Elementary and Secondary Curriculum

...Storylines

...Inexpensive

...Multicultural

...User Friendly

...Fun and Engaging

...Utilizes Out-of-Doors

What Will I Get?

Depending on the age of the students you teach, you will receive the PreK-8 Activity Guide (for preschoolers through grade 8), or the Secondary Level Modules (for grades 9-12).

The PreK-8 Activity Guide contains almost 100 hands-on activities. These activities require minimal preparation or materials. Activities are included for both indoor and outdoor settings, and provide students a chance to be actively involved in the learning process.

At the secondary level, in-depth modules are available on a variety of topics including forest ecology, teaching environmental issues, solid waste, the built environment, air quality and risk assessment. When you attend a workshop, you will receive the Introductory Handbook that has a sample of ten activities, plus one or more of the modules, depending on your interests.

Curriculum Features

PLT is a comprehensive environmental curriculum. It encompasses the total environment-- land, air and water. It is local, national and global in scope.

PLT activities are action-oriented, can be used in any order, and require little, if any, equipment.

PLT focuses on developing critical thinking skills. It does not seek to teach children what to think about the environment, but teaches them how to think about the environment.

PLT activities incorporate important environmental lessons into all areas of the curriculum. It can be infused into science, language arts, social studies, reading, arithmetic, art, music, civics, etc.

PLT can be applied in many different educational contexts from classrooms to nature centers, museums and scout troops.

PLT provides ready-made lessons and activities that can be incorporated into busy classroom schedules. The curriculum is "classroom friendly," requires minimal preparation, and, according to teachers and students, is fun to use.

PLT's curriculum includes role-playing exercises that echo the real decisions that are being made in the students' communities.

Curriculum Structure

The PLT curriculum is built around five major themes. PLT activities integrate the themes into all aspects of the standard PreK-12th grade curriculum. Each activity guides the student through a process that begins with awareness, moves students toward understanding, enables them to challenge preconceived notions, and motivates them to seek constructive avenues for environmental action.

PLT THEMES ARE:

• Diversity. Demonstrating a wide array of habitats, societies, technologies and cultures.
• Interrelationships. Highlighting ecological, technological and social-cultural systems as interactive and interdependent.
• Systems. Teaching how environmental, technological and social systems are interconnected.
• Structure and Scale. Demonstrating how technologies, societal institutions and components of natural and human-built environments vary.
• Patterns of Change. Showing how structures and systems change over time.

Revised PreK-12 Curriculum

• Based on real needs. The process began in 1990 with a survey of 50,000 teachers, environmental educators and curriculum specialists.
• Developed by educators. More than 300 educators helped write and edit the new curriculum.
• Tested by teachers. Another 300 teachers tested the new materials in their schools.
• Formally evaluated. Complete pre- and post-testing was supervised by the North American Association for Environmental Education.
• Classroom proven. Over 3,000 students were exposed to the curriculum, demonstrating its effectiveness as a tool to help young people become environmentally literate.

How Do I Get Project Learning Tree?

Attending a workshop is the only way to receive either a PreK-8 guide book or the high school modules.