Forestry Education
Teachers Celebrate Earth Day by Learning about Forest Management
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Project Learning Tree’s ‘Viewpoints on a Line’ activity provides a visual representation of different perspectives related to a specific issue. A facilitator reads a statement like, ‘It’s important for people to preserve wilderness areas’ or ‘People should be able to use their land in whatever way they see fit.’ Then, participants walk to a designated place on a line representing their response to the statement, ranging from strong agreement to strong disagreement.
At an in-person April workshop at Capitol Forest for teachers from Grays Harbor and Thurston County school districts, the activity served as a starting point for a discussion on forest management. “Some of the teachers are very forestry friendly and others think that forestry is all clear cuts and that’s bad,” explains PEI’s South Sound FieldSTEM Coordinator Lauren Troyer. “Throughout the day, they expanded their understanding of sustainably managed forests and the complexities involved in managing Capitol Forest.”
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Forestry Education
Teachers Get Behind-the-Scenes Look at Yakama Nation Forest Management
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Teachers in rural areas rarely have opportunities to see their communities as cutting-edge. When they do, it’s transformational. That’s what happened for at least one rural educator who attended a two-day, in-person Engaging Communities in Forestry Education (ECFE) workshop in May. PEI co-facilitated the workshop in collaboration with Yakama Tribal Forestry.
“I just loved how we saw at least one person who seemed so much prouder of her community when she realized that people were coming to learn from them,” says PEI’s Associate Director, Columbia Basin & Coast Megan Rivard. “That’s a sense that a lot of teachers don’t pick up in these rural communities.”
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Regional FieldSTEM
Teachers ‘Enjoy the Mud’ at Padilla Bay Field Investigations Workshop
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Something you don’t hear every day, especially from teachers after a professional development workshop:
“I really enjoyed being in the mud.”
Of course, most professional development doesn’t involve mud, but this is PEI, so mud shouldn’t come as a surprise. That reaction is from one of twelve teachers from six northwest school districts who attended an in-person ‘Designing Field Investigations for Climate and Community’ workshop at Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (PBNERR). The purpose was to teach principles of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) through field-based learning, using PEI’s Field Investigations guide.
A third goal was to help teachers understand climate issues impacting the mud flats and wetlands at PBNERR while making climate science transferable to the school yard, according to PEI’s Northwest FieldSTEM Coordinator Amy Keiper-Gowan. “This was a brilliant idea from Brian MacNevin, the Northwest ESD 189 science coordinator who has been teaching an NGSS 101 course for K-12 educators for many years,” she explains. “He wondered what would happen if we taught the same principles but through the pedagogy outdoor-based learning.”
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Tools & Tips for Teachers
Integrated Pest Management (Grades 7-8)
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It’s gardening season, a time when our thoughts turn to vegetables, fruit, and . . . hey, what are you doing in my garden? Home gardeners and family farm owners alike need to figure out ways to keep pests out. Check out this integrated pest management performance task in which students explore sources, build their knowledge base and answer research questions. Also, they learn what ladybugs have to do with it.
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Note: None of our upcoming events are open to the public at this time. We will send out a notice when we open registration for our next workshop or event. Stay tuned!
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With Gratitude
Thank you May donors and funders!
Aaron and Lauren Rodriguez
Amanda Romero
Anne Egger
Cindy Zehnder
Doug Hooks
Employment Security Department
Gail Kramer
Gareth Waugh
Ginny Ballard
Heidi Smith
Jerry Polley
Joseph Kemmer
Karin Stelioff
Katie Semko
Kenneth Osborn
Kirsten York
Megan Anderson
Patricia Pich
Stephen and Debbie Rowe
Steve and Kathyrn Hamilton Wang
The Russell Family Foundation
Tom Shorey
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