Using Environmental Education Project Curricula with Elementary Preservice Teachers

Abstract

Few studies have focused on the use of the Project WET, WILD, WILD Aquatic, and Learning Tree Guides as a means of introducing environmental education (EE) in preservice settings. Four different case studies demonstrate methods of integrating EE through the use of the Project Guides into preservice teacher coursework at four different universities. The integration methods strengthen elementary preservice teachers’ science content knowledge, develop science process and inquiry skills, integrate literacy, and introduce fieldwork. Elementary preservice teachers in all four cases reported positive teaching and learning experiences from their use of the Project Guides.

Appendices

Appendix A

Project Guides activities and descriptions

Lesson activity	Guide	Description
Are Vacant Lots Vacant?	PLT	Students examine a study plot for signs of life.
Are You Me?	WILD	Playing cards with pictures of “young” and “adult” animals are matched up.
A Grave Mistake	WET	Well-water data is analyzed to determine the source of community water contamination.
Bottleneck Genes	WILD	A fictional population of animals is reduced in number and students examine what happens to the genetics within the population over time.
Cold Cash in the Ice Box	WET	Students examine refrigeration by designing mini insulators to keep ice from melting.
Color Crazy	WILD	Students design a colorful animal to examine the role of color and its importance to survival of wildlife.
Dynamic Duos	PLT	Symbiotic relationships are identified and students describe how partners in these relationships affect one another.
Every Tree for Itself	PLT	A game is used to introduce tree growth requirements of sunlight, water, and nutrients.
How Plants Grow	PLT	Experiments are designed to test factors affecting plant growth.
How Wet Is Our Planet?	Aquatic WILD	The usable percentage of fresh water on earth is calculated.
Incredible Journey	WET	A simulation of water movement through a more complex water cycle or journey.
MikroTrek Scavenger Hunt	WILD	Students go outside to find different kinds of evidence that wildlife exists.
Move Over Rover	WILD	Animals and their appropriate habitats are discussed.
Nature’s Recyclers	PLT	Students observe pill bugs to help determine their role in an ecosystem.
Oh Deer!	WILD	Students become deer in a role play as they investigate habitat components, carrying capacity, and limiting factors.
Owl Pellets	WILD	Owl pellets are dissected in order to discover food preferences, study rodent anatomy, and reveal the importance of food chains and decomposers in recycling nutrients within ecosystems.
Quick Frozen Critters	WILD	Students simulate fox and rabbit populations in this very active game. Afterward is a discussion about the similarity of the skills and traits that both predators and prey must have to survive.
School Yard Safari	PLT	On school grounds, students observe and find evidence of animals and relate that to habitat requirements.
Stream Sense	WET	At a stream site, students make observations using their senses, take measurements, and test water quality.
The Closer You Look	PLT	Drawings of trees made from memory and direct observation are compared.
Urban Nature Search	WILD	Students go on a nature search designed to increase student-observation skills in nature.
Water Olympics	WET	The marvelous physical properties of water are examined and how these properties affect life on Earth.
Water Wonders	PLT	Students explain how the water cycle is important to living things and how plants affect the movement of water in a watershed.
Web of Life	PLT	After researching forest organisms, a simulated food web is built and the relationship between organisms is emphasized.
Wildlife is Everywhere	WILD	Looking for direct and indirect evidence of life in various settings.