Surfing for Environmental Education Sites

• The George Lucas Educational Foundation is an excellent site for education resources that have nothing to do with environment but which have everything to do with ideas. For example, the list of electronic resources contains useful links to "great educational pages"; labs and centers that provide information on educational innovations and reforms; museums, libraries and clearinghouses for on-line information; organizations, schools and programs; links for educators; student project ideas. (which has excellent links); and technology-related links. You'll spend a lot of time running down these leads.

  Particularly impressive, in my opinion, is a magazine section, Edutopia®, devoted to "stories by and about students with disabilities who use technology to create, explore, and learn." This could be a super resource worth bookmarking if you teach special education or if you're a parent who needs ideas to introduce into your child's school system. Did you know that the internet can provide recordings for the blind and dyslexic? Back issues of this magazine are available as 12-page PDF files. You can subscribe (free) to a paper version.

• Cybercurriculum: Birds is a sophisticated electronic version of a print publication containing curriculum guides for junior high students. Produced by The Earth Generation, Inc., an environmental education and communications company, the site contains good ideas for teachers and anyone serious enough to want to learn about birds on their own (just enroll yourself).

  This site is mostly a teacher's guide, with sections on classroom projects, an outline of preparation and activites, teacher preparation and background information, scientific terms, facts about birds, a bibliography (DDT, PCBs and oil spills), materials, and related resources on the internet. which can be particularly useful.

  Student activities include a list of birds that students can research and 29 questions they can ask about those birds while doing research. Two outlines for lab reports are included too. and two student lab reports.

  If you use the site for nonclass learning, read the teacher's materials and then do the student activities. If you research all the birds suggested for study, you should finish in about 40 years.

• EcoKids Online, by Earth Day Canada, isn't an extensive web site but its one-topic, whales, has some interesting activities for kids in grades 1-6. When it was drafted prior to Earth Day, it promised monthly followups that never materialized. The idea for a web site was apparently bigger than the budget. The site's archives are empty but its news, storybook, games, gallery, events, "what do you think?," and "very special guest" sections are good enough for elementary school kids.
  The copyright of the article Surfing for Environmental Education Sites in Environment is owned by Kenneth Friedman. Permission to republish Surfing for Environmental Education Sites in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

  Go To Page: 1 2

  Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic