Profiles of Environmental Education Grants Awarded to Organizations in Washington
- Indicates a Headquarters grant
- 2015
- 2013
- 2012
- 2011
- 2010
- 2009
- 2008
- 2007
- 2006
- 2005
- 2004
- 2003
- 2002
- 2001
- 2000
- 1999
- 1998
- 1997
- 1996
- 1995
- 1994
- 1993
- 1992
2015 Grants
University of Washington Center for Conservation Biology and Indigenous Wellness Research Institute $91,000
Samuel Wasser, 4333 Brooklyn Ave NE, Box 359472, Seattle, WA 98195
http://www.conservationbiology.uw.edu/Exit
Culture-Based Environmental Education for Tomorrow’s Tribal Leaders – Washington State
The project, Culture-Based Environmental Education for Tomorrow’s Tribal Leaders, enhances Tribal middle school education by providing interactive classroom presentations on marine health that highlight whale research methods. These methods involve an exciting mix of non-invasive wildlife monitoring methods and the University of Washington Center’s specially trained detection dogs, which are used to sample large areas for scat of targeted wildlife species. Inquiry-based classroom lessons are combined with hands-on, cooperative-based activities that address cultural content and national learning standards. Leadership workshops are focused on connecting students to conservation and health concepts through outdoor learning and cultural-based actions.
2014 Grants
Pacific Education Institute $91,000
Dr. Margaret Tudor, 724 Columbia Street NW, Suite 255, Olympia, WA 98501
http://www.pacificeducationinstitute.org/ Exit
Students Engaged in Conserving the Columbia River Watershed
This project expands Columbia River Watershed focused K-12 STEM EE by training regional based watershed facilitators to support local teachers and training their students to conduct impactful field experiences to sustain the health of the Columbia River Watershed. The project trains Watershed Facilitators (informal educators) to support teachers of grades 3-12. An overall Coordinator recruits and selects Watershed Facilitators focused on/certified in PEI Field STEM focused on Columbia River. Pacific Education Institute provides a 5-day training in Feb 2016 to certify 10 Watershed Facilitators to then be able to provide a workshop for teachers in their area. A total of 10 Watershed Facilitators each provide a 6-hour Field STEM workshop to at least 12 teachers. Afterwards, teachers give at least 1 field experience to students during the 2016-17 school year.
2013 Grants
Educational Service District #101 $75,000
Erik Wolfrum, 4202 S. Regal, Spokane, WA 99223
esd101.net
Climate Connections Northwest
This project provides environmental education (EE) professional development workshops to teachers across six school districts in rural eastern Washington and involves 4th through 8th grade students in hands-on community environmental projects. The five, day-long teacher professional development workshops include instruction on EE fundamentals, teaching skills, methods and strategies, and on climate change indicators, causes and impacts. The student audience is reached through classroom instruction, classroom presentations by environmental professionals, field trips to relevant environmental sites, and hands-on environmental stewardship projects based on student interests, cultural considerations, and local environmental issues or concerns. At the end of this project, a regional workshop is open to additional teachers within the educational district (seven counties). This regional workshop is focused on fundamental characteristics, implementation, integration and goals of EE. Sub-awards are given to the participating school districts to help with their classroom projects and field trips.
2012 Grants
E3Washington $216,000
Abby Ruskey, PO Box 6277, Olympia, WA 98507
E3Washington.org
The Educator-to-Educator Initiative for Student Learning
The project goal is to implement state environmental literacy plans in the Pacific Northwest (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington). The four regional environmental education associations are to work together to convene the Regional Leadership Team as a Community of Practice; co-create a regional model for implementation of literacy plans; implement, evaluate and disseminate the model for classroom-to-community-and-back environmental and sustainability education at the state and local levels; implement, communicate, learn from, and adaptively manage across the system; and package and disseminate the model throughout, and beyond, the region. The model is to directly impact students and their teachers, school administrators and community members from six regionally and culturally diverse school district-community teams involved. Additionally, diverse business, tribal, governmental and nonprofit environmental education leaders and stakeholders are directly involved, supported and impacted. These leaders are supported in their increased efforts to build environmental education capacity at the state and regional levels.
