NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION EDUCATION

Environmental Education is offered through Project Learning Tree, (PLT) an internationally-respected workshop program which teaches critical thinking through the philosophy that children should be taught HOW to think, rather than WHAT to think when encountering environmental issues and decisions.

The activities reflect several methods of teaching environmental literacy and values and guides students through the processes of awareness, understanding, challenge, motivation, and action using active involvement and hands-on experiences. The activities are based largely on constructivism learning theory and whole-language teaching strategies.

Project Learning Tree: An Update is designed for grade K-8 educators. Hands on activities focus on the themes of Diversity, Interrelationships, Systems, Structure and Scale, and Patterns of Change and are cross curricular.

Forest Ecology and Urban Forestry uses the Project Learning Tree Secondary Modules- Introductory Handbook, Forest Ecology, and Focus on Forests. This workshop is intended for middle and high school educators, and also features hands on activities which foster critical thinking skills.

Weekend Forestry Workshop. This workshop is designed to acquaint educators with the issues which face Delaware and the Nation today. Topics include: forest management, best management practices, forest ecology, forest products, and careers in forestry. The forestry activity guide developed by the DDA Education section is featured, and the Delaware Forest section, and PLT facilitators act as instructors. This workshop is offered once yearly, during the spring. Alternate year scheduling is made for grades K-5 and grades 6-12 educators.

Members of the Delaware Forest Service, and the Education Specialist of the
DDA also provides training for Delaware participants in both the State and National Envirothon Competitions. The Envirothon is an international environmental competition for high school students.

Educational Instructional Materials Available from the Education section:

• Agriculture-Related Materials
  
  
  • Commodity-Themed Education Trunks
    Delaware Teacher Centers throughout the State have Education Trunks which focus on Beef, Potatoes, or Soy. The trunks contain ACTIVITY GUIDES which have commodity-related multi-subject activities for grades K-12. All of the activities have been correlated to State Content Standards. These trunks also contain books, videos, hand-outs, and other background materials which focus on the specific commodity.

    Six of the Delaware Teacher Centers throughout the State have Education Trunks which focus on Poultry. All of the activities have been correlated to State Content Standards. These trunks also contain books, videos, hand-outs, and other background materials which focus on the specific commodity. These trunks contain poultry-related activity guides. These trunks are intended for use with Middle School (Grades 5-8) students. All of the activities have been correlated to State Content Standards.

• Natural Resources Conservation Education Materials
  
  
  • Forestry CD and Forestry CD Activity Guide
    A new forestry CD and a forestry Cd activity guide which cover the following topics: Forests Management Practices, Tools Used in Forestry, From Trees to Lumber, and Tree Identification are made available to educators through workshops conducted by the DDA Education Specialist. This Mid-Atlantic Forestry Education project was funded by the National Resource Conservation Program.
    
    
  • Arbor Month Guide
    An 86-page teacher guide includes hands-on activities, bulletin board ideas, poems, skits, tree planting ceremonies, and other projects to help elementary students celebrate Arbor Month.
    
    
  • Tree-sure Chests
    Tree resource boxes containing books, charts, posters, video/audio tapes, forestry tools, tree cookies, and curricular materials are available at eight Delaware Teacher Centers, Redden and Blackbird State Forests, and the Delaware Department of Agriculture. Tree-sure chests are available to the public on a loan basis.
    
    
• Education services:
  
  
  • Speakers' Bureau
    The Delaware Department of Agriculture provides personnel to address youth groups, students, and community organizations on a variety of topics including forestry, poultry and animal health, pesticides, farmland preservation, and food products inspection.
    
    
  • Agri-Mentors Program
    This outreach program offers an Agri-Mentors is intended to be an agricultural education outreach program composed of volunteers who visit fourth grade classrooms throughout Delaware. Governor Minner, Lt. Governor Carney, Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Michael Scuse, agricultural professionals representing many areas and agencies, and personnel from the Delaware Department of Agriculture visit fourth grade classrooms with activities and information based on the agriculture-related topic requested by the teacher. This program was begun in January, 2002, and will be expanded to additional grades.

Fourth grade teachers may fill out the following Agri-Mentor Request Form Agri-Mentor Requst Form (pdf)

To open forms in the .pdf format requires the following program to be installed on your computer: