Teaching Environmentally with Aldo Leopold

Teaching Environmentally with Aldo Leopold

Instructors: Betty Krcma (Green Bay High School Teacher), Mike Solomon (Fox

Valley Chapter, Pheasants Forever), Mary Zelhofer (Menasha Elementary School

Teacher)

Course Description:

The student will establish first-hand connections with the concepts and

processes of environmental education. Through course experiences and

teacher and student-led activities, participants will reflect deeply upon

the contributions of well-known environmental author/scientist, Aldo

Leopold. Leopold, who is now considered the father of wildlife management

and of the wilderness system, was a forester, philosopher, professor and

writer. Students will reflect upon their awareness of and relationship to

the land and develop an understanding and commitment to environmental

stewardship. Most appropriate for intermediate through high school

educators, though primary educators will find value and applications for

their students.

Course Objectives:

1) To provide an experiential teacher education course that empowers

teachers to make connections with the land, others, and ideas, by thinking

and teaching environmentally, collaboratively and creatively;

2) to assist teachers in developing environmentally sustainable and

ecologically ethical habits of living and teaching;

3) to provide educators with a variety of practical hands-on/minds-on ways

to deepen their students’ awareness of the natural world;

4) to share techniques for increasing students’ creative and critical

thinking skills.

Course Instructional Learning Outcomes:

Through active participation, students will be able to . . .

1) evaluate their personal environmental ethics;

2) design and utilize instructional plans centered around the book A Sand

County Almanac by Aldo Leopold;

3) evaluate their own observation skills and reflect upon the deeper

significance of their surroundings and the lessons that can be learned (and

taught) through observing the environment;

4) form the foundations for a lifetime of teaching environmentally that can

be transferred to any of diverse future settings.

Course Texts Provided:

Leopold, Aldo. (1949). A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There.

New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0-19-500777-8.

Leopold Education Project. (undated). Lessons in a Land Ethic: A Teacher’s

Guide and Student Activities for Indoor and Outdoor Use. St. Paul, MN:

Pheasants Forever.

LEP Task Cards compiled by Dr. Clifford Knapp and based on essays found in

the Almanac; they provide teachers with an additional medium for guiding

students in experiencing learning in the out-of-doors classroom.