2011 Grants
Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction $76,000
Gilda Wheeler, Old Capitol Building, P.O. Box 47200 ,600 Washington St. SE, Olympia, WA 98504-7200
Washington State Environmental and Sustainable Literacy Plan
This project implements three key strategies of the Washington State Environmental and Sustainability Literacy Plan and provides a continuum of pre-K-12 environmental and sustainability education. The project's focus is on Educational Advancement, environmental education teaching skills, and career development with focusing on the environmental priority of Building Strong State and Tribal Partnerships. The key strategies are: (1) embed and align environmental and sustainability education concepts and elements of the Washington Native American Reading Curriculum into existing elementary grade high-use science instruction materials and provide professional development on the use of these lessons to reach elementary schools and students across the state with at least 50% in tribal schools and/or in non-tribal schools with high percentages of Native American students; (2) develop and pilot model lessons that embed and align environmental and sustainability education into high-use early learning curriculum and programs targeting early learning teachers; and (3) create a teacher online network supporting the Career and Technical Education Green Sustainable Design and Technology Course for middle and high school teachers through curriculum sharing, professional development, mentorships, and community partnerships. Implementing these strategies results in an increase in students' awareness and knowledge about environmental issues and provides them with the skills necessary to make informed decisions and take responsible actions.
2010 Grants
EarthCorps $12,000
Sharon London, 6310 Northeast 74th Street, Suite 201E, Seattle, WA 98115
Earth Education Corps
The Earth Education Corps project develops and implements a community-based environmental stewardship curriculum for young adults, ages 18 through 26, enrolled in the organization's conservation corps each year. The Earth Education Corps plan to work primarily with grades 5 through12, leveraging and expanding on relationships with public and private schools in Seattle and nearby school districts. The goals of the project are to: (1) equip pre-career young adults with the knowledge and skills necessary to complete substantive habitat restoration projects; (2) ensure that those young adults have mastered the knowledge to a degree that they can articulate it to volunteers; (3) coach the young adults in how to effectively manage youth volunteers, serving as project leaders and role models; and (4) flesh out and document EarthCorps' regionally acclaimed corps member education curriculum using an inquiry-based science approach so that it can be replicated or adopted by other conservation corps.
Environmental Education Association of Washington $121,971
Abby Ruskey, 509 12th Avenue Southeast, P.O. Box 6277, Olympia, WA 98507
Education for Sustainable Communities
The Education for Sustainable Communities project addresses the environmental education (EE) capacity building challenges within the state of Washington. The summit provides training to state, regional and sector leaders on collaboration, measuring progress, and technical support of the E3 Washington (Education, Environment, Economy) environmental education programming. These training efforts seek to accelerate the delivery of an integrated and comprehensive education program through implementation of state, regional and sector E3 plans. E3 leaders and the general public are also reached through a dynamic, interactive website and a series of online and on-site organizational meetings. The E3 website records, quantifies and showcases actions towards the achievement of a comprehensive EE program. The Environmental Education Association of Washington works with E3 leaders to provide E3 products for application in other states as well. The overall goal of the project is to construct a replicable model for exponentially increasing the capacity to deliver, measure, track, and sustain a statewide comprehensive Environmental and Sustainability Education program. Key partners include the Department of Natural Resources and Public parks, the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, the Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Nature Vision $12,000
Clay Heilman, 10400 192nd Avenue Northeast, Redmond, WA 98053
Blue Teams: Youth Watershed Stewardship Projects
The project, Blue Teams: Youth Watershed Stewardship Projects, includes groups of students in kindergarten through grade 12 from low-income schools throughout King County, Washington. The students and non-formal educators are broken up into 16 groups (Blue Teams) to focus on community watershed stewardship projects. Students develop an understanding for their local ecosystem through the personalized education plan, created by one of the Nature Vision naturalists, which includes classroom activities and hands-on field activities. Since these projects are within their local community, students develop a sense of ownership for their projects. The Blue Team program educates local youth about water resources and related ecosystems, fosters sustainable stewardship values and practices in the community through hands-on youth projects, and empowers youth to take positive steps to improve their local environment.
West Valley School District #208 $21,500
Dr. Peter Finch, 8902 Zier Road, Yakima, WA 98908
College in High School Environmental Science Course
The project creates a College in High School credit course in Environmental Science at the West Valley High School in cooperation with Central Washington University. The high school has the benefit of a university professor assisting with course development. During this course, students focus on restoring and maintaining fish habitat within the Yakima River watershed. Students conduct research in the field, such as water quality monitoring. At the end of the course, students present what they have learned to younger students and community members. Students pay tuition and receive the college credit immediately. The course credits are transferrable to any accredited institution. The goal of this project is to provide high school students with the opportunity, knowledge, and skills to get into college, pursue environmental science education, and become environmental stewards in their schools and community.
