About
Project Learning Tree
Project Learning
Tree (PLT) is an award-winning, multidisciplinary environmental
education program for educators working with students in PreK
through grade 12. PLT helps students gain awareness and knowledge
of the natural and built environment, their place within it, as
well as their responsibility for it.
PLT is one
of the most widely used environmental education programs in the
United States and abroad. Over 500,000 educators have been trained
to use PLT materials, and more than 25 million students have been
reached in the United States, the Trust Territories, Canada, Sweden,
Finland, Japan, Brazil and Mexico.
History
of Project Learning Tree
PLT has a
distinguished history. The concept for Project Learning Tree (PLT)
originated during a gathering of environmental education and resource
management personnel sponsored by the Western Regional Environmental
Education Council in Wyoming in the early 1970s. The conception
of a multidisciplinary preK-12 supplemental curriculum project
formulated at that meeting grew until the completed program was
introduced in 1976. Hundreds of teachers and resource management
specialists assisted by developing, writing and testing the activities.
In 1990,
a multi-year revision project was initiated to ensure that PLT
would remain at the leading edge of environmental education. At
the beginning, more than 50,000 teachers, environmental educators
and curriculum specialists from across North America were surveyed
to determine how the program could be improved. Recommendations
from these groups revealed that the revision process would require
an effort of tremendous magnitude and scope. An entirely new curriculum
would have to be created--from conceptual framework to the format
and design. New topics and more background information for elementary
school teachers would be needed and an entirely new approach for
middle and senior high schools would have to be developed.
PLT now exists
in 50 states and several foreign countries. The activity guide
has been translated into French, Swedish and Spanish for use in
other countries. Each year in the United States alone, nearly
60,000 educators attend a PLT workshop to learn how to use the
program with young people. Over the past twenty years this program
has reached approximately 20 million students.
Funds to
develop and disseminate PLT originally came from the American
Forest Institute, now known as the American Forest Foundation.
Nationally, PLT is jointly sponsored by the American Forest Foundation
(AFF) and the Council for Environmental Education (CEE). The national
PLT office is in Washington, D.C.
The American
Forestry Council, a major partner in PLT, is based in Washington,
D.C., with membership from forest products industries and commercial
forestry industries. It works to promote these industries and
lobbies to protect and improve member organizations and the overall
forest products industry. The second major partner, CEE, consists
of representatives from the education departments and natural
resource agencies in 13 western states.
A national
PLT Advisory Council, consisting of members chosen by AFF and
CEE, is responsible for establishing PLT policy and providing
direction for management.
The most
recent PLT program involves development of a series of topic-specific
Secondary Modules covering topics such as forest issues, forest
ecology, built environments, solid waste, air pollution, risk
assessment and fire. PLT was established in Nebraska in 1989.
It has always been sponsored by the Nebraska Forest Service and
UNL's Cooperative Extension. 4-H Youth Development and The School
of Natural Resource Sciences have recently joined on as Nebraska
PLT's primary sponsors.
Project
Learning Tree Goals
PLT Goals
are to...
- Provide
students with the awareness, appreciation, understanding, skills,
and commitment to address environmental issues.
- Enable
students to apply scientific processes and higher order thinking
skills to resolve environmental problems.
- Help students
acquire an appreciation and tolerance of diverse viewpoints
on environmental issues, and develop attitudes and actions based
on analysis and evaluation of the available information.
- Encourage
creativity, originality, and flexibility to resolve environmental
problems and issues.
- Inspire
and empower students to become responsible, productive, and
participatory members of society.
Project
Learning Tree Curriculum
Overview
PLT offers exciting and challenging multidisciplinary, action-oriented
activities that focus on the total environment -- land, air and
water. PLT's lessons are designed to develop critical thinking
skills and teach students "how" to think about complex
environmental issues, not "what"to think.
PLT's activities
attempt to guide the learner through a process that begins with
awareness, moves them towards knowledge, enables them to challenge
preconceived ideas, and motivates them to seek constructive avenues
for environmental action. All PLT activities center around five
major themes from the PLT Conceptual Framework. These themes are
integrated into both the PreK-8 curriculum and the secondary curriculum:
- Activities
within the Diversity theme illustrate a wide array of habitats,
societies, technologies, and cultures.
- The theme
Interrelationships includes activities that highlight ecological,
technological, and social-cultural systems as interactive and
interdependent.
- The theme
Systems, encompasses activities that show the connection between
environmental, technological, and social systems.
- Structure
and Scale activities demonstrate how technologies, societal
institutions, and components of natural and human-built environments
vary.
