and environmental sustainability”
L.A. Arboretum – The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is a unique 127-acre botanical garden and historical site located in what was the heart of the historic Rancho Santa Anita in the city of Arcadia. This site serves community members and as a popular fieldtrip destination for schools throughout the extended LA area. Focus: Teacher education, urban landscapes and ecology.
“Our mission is to cultivate our natural, horticultural and historic resources for learning, enjoyment and inspiration. We strive to reflect Southern California's distinct climate, community and openness to new ideas. The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is a unique 127-acre botanical garden and historical site that includes Native American, Rancho Period, and late 19th century treasures. In addition to concerts and tours, we offer activities and events that cater to every audience.”
Most people don't automatically seek on-line resources when want to deepen their naturalist practice and knowledge. However, increasingly many of the tools of modern naturalists are online, like iNaturalist. In response to recent "shelter in place" orders and an increasing demand for online and hybrid delivery courses in general, we are curating a list of our favorite online resources for quality California-focused natural history education.
Online Content
We have tried to choose resources across multiple topical interests and types, in-line with California Naturalist curriculum. Most are either explicitly teacher or adult-focused, or can be adapted to an adult audience. This list is growing and is by no means exhaustive. It is sorted by subject.
Name |
Subject |
Type |
botany |
video and worksheets |
|
California Native Plant Society Botanical Activities for Kids |
botany |
lesson plans |
California Native Plant Society native plant information & resources |
botany |
multiple |
botany |
games, worksheets |
|
botany |
videos |
|
botany, gardening |
multiple |
|
climate change |
multiple |
|
NNOCCI National Network for Ocean & Climate Change Interpretation |
climate change |
training, webinars, worksheets |
community science |
participate in IDing flora/fauna |
|
community science |
participate in research |
|
community science, wildlife |
participate in research |
|
current events/global issues |
videos |
|
ecology |
videos |
|
ecology |
publications |
|
ecology, entomology, special events |
videos |
|
ecology, history |
multiple |
|
entomology |
insect ID, information |
|
entomology |
insect ID, research |
|
environmental ed |
lesson plans |
|
environmental ed |
lesson plans |
|
environmental ed |
activities |
|
environmental ed |
webcam |
|
environmental ed |
lesson plans |
|
environmental ed |
videos, activitites |
|
environmental ed |
videos, plans, activitites |
|
environmental ed |
webcam |
|
environmental ed |
lesson plans |
|
UC Lawrence Hall of Science out-of-school educator resources |
environmental ed |
multiple |
environmental ed, weather |
videos, activities |
|
forests |
videos, lesson plans, information |
|
forests |
publications, videos |
|
forests, climate change |
information, tools, publications |
|
marine ecology |
webcam resource kits |
|
marine ecology, fisheries |
curriculum, videos, information |
|
marine, coastal ecology |
videos |
|
multiple |
information tours |
|
multiple |
virtual tours |
|
multiple |
videos, images |
|
multiple |
videos |
|
multiple |
videos, PDFs |
|
nature journaling |
lesson plans |
|
nature journaling |
online PDF/Pre-order Book |
|
nature journaling |
lesson plans |
|
rangeland management |
publications |
|
water |
publications, current research blog |
|
water |
lesson plans, publications |
|
wildfire, fire ecology |
research, publications |
|
wildlife |
bird ID, information |
|
wildlife |
webcam |
|
California Academy of Sciences Webcams- Farallones, aquarium, penguins |
wildlife |
webcam |
wildlife |
webcam |
|
wildlife |
herpetofauna ID, information |
|
wildlife |
webcam |
|
wildlife |
webcam |
|
Exploring Conservation Training- National Geographic Society |
wildlife |
free training |
wildlife |
webcam |
|
wildlife |
webcam |
UC California Naturalist and our UC Agriculture & Natural Resources statewide program partner Project Learning Tree (PLT) have joined forces to offer a series of workshops in 2020.
Project Learning Tree uses trees and forests as windows on the world to increase students' understanding of the environment and actions they can take to conserve it. Since 1976, PLT has reached 138 million students and trained 765,000 educators to help students learn how to think, not what to think about complex environmental issues.
PLT's professional development helps educators learn how to integrate environmental education into their teaching and become comfortable teaching outdoors—in urban, suburban, and rural environments. Workshops and online courses teach educators how best to use PLT's instructional materials with their own students in their own setting and how to engage with (and draw upon) their community in learning about and taking action to address local environmental issues. Continuing education credits are available in most states.
In-person trainings include one-day workshops, in-service days, a series of classes spread throughout a semester, week-long institutes, and other sustained and intensive models. These events are planned and conducted by certified facilitators and customized for specific grade levels, topics, and teaching situations. While we love the in-person contact time when facilitating these workshops, an online course can be completed in your own time, wherever you are. The courses for early childhood, K-8, and becoming a GreenSchool include demonstration videos, simulations, planning exercises, and state-specific resources. Learn more.
The second event took place on March 4 at the Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanic Garden, as day two of a California Naturalist new instructor workshop. New instructors from Bolsa Chica Conservancy, Nature For All, Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, and Community Nature Connection, plus a handful of our existing partners including the Catalina Island Conservancy and the Southern California Mountains Foundation Urban Conservation Corps participated.
Join us to learn about ways to integrate this award-winning curriculum into your programs and teaching. These upcoming events are co-led and sponsored by California Naturalist.
UC California Naturalist and our UC Agriculture & Natural Resources statewide program partner Project Learning Tree (PLT) have joined forces to offer a series of workshops with program partners in 2020. Join us to learn about ways to integrate this award-winning curriculum into your programs and teaching. These upcoming events are co-led and sponsored by California Naturalist. For a full list of PLT trainings, view their website.
Registration is open for PLT Educator Workshop in Mendocino County
Saturday February 29, 2020. 10AM-4PM at the UC ANR Hopland Research & Extension Center. $10. Download a flier.
- Become a Project Learning Tree certified educator
- Be engaged in a hands-on workshop for both formal and non-formal educators
- Investigate environmental topics in the oak woodlands with indoor and outdoor activities adaptable to all ages
- Receive PLT's PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide, correlated to national and state academic standards
Please bring a packed lunch. Coffee/tea and snacks provided. NO DOGS: Due to our management of sheep with guard animals on this site.
Instructors include UC ANR Community Education Specialists Hannah Bird (Hopland Research & Extension Center) and Brook Gamble (UC California Naturlaist Program). Please contact Brook Gamble 707-744-1424 x108 for details.