2009 Grants
Educational Service District 101 $26,469
Steve Witter, 4202 South Regal, Spokane, WA 99223
Eastern Washington Environmental Education Stewardship
This project provides hands-on environmental education for students (grades 5 through 8) who conduct and document stream testing and restoration on the Palouse River and Hangman Creek watersheds in Eastern Washington. The project also promotes long-term environmental awareness and stewardship by enhancing the knowledge and skills of kindergarten through grade 12 teachers and by creating opportunities for students, parents, teachers, and communities to learn and work together in environmental settings. Two staff development programs on water quality are created and offered to teachers in all of the area school districts. A project Web site is created for the students to share information. Community members are recruited to assist in planting trees for stream bank restoration and to be guest speakers in the classrooms to discuss local water quality issues, including how the streams are affected by environmental pollution that is detrimental to human health. The middle school students are to present their environmental and health science-related projects at the Spokane Environmental Youth Conference, to be held in May 2010.
Environmental Education Association of WA $41,000
Abigail Marie Ruskey, P.O. Box 6277, Olympia, WA 98507
Schools of the Future: Sustainability Design Project
The Sustainability Design Project recruits and trains teachers from various Washington state school districts to actively and effectively make use of the people, tools, and resources available for sustainability education. It supports a cadre of teacher leaders in school districts by engaging in professional development on sustainability education, forming sustainability teams, implementing and teaching sustainable design project units in classrooms, and creating a learning community network. These teacher leaders attend the 2009 Sustainability Education Summer Institute at Islandwood. Each teacher develops and teaches a sustainable design project unit to students and leads and supports other teachers in his or her school district to implement the same project with their students. Teachers are also scheduled to attend the Team Leader's Summit in 2010.
2008 Grants
Community Agricultural Development Center $15,000
Albert Kowitz, 985 S. Elm, Colville, WA 99114
Food and Environmental Stewardship: Food Choices that Support Sustainable Agriculture
The Community Agricultural Development Center (CADC) is partnering with Quillisascut Farms and Washington State University (WSU) Extension in Stevens County to train high school teachers in health and food science programs. They are learning how to evaluate the impacts of food choices on the environment and to prioritize ways to reduce the size of their own and students’ environmental footprint. Teachers from across the State of Washington attend a 5-day training at the Quillisascut Farms training center. The focus is on food choices that result in a healthier diet for students and support a more sustainable food production and distribution system. Issues that are addressed include pesticide use, fertilizers, energy usage, soils, surface and ground water, and animal, vegetable, and fruit production. The hands-on multidisciplinary training on Farm to Table issues changes the ways the group thinks about the food system. The teachers are taught about organic food production, what a local food community is, how environmental stewardship affects purchasing and kitchen practices, and biodiversity and the food environment.
Department of Ecology $30,000
Cedar Bouta, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600
Hazards on the Homefront Curriculum
The Department of Ecology and King County are revising and widely distributing King County’s “Hazards on the Homefront” curriculum (grades 7 through 12) in association with the ToxicFree Tips household campaign. The curriculum is updated with current resources and new findings related to household hazardous waste and toxics. Teacher trainings are delivered in Yakima, Kitsap, and Lewis Counties to teachers, and the Department of Ecology provides ongoing support to educators. Additional educators access the teacher’s guide either through Web sites or on CDs. The program helps people properly use, store, and dispose of hazardous waste and encourages safer alternatives; increases environmental stewardship, protects health, improves indoor air quality; and reduces environmental impacts from waste; and fosters smarter consumers.
Evergreen State College $29,611
John McLain, 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW, Academic Grants, SEM II D3105, Olympia, WA 98505
Curriculum for the Bioregion
The goal of the Curriculum for the Bioregion is to infuse the content and concepts of environmental literacy and practices of environmental stewardship and sustainability into a large number of high-enrollment introductory college courses in the Puget Sound bioregion. The project aims for chemistry college faculty members and sociology faculty members to participate in professional development experiences that introduce selected regional environmental issues relevant to introductory chemistry and sociology classes. The teachers examine the environmental curriculum resources that are currently available in these disciplines, work collaboratively to integrate the sustainability concepts with core concepts that they already teach in introductory classes, and introduce and evaluate at least one environmental “Teaching and Learning” activity in each class. They also disseminate their strategies and experiences via the Curriculum for the Bioregion Web site and optionally through professional conferences.
