Education Law

More than just a building

BoardBuzz has reported before the benefits some schools have gotten for going green. Lower utilities that relieve schools of high energy bills and the opportunity to instill in students a responsibility for the environment are both reasons districts are attracted to greener schools. But today, a Newsweek article had BoardBuzz questioning where this leaves districts that don?t have the funds to build new sustainable schools.

Sustainable green schools are an expensive investment, and many elementary schools around the country are putting thousands of dollars into constructing these new facilities for environmental learning. But as Newsweek reminds us, environmental learning isn?t just about having the faciliities or simply teaching students to save the environment:

Environmental learning isn't always about climate change or the Earth's plight. Rather, teachers with green lesson plans use the natural world as a tool, like leading a study on an ordinary stream, which can include language, math and social studies. "If you take kids outside, it typically engages them, especially ones who are struggling," says Jerry Lieberman, an educational researcher. A handful of studies from the State Education and Environment Roundtable shows the same connection, that students exposed to a nature-based curriculum score higher more than 90 percent of the time than students taught the same subjects in the classroom out of a textbook.

It looks like Project Learning Tree could be the answer. Sponsored by the American Forest Foundation, educators can be trained in green teaching practices for about a $15 fee, which includes a teaching workshop and guidebook for green lesson plans.

Sounds like this could be part of the solution. Is your district finding ways to teach using the environment and outside world for teaching, instead of just textbooks? Let us know what you are up to.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on September 11, 2008 (boomark / email).