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Important
Resources
Environmental
Literacy for Illinois (EL for IL): A strategic
plan for environmental education in Illinois
The Environmental Literacy for Illinois (EL for IL) strategic
plan was originally released in July of 1995. In January of 1998
six of the ten original committee chairs met in Bloomington to
revise and update the plan to reflect upon objectives that have
been met, as well as the technological
advances achieved in the past few years. The original plan was
endorsed by over 200 leaders throughout the state, from agency
personnel and nature center staff, to teachers and State Board
of Education staff. During Conservation Congress 2000 EL for IL
won the full support of the
congressional body and was unanimously passed for statewide adoption.
In May of 2005 a revision team convened to amend the plan. The
outcome is this version of EL for IL, which reflects the accomplishments
of the plan’s goals since its conception and modifies it
for the next
five years.
Illinois
Green Standards and Descriptors
Early in 2000, the Illinois Environmental Education Advancement
Consortium (IEEAC) was challenged with reviewing the Illinois
Learning
Standards to identify benchmarks that addressed environmental
education. In 2005, the group was challenged to look at the Science
and
Social Studies descriptors and identify those that addressed environmental
education. Since IEEAC members believe that environmental
education follows a scope and sequence of learning, we wanted
to critically review each benchmark to find the correlations.
The rubric
chosen to complete the correlation was developed by the North
American Association of Environmental Education’s National
Project for
Excellence in Environmental Education Guidelines for Learning
(K-12).
Online
Tool for Evaluating EE Programs
MEERA (My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant)
is a free, online tool for educators to help evaluate their programs.
Visit http://meera.snre.umich.edu/
for more information.
New
Resources
Lake Education Assistance Program (LEAP)
This program provides funding for various watershed
related projects. LEAP offers maximum awards on a $500 per school
and/or other not-for-profit organization basis. Schools and other
not-for-profitorganizations can apply for financial help for group
or individual attendance at field trips, seminars, workshops or
other events related to inland lakes or lake watersheds. The Illinois
EPA will grant approximately 100 awards per fiscal year. Two application
periods are offered annually, September 30 and January 31. Application
forms for LEAP assistance can be obtained from the Illinois EPA,
Bureau of Water, P.O. Box 19276, Springfield, Illinois, 62794-9276,
phone 217/782-3362 or downloaded from the Illinois EPA's homepage
(http://www.epa.state.il.us/water/conservation-2000/leap.html
or http://www.epa.state.il.us/water/surface-water/forms/leapform.pdf
).
General
Resources
Standing
Up for Illinois - Office of Lt Governor Pat
Quinn
US
EPA Region 5 Resources for Educators
The
National Park Service Educational Resources
The National Park staff has developed age appropriate
educational worksheets on biology, geology, and history, which
are being distributed for free along with classroom sets of
appropriate Park brochures.
A field guide to aid biologists, naturalists,
land managers, law enforcement officials and students in the
identification of the butterflies found in Illinois. This guide
contains more than 300 color photographs of all species plus
information on habitats, natural history and distribution.
Green Teacher is a non-profit,
practical, quarterly magazine for all K-12 educators and parents
who seek to promote environmental literacy and global awareness
with young people.
- Masters of the Air Booklet The latest addition
to the series of activity books available from the Department
of Natural Resources (IDNR) features 16 hawks and owls with
illustrations to color and descriptions to read. The booklet
also includes several other activities about the raptors.
- Illinois Snakes Poster This is the fifth
poster in the Illinois Fauna series by the IDNR Division of
Education. Twenty-five species of snakes native to Illinois
are illustrated with color images, as are five juvenile snakes.
- Natural Divisions State Map Another poster
is available for you to use! The front side of Illinois' Natural
Divisions has a map of the State showing the location of the
14 natural divisions and a color image of each. The reverse
side explains what the natural divisions are and how they
and the biodiversity of Illinois are related.
- To obtain a copy of the above, or other IDNR Education
materials, contact:IDNR Division of Education
Earth Awareness program is an
interactive enrichment (school assembly) program being utilized
by Education Service Agencies, museums, schools and educational
organizations throughout the United States to teach students
about earth science, the environment (recycling, water, pollution,
rain forests, etc.) as well as subject areas such as geography
and social science. The Earth Balloon, a 20 foot model of the
earth that students enter to learn about the changing planet,
is ideally suited for classes, such as: environmental science,
math and more.
Our Water Environment is now
available on line in its new form as the Water Works Journal
(WW). WW continues the National Water Center's tradition and
commitment to a better understanding and appreciation of all
aspects of our water environment.
Materials include a teacher's guide, posters
for display in classroom and information on the statewide poster
and poetry/prose competition. The guide was designed to meet
the North American Association for Environmental Education's
Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence.
It is correlated to the Illinois Learning Standards. The guide
and the information for the statewide poster and poetry/prose
competition are available on Illinois EPA's Web site (http://www.epa.state.il.us/kids/teachers/index.html).
Environmental
Education Courses Calendar
Fundamentals
of EE
Gain a foundational knowledge of
environmental education and learn how to incorporate quality
EE into your instruction. Participants discuss the history and
goals of EE, develop an understanding of the professional roles
and instructional methods of environmental educators, and interact
with other educators from across the country.
Environmental
Education Grants
Lake
Education Assistance Program (LEAP)
This program provides funding
for various watershed related projects. LEAP offers maximum
awards on a $500 per school and/or other not-for-profit organization
basis. Schools and other not-for-profitorganizations can apply
for financial help for group or individual attendance at field
trips, seminars, workshops or other events related to inland
lakes or lake watersheds. The Illinois EPA will grant approximately
100 awards per fiscal year. Two application periods are offered
annually, September 30 and January 31. Application forms for
LEAP assistance can be obtained from the Illinois EPA, Bureau
of Water, P.O. Box 19276, Springfield, Illinois, 62794-9276,
phone 217/782-3362 or downloaded from the Illinois EPA's homepage.
Adopt a Stream
The Illinois Smallmouth Alliance has put together
a program whereby various usergroups will be empowered to make
a difference in a watershed of their choosing state-wide. For
more information contact Mike Clifford at (773)771-9042 or visit
http://www.illinoissmallmouthalliance.net/html/conservation/adopt-a-stream.html
Environmental
Education Resources
Environmental
Literacy for IL
'If
Trees Could Talk'
Environmental History Curriculum
Illinois
Environmental Education Database
Environmental education (EE) is
a life-long process of discovering and understanding the interdependence
between humans and their environmental resources. The function
of EE is to foster environmental literacy-to develop a citizenry
that is aware of, and concerned about, the environment and its
associated problems, and which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes,
motivations, and commitment to work individually and collectively
toward solutions for current problems.
Community
Action Problem Solving (CAPS) Program Training
Earth Force offers local training in the Community
Action Problem Solving (CAPS) program. CAPS combines environmental
education, service learning and civic action into one framework
that engages youth to create lasting environmental change in
their communities.
Eisenhower
National Clearinghouse (ENC) Online
ENC, established by the U.S. Department of Education,
focuses on K-12 math and science education. The content on ENC
Online has been organized into four major categories - Curriculum
Resources, Web Links, Professional Resources, and Topics.
ESCAPE
Escape is a collection of 36 hands-on activities
related to exotic aquatic species.
Illinois
Wildflowers
This website has many good photos and great descriptions
of Illinois wildflowers put together by local plant enthusiast
John Hilty.
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