activity guides to the state curriculum frameworks, helped to develop state specific materials to support PLT activities, introduced advanced summer institutes to enhance teacher understanding in ecological principles, initiated hands on workshops to help teachers extend their classrooms into open spaces around their schools, and launched a pilot school improvement model that makes the study of local people and places a focus of the curriculum at Woodsville Elementary School.
When asked what this honor meant to her, Cowles responded, “I am extremely grateful for this award because it signifies the value of NH PLT's innovative practices to the field of environmental education in the state and beyond. Teachers and administrators know that PLT makes a difference in what their students know about our forests and other natural resources. As NH PLT celebrates its 25 years of work in NH, this award helps to shine a bright light on the over 4,000 teachers trained in PLT and hundreds of thousands of students reached.”
Cowles, a NH native, has a Master of Education degree in elementary curriculum and instruction from Plymouth State College and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and international affairs from the University of New Hampshire. She is a member of several state and national associations for environmental, science, and general education.
PLT’s Energy & Society™ Curriculum Receives High Evaluation Marks
PLT commissioned an independent evaluator to investigate the effectiveness and use of PLT's Energy & Society ™ (E&S) educational curriculum among educators. The year-long evaluation concluded that E&S is a high quality education curriculum; adaptable; and easy to use with different student audiences, especially Spanish speaking and special education students. The evaluation included an online survey and phone interviews. Of the survey respondents, 90 percent cited the curriculum's positive impact on their students and 83 percent said their students improved their understanding of basic science skills. Interviewees commented in depth on the materials and their practical application to the classroom. The evaluator's recommendations included continuing the state-level seed grant program, creating additional assessment tools and program support enhancements.
PLT in the City – Models for Integrating Environmental Education into District Curricula
At two schools, near Houston, TX, PLT in the City is making an impact. PLT Facilitators, Dr. Pam Christol and Dr. Brenda Weiser have trained all of McWhirter Elementary School’s K-5 teachers. The school is a professional development site for the University of Houston Clear Lake pre-service students. McWhirter Elementary also offers a bilingual program for the Clear Creek Independent School District in conjunction with the Head Start™ program. With this in mind, Christol and Weiser incorporated the Spanish student pages in teacher workshops and training. PLT activities are used to integrate science into other subject areas for pre-service teachers doing internships there.
At Seabrook Intermediate School, approximately 75 percent of the teachers have been trained in PLT. The focus of these trainings has been using PLT to meet continuing education requirements for Gifted/Talented certification. PLT activities make it easy for teachers to differentiate curriculum to meet the social and intellectual needs of gifted and talented learners. Additionally, the majority of science teachers have been trained in PLT’s latest curriculum, Energy & Society™. The Energy & Society™ activities have been utilized within the science department to teach physical science concepts.
These professional development opportunities were funded by PLT in the City program at the Environmental Institute of Houston.
PLT Expands Partnership with Earth & Sky Radio Series
PLT has entered into a cooperative agreement with the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Forest Service to expand its partnership with the Earth & Sky Radio’s environmental and natural resource education program, EarthCare. The two year, $297,000 grant will greatly enhance the scale, depth, and educational excellence of EarthCare. It will also help to substantially increase the program’s reach beyond its present audience of three million, to tens of thousands of educators and millions of PreK-12 students.
The Earth & Sky Radio Series is a 90-second science radio program broadcast daily by more than 1,000 radio stations across the country and many more throughout the world. The series is known for its ability to present a wide variety of science topics, for scientific accuracy and journalistic integrity.
Blending Earth & Sky’s Radio network with both PLT’s national educator network and its quality environmental education materials will build the capacity of educators and students to use an integrated multi-media approach to learn about the environment and natural resources. The combination of radio, the Internet, PreK-12 curriculum, PLT professional development and educator training, and the USDA Forest Service will provide educators and students with accurate, reliable, impartial, and understandable scientific government research, data, and resources.
This agreement enables PLT to continue its work of supporting EarthCare, a regular feature on Earth & Sky that presents stories about endangered animals, the climate, forests, the atmosphere, oceans, and many other environmental topics.
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