Project Learning Tree Reflection

Yesterday we came to class as a large group prepared to have a hands-on learning experience.  Some of use, myself included, had previously purchased a book that was full of excellent environmental science lessons.  The purpose of the instruction yesterday was for us to "sample" some of these lessons and for us to be thinking about how important it is for us to educate our students about environmental science becaues they will be the stewards of our planet.  If we never talk about it, then they won't have any idea about what it means to take care of the place we live in.  What I took away from this learning opportunity was that we can teach kids what it means to responsibly and sustainably manage our resources in a fun way.  If we get kids up, get them outside, have conversations in the classroom, do hands-on learning, incorporate movement into the lesson, and interject scientific models/experiments, then kids can see the strong connection between what it is they are doing--the model or metaphor--and how this connects to the world they live in.

I loved the lesson ideas we sampled--matching species and thinking about parasitism, symbiosis, and mutualism, using popcorn and M&Ms to model renewable and finite resources beyond a second or third generation, and the water system.  We also charted the increase in global warming, observing the trend in thirty years. 

Project Learning Tree--you rock!  I can't wait to refer to these engaging activities and hopefully implement a few in my classroom.