Democratic systems depend on the involvement of citizens in policy making and decision making. This activity will help students learn about the roles and responsibilities of citizens’ groups in environmental policies and decision-making, and about how young people can become involved in the process.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

When certain people decide how to use a particular piece of land, the decision can involve and affect many people in many ways. Therefore, groups must establish processes for planning and resolving conflicts about land use. In this simulation, students will develop a plan to address a land-use issue. While this activity focuses on land use, the process can be adapted to examine other issues in your community.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

A human community is a system of facilities, services, resources, and human relationships that enable people to live in a particular place. In this activity, students survey the area around their school to look for the components of the human community in which they live. They then plan an ideal community that meets all the needs of its residents.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

Students will develop an understanding of the value of recreational areas and facilities, and why these areas are established nationally and locally. By working on a service-learning project to improve a local park, students will also learn about the community’s system for managing open spaces.

This is Activity 54, one of 96 activities in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide (available in print or electronically).
To get the activity:

• Check out this online course with an E-Book (with an option to also purchase a printed guide for an additional fee)
• Contact your PLT State Coordinator. During COVID-19, PLT now offers remote professional development to model ways educators can work with students virtually, including adaptations to PLT activities.

Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

 

Students will compare various transportation methods for getting to and from school, and research transportation systems used in their community.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

Aluminum is a nonrenewable, but recyclable, natural resource that we use every day. In this activity, students sequence the steps that go into making aluminum products and participate in a service-learning project to encourage aluminum recycling in their community.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

Students investigate the papermaking process by trying it themselves. Students are thrilled to find that they can make paper and that their product is practical, as well as beautiful. See the PLT website, www.plt.org, to watch a video of the paper-making process used in this activity.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

In this activity, students will play the role of managers of a 400-acre (162 hectare) piece of public forest. Through this role, students will begin to understand the complex considerations that influence management decisions about forest lands.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

While tropical rainforests and the temperate forests of North America operate on many of the same ecological principles, they differ greatly in their climates, and in the types of soil, plants, and animals that make up the forest ecosystems. Students will explore the rainforest in different ways: researching rainforest inhabitants, mapping the route of neotropical migratory birds, and analyzing a case study involving a tropical rainforest.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity. 

In this inquiry-based activity students will conduct a field study of three different environments as they focus on sunlight, soil moisture, temperature, wind, water flow, plants, and animals in each environment. By comparing different environments, students will begin to consider how nonliving elements influence living elements in an ecosystem.

This is one of 96 activities that can be found in PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. To get the activity, attend a training either in person or online and receive PLT’s PreK-8 Guide. Below are some supporting resources for this activity.