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Environmental Education
(EE) is an active process that increases knowledge, skills, abilities
and awareness, resulting in understanding, commitment, informed
decisions and constructive action to ensure stewardship of the earth's
environment.
Hands-on experiences are
the best way for students to build understanding of the complex
world around them. These experiences can best be initiated through
citizen science, service-learning and outdoor classroom projects.
EEinGeorgia
The Online Guide to Environmental Education in Georgia
TEACH
FOR TOMORROW!
Find
lesson plans, a resource database, an organization and school directory,
grants, contests & awards, a calendar of events and workshops
plus facts and stats on Georgia's environment. Subscribe to E-news
to get updates on teaching resources, events, grants, and more.
Learn
more...
NEW
Georgia Nature Center
The new Georgia
Nature Center in Oconee County is the largest educational facility
of its kind in the Southeast. Guided field trips across 100-acres
of exhibits and trails include the Clean Energy Exhibition featuring
solar & wind power, an organic farm, the Next Generation home,
and an endangered plant greenhouse containing thousands of rare
carnivorous plants. There are programs for all levels from kindergarten
through high school, as well as college. Groups of 150 or more can
be accommodated. For more information visit www.NatureCenter.com
or call 1-800-800-2SUN. Tours meet GPS standards for all K-12 grade
levels.
Georgia
Green & Healthy Schools
The
Georgia Green & Healthy Schools (GGHS) program is a new collaborative
initiative to assist and support schools in understanding and practicing
environmentally sound principles. Begin with a pledge. Use assessment
tools to conduct school-based investigations. Earn awards and recognition.
Learn
more...
Our
Shared Forests Science Night Kits
Twenty-two
simple, research-based activities for elementary schools are contained
in this "science night in a box." Developed by the State
Botanical Garden in cooperation with Maquipucuna Foundation in Ecuador
and Georgia PTA , the kits are available for check out. Activities
focus on the migratory birds that "share the forests"
between Ecuador and Georgia.
For
more information, contact Eve Neumeister
at eve@neume.net or 770-998-5093.
How
to Conduct...Program Series
For
Immediate Release: May
28, 2008
- New
Report aims to save America 's kids from an ‘Indoor Summer'
- Many
Children Gain Weight During Summer Break as Disconnect with Nature
Grows
- National
Wildlife Federation Urges Parents and Policymakers to Help Kids
“Go Outside and Play”
WASHINGTON
— Summer break is usually associated
with outdoor fun, but how many of our kids today think “skipping
a stone” means overlooking a rock? Or that the phrase “go fly a
kite” is an insult? Or that “going fishing” is a reference to the
TV show “Deadliest Catch”? Or even that “playing” can only happen
in front of the large-screen television? National Wildlife Federation
aims to make the answers to all these questions “none” with the
release of Connecting Today's
Kids With Nature: A Policy Action Plan .
On
a walk through a typical American neighborhood this summer, one
might be hard pressed to find a bare-foot kid chasing down a toad,
or building a tree fort in the woods, or flying a kite in the park.
Organized play at the soccerplex has replaced unstructured play
down at the creek. As American childhood has moved indoors, research
shows that many of today's children are actually gaining weight
during the summer break. And as electronic entertainment replaces
both structured and unstructured outdoor experiences, many children
are being raised so cut off from their natural world that they are
not developing a connection with nature. Not only is this connection
an important quality-of-life issue by contributing to emotional
and physical well being, it also forms the cornerstone of an environmental
stewardship ethic.
“When
watching animal shows on TV becomes the closest many of today's
kids get to the great outdoors, we risk the health of our children
and endanger the prospect of developing future stewards of the natural
world,” said Larry Schweiger, the president & CEO of National
Wildlife Federation. “That's why NWF will use its resources to encourage
parents and caregivers to get kids to go outside and play and to
ask policy makers to take action.”
The
average child today spends more than 6 hours a day watching TV,
playing video games or on a computer. Conversely, the amount of
time U.S. children now spend outdoors has declined by 50 percent
in the past 20 years. Author Richard Louv described this American
trend in his 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods, and even gave it
a name, “nature deficit”.
“The
phrase ‘go outside and play' sums up the summer experiences that
many adult Americans fondly remember,” said Kevin Coyle, Vice President
for Education at NWF. “But today's kids rarely hear these four little
words. The sad reality is that American childhood has moved indoors.
Meanwhile, our kids face an epidemic of childhood obesity and a
troubling disconnect with nature.”
Connecting
our children to nature through outdoor experiences pays clear dividends:
children who play outside are more active and more physically fit;
time in nature improves children's academic performance, concentration,
balance, coordination, and self-esteem; and playing outside even
reduces the severity of symptoms of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD), which affects millions of American children.
Environmental
education increases student engagement in science, improves student
achievement in core subject areas, and increases student awareness
about individual actions they can take to restore the health of
the natural environment; and
Children
who spend time in nature are more likely to have pro-environmental
attitudes as adults. Time spent in nature with an important adult
often shapes a child's long-term environmental ethic. If this nature
deficit continues unabated, we may face a dearth of environmental
leaders, professionals, and advocates as we try to conquer future
environmental challenges like climate change.
Solutions
for reversing nature deficit and connecting our children to nature,
and ourselves at the same time, are available through organizations
like NWF. NWF has compiled a list of solutions that offer ways for
parents to take action within our communities, at the state level,
and at the national level. Some of these include connecting kids
to nature through environmental education, promoting outdoor play
through our public health systems, and encouraging parents to build
in regular time for outdoor play through the NWF online parent resource,
Green Hour.
CONTACT:
Kevin Coyle, vice president of education, NWF, (703) 438-6416 coylek@nwf.org
; Heather White, director of education advocacy, NWF, (530)
340-0751, whiteh@nwf.org ; Craig
Culp, communications manager, NWF, (301) 509-0925 culpc@nwf.org
.
To
view the report, please visit www.nwf.org/kidsoutside
. For summer outdoor activity ideas and other online resources,
please visit www.greenhour.org
.
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