- The theme,
Patterns of Change, explores the change of structures and systems
over time.
The PreK-12
Curriculum is based on the real needs of educators:
- Developed,
reviewed, and tested by more than 400 educators and resource
professionals.
- Formally
evaluated by the North American Association for Environmental
Education's Commission on Environmental Education Research.
- Classroom
proven.
PLT provides
ready-made lessons and activities that can be incorporated into
busy classrooms, nature centers, museums, 4-H programs and scout
troops. The activities require minimal preparation and little,
if any, equipment.
PLT
PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide
 PLT's
PreK - 8 Environmental Education Activity Guide contains 96 hands-on,
multi-disciplinary ACTIVITIES that cover a vast array of topics
such as water and air quality, ecology, forests, wildlife, urban
environments, trees and plants, recycling, biodiversity, and land
use. The activity guide is separated into five major themes. Each
theme covers the areas of Environment, Resource Management and
Technology, Society and Culture.
The Activity
Guide is designed to meet the common components of national education
reform by using the constructivist approach to learning, whole
language teaching, cooperative learning, problem solving, and
authentic assessments. The PLT Guide is designed for easy application.
Activities can be implemented with minimal pre-planning or assembling
of hard-to-find materials. The activities take advantage of indoor
and outdoor settings and materials accessible to virtually any
classroom -- city, suburban, or rural.
PLT
Secondary Modules
 The
Secondary Modules are designed to meet common components of national
education reform by using the constructivist approach to learning,
whole language teaching, cooperative learning, problem solving,
and authentic assessments. The Modules are intended for grades
9-12 but can be adapted for other audiences. PLT has a series
of modules for secondary educators, including:
Exploring
Environmental Issues - Focus on Risk: A new high school
curriculum is available that helps students explore the different
aspects of environmental and human health risks that affect their
everyday lives. Project Learning Tree's "Exploring Environmental
Issues: Focus on Risk " incorporates science, social studies,
math, geography, and language arts. The module is designed to
be infused into existing curriculum and is correlated to the national
science standards.
Through eight
hands-on activities, students analyze, explore, discover, and
learn about risk assessment, risk communication, risk perception,
and risk management. In addition, there are three Special Topics
that encourage students to apply the knowledge they develop from
the activities to actual risk issues. Critical thinking, problem
solving, and decision making are stressed throughout the activities.
The Introductory Handbook for Secondary Modules
is a valuable guide for educators which explains PLT's mission,
goals, methods, and conceptual framework. The handbook outlines
the organization and design of the new secondary modules and highlights
teaching techniques for topics such as teaching controversial
issues and multicultural environmental education. More than 60
organizations are listed as contacts for additional information
and materials. In addition, ten introductory activities are included
in the handbook.
Exploring Environmental Issues - Focus on Forests:
uses forest-related examples to help students better understand
the complexity of environmental issues. Students are encouraged
to examine issues objectively, collect and analyze data, and become
involved in decision-making experiences. Students learn how to
present arguments clearly and how citizens can play a role in
forest management decisions.
The Changing Forest - Forest Ecology: focuses
on activities that allow students to examine ecological systems
of a forest, analyze interdependencies within a forest ecosystem,
and explore factors that shape the development of forests. In
addition, students develop critical thinking skills and discover
the importance of scientific analysis when making decisions about
forest issues. This module includes a special section on Fire
Ecology.
Exploring Environmental Issues - Municipal Solid Waste:
emphasizes the importance of understanding waste management issues
and options. The module uses hands-on experiences to help show
the interrelationships among waste generation, natural resource
use, and disposal. The activities guide students through the various
waste management strategies and solutions while providing the
necessary tools to make informed decisions and choices on waste
management issues.
Spanish Translation of the PreK - 8 Student Pages and
Glossary
To meet the growing need for bilingual academic material, PLT
has translated into Spanish the Student Pages and Glossary of
the PreK - 8 Activity Guide. In schools where students have an
opportunity to receive instruction in two languages, the translation
provides ready-to-use materials for both bilingual educators and
learners. Moreover, in schools where Spanish-speaking students
are interspersed in classrooms with English-speaking students,
the translation serves as a bridge to facilitate the acquisition
of content to limited-English speakers.
Ordering Information
If you are a trained PLT educator and are interested in receiving
the new Spanish Translations, copies are available from the national
PLT office for $5.00 including shipping. To order a copy, contact
the national office at 202-463-2462 or E-mail: yolanda_jacobs@plt.org
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