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VT Project Learning Tree

Vermont Project Learning Tree envisions a future where every young person understands, appreciates and loves the natural world, and enjoys spending time outdoors. Our community's future depends on a strong connection between children and the natural world.

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Curriculum

Project Learning Tree’s award-winning curriculum resources help over half a million educators teach complex environmental issues. They can be integrated into lesson plans for all grades and subject areas to help students learn how to make sound choices about the environment.

Our goal is to teach students how to think, not what to think about the environment. Studies show that curricula with an outdoor learning component drastically improve student achievement, particularly in science and math, including test scores.

Vermont and National Standards

Our education materials are designed to meet the common components of national education reform by using the constructivist approach to learning, whole language teaching, cooperative learning, problem solving, and authentic assessments.

The PreK-8 Guide and the secondary modules have been correlated to Vermont Framework of Standards, learning opportunities and grade expectations. At the national level, the curriculum has been correlated to the Common Core State Standards, New National Science Standards, National Social Studies Standards, Excellence in EE Guidelines, and Girl Scout (badge) program activities.

PreK-K | Grades 1-2 | Grades 3-4 | Grade 5-6 | Grades 7-8

Environmental experiences for early childhood

Our early childhood programs provide an introduction to environmental education, encouraging children to explore, discover and communicate in expressive ways. With over 130 experiences that engage children in outdoor play and exploration, it’s no wonder Learning® Magazine chose our Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood as their Teachers’ Choice (SM) Award winner!

PLT for Prek-8th grade

Environmental Activity GuideEnvironmental Education Activity Guide

Ninety-six multi-disciplinary activities can be found inside the PreK-8 Guide – each one tailored to specific grade levels and learning objectives. Each activity is filled with opportunities to build critical thinking skills, incorporate technology, and use differentiated instruction.

Charting Diversity. Birds and Worms. Pollution Search. These are some of the 96 hands-on interdisciplinary activities in our PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. The PreK-8 Guide covers topics covering both the natural and built environment – forests, wildlife, water, air, energy, waste, climate change, invasive species, community planning, and culture, to name a few. The guide is designed to meet the common components of national education reform by using the constructivist approach to learning, whole language teaching, cooperative learning, problem solving, and authentic assessments.

Our state-of-the-art PreK-8 curriculum materials are packed with inter-disciplinary activities, each tailored to specific grade levels and learning objectives. These materials provide educators the tools they need to bring the environment into their classrooms — and their students into the environment.

Energy & SocietyEnergy and Society Kit

Developed for both formal and non-formal educators, Energy & Society helps students develop critical thinking skills to make decisions about their personal energy use. In addition to hands-on activities, Energy & Society integrates music and dance to enhance the study of energy issues.

Energy & Society helps students develop critical thinking skills to make decisions about their personal energy use. In addition to hands-on activities, Energy & Society integrates music and dance to enhance the study of energy issues.

The Energy & Me CD was selected as a Parents’ Choice Recommended Award Winner and a Children’s Music Web Award Winner.

PLT Guides for Grades 9-12

Biodiversity

Exploring Environmental Issues: Biodiversity was developed by Project Learning Tree in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund. In this sixty-page module, students learn that decisions about growth and development, energy use and water quality, and even human health, all rest to some extent on perspectives about biodiversity.

Download this module now.

Biotechnology

The word “biotechnology” usually conjures images of modern techniques and topics of controversy such as cloning, stem cell research, and genetically modified organisms. However, the practice of manipulating organisms to create a product has long been used by human societies.

Our Biotechnology Series is designed for high school and community college educators in the fields of Biology, Environmental Science, Social Studies, and Agriculture. A special effort has been made to construct activities that support instruction in AP Biology, AP Environmental Science, and AP Human Geography. This module was created as a supplement to the Focus on Risk curriculum.

Download this module now.

Focus on ForestsFocus on Forests

The Exploring Environmental Issues: Focus on Forests module is designed to foster student understanding of- and appreciation for- the forested lands throughout North America. The module’s activities provide an opportunity for hands-on study of forest resources while addressing concepts in biology, civics, ecology, economics, forest management, and other subject areas.

Through the activities found within this module, students examine ecological systems of a forest; analyze interdependencies within a forest ecosystem; and explore factors, such as fire, that shape the development of forests. In addition, they develop critical thinking skills and discover the importance of scientific analysis when making decisions about forest issues.

Focus on Forests is available through participation in a professional development workshop. Find a workshop.

This resource was created, in part, with support from the USDA Forest Service and the Idaho Forest Products Group.

Forests of the WorldForests of the World

Global Connections: Forests of the World provides formal and non-formal educators with a series of activities to help students and educators gain an increased understanding and appreciation of the diversity of world forest environments, with an emphasis on the human interaction with and dependence on those environments.

Global Connections: Forests of the World was developed by Project Learning Tree in partnership with the World Forestry Center. The module activities provide students with opportunities to apply scientific processes and higher order thinking skills while investigating world forestry issues and conducting service-learning action projects.

Forests of the World is available through participation in a professional development workshop. Find a workshop.

Places We LivePlaces we Live

All communities – urban, suburban, small town, rural – are experiencing growth and change, which has an impact on each community’s environment.

Exploring Environmental Issues: Places We Live provides educators with a useful tool for place-based education to help create a bond between young citizens and their communities. Through eight hands-on activities, students will explore current and future community environmental issues, enabling them to make informed decisions about those issues.

Places we Live is available through participation in a professional development workshop. Find a workshop.

Focus on RiskFocus on Risk

Exploring Environmental Issues: Focus on Risk module helps students explore the different aspects of environmental and human health risks that affect their everyday lives. Through eight hands-on activities, students analyze, explore, discover, and learn about risk assessment, risk communication, risk perception, and risk management. There are also three special topics that encourage students to apply their knowledge real-life risk issues. Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making are emphasized throughout the module.

Focus on Risk is available through participation in a professional development workshop. Find a workshop.

Municipal Solid WasteMunicipal Solid Waste

Through the Exploring Environmental Issues: Municipal Solid Waste module, students begin understanding waste management issues and options. This module uses hands-on experiences to show interrelationships among waste generation, natural resource use, and disposal. The activities guide students through waste management strategies and solutions while providing the necessary tools to make informed decisions and choices on waste management issues.

Municipal Solid Waste is available through participation in a professional development workshop.

Find a workshop.

We invest in the teachers who invest in our children

Research shows that people who enjoyed meaningful experiences in the outdoors as a child, are able to think critically and act responsibly on behalf of the ecological, social, and economic values of our forests and other natural resources as adults.

VT Project Learning Tree achieves its mission by training educators in Project Learning Tree®, the time-honored environmental education curricula developed by the American Forest Foundation.

VT Project Learning Tree relies on the support of every facet of the community--businesses, individuals and government--to accomplish its mission.

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