Washington State University $85,347
Lynda Paznokas, PO Box 642114 School and Community Collaboration Center College of Education, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2114
Sustainability and Environmental Education for Pre-Service (SEEP)
The Sustainability and Environmental Education for Pre-Service (SEEP) project is a coordinated statewide effort that incorporates training on environmental and sustainability education into teacher preparations to ensure that these concepts and skills are effectively taught in Washington classrooms. The program is managed by Washington State University’s (WSU) College of Education’s School and Community Collaboration Center, on behalf of Teacher of Teacher of Science (TOTOS), a group of science methods professors from Washington’s colleges and universities. Under this program, WSU trains pre-service teachers through several different teacher preparation programs to incorporate and deliver high-quality environmental and sustainability education into the classroom. The training includes: (1) a workshop with governmental agencies and informal science education institutions to discuss human and material environmental resources; (2) a workshop to discuss implementation strategies for evidence-based teacher preparation of environmental and sustainability issues; (3) a regional conference with the Northwest Chapter of the Association of Science Teacher Education; (4) development of collaborative publications that describe SEEP’s models; and (5) environmental equipment support for TOTOS through WSU’s Equipment Loan Program. Ultimately, the SEEP project leads to incorporation of more significant environmental and sustainability education into nearly all pre-service teacher preparation programs throughout the state, thus preparing future teachers to effectively teach these concepts and skills in Washington classrooms. Partners in this project include Washington’s office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Woodland Park Zoo, Association for Science Teacher Education, Environmental Education Association of Washington, Pacific Education Institute, Facing the Future, and several WSU units.
2007 Grants
River Center Foundation $14,998
Robert Boekelheide, P.O. Box 3007, 2151 Hendrickson Road, Sequim, WA 98382
Teaching Science Skills/Ecosystem Protection of the Dungeness River Watershed
This grant develops and provides two continuing education workshops that help teachers develop classroom lessons about the water quality, habitat protection, fish, and wildlife of the Dungeness River watershed. These lessons help the teachers understand and use basic scientific methods, inquiry-based learning, problem solving, and hands-on techniques. The project instructs the teachers about how to apply state education testing goals and skills to watershed health on the North Olympic Peninsula. The River Center partners with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, the Sequim School District, and Audubon of Washington on this project.
Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force $15,396
Cara Ianni, P. O. Box 5006, Everett, WA 98026
Restoration Ecology for Young Stewards
This restoration program is for students to design and implement an experimental stream restoration project within the school’s watershed. The curriculum is project- and inquiry-based and engages youth in an authentic salmon habitat restoration project. It increases environmental stewardship within the communities where it is implemented. The program works with Snohomish County Surface Water Management, local city governments, local school districts, and local tribal entities to offer students the opportunity to learn about ecosystems, enhance their skills in scientific inquiry and investigation, and design solutions to real-world problems faced by restoration professionals. The curriculum includes two field-based and seven in-class lessons. Student collect observational data, perform simple experiments, learn the life history of the salmon, conduct investigations, implement stream restoration, and communicate their learning. The project reaches classrooms within the Arlington and Snohomish School Districts.
2006 Grants
Indochinese Cultural & Service Center $75,000
Donna Woskow, 1724 East 44th Street, Tacoma, WA 98404
Asian/Pacific Islander (API) Youth Environmental Education Program
Under this project, Asian/Pacific Islander youth in middle and high school are educated about environmental pollution, risks, and related prevention strategies that affect the surrounding marine environment in Puget Sound. The youth participate in 48 after-school meetings and attend 20 after-school classes using the curriculum Connections: Guide to a Healthy Environment, and Investigating & Evaluating Environmental Issues & Actions Skills Development Program. During the meetings and classes, the youth learn how to collect samples and conduct laboratory analysis with the assistance of representatives of several non-profit organizations, federal, state, and local agencies, and universities. After the meetings and classes, the teenagers then reach out to their peers, parents, families, and senior citizens to share information about local environmental health risks. They prepare, present, and disseminate information, including public service announcements, to the Asian/Pacific community using methods that are culturally appropriate. They also make presentations to public school classes and to adults attending English as a Second Language, citizenship, and other workshops and classes. By participating in this project, the youth are learning how to take actions to protect the marine environment of Puget Sound and to promote prevention of pollution in the sound. Members of the local community are, in turn, more aware of existing environmental risks in the community. The Korean Women’s Association of Tacoma/Pierce County is the partner on this project.
Pacific Science Center $16,500
Apryl Brinkley, 200 Second Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109
Lake Washington Watershed Internship Program
High school students from southeast Seattle, Renton, and Bellevue are recruited for a 12-month internship. The interns attend weekly after-school meetings, quarterly creek monitoring and surveying sessions, professional development field trips, and restoration projects. They also prepare lessons to present to fourth-grade classrooms and work with mentors to develop Watershed Discovery Carts on the Lake Washington watershed to reach the visitors of the Pacific Science Center. The carts include hands-on, interactive demonstrations that allow staff and volunteers to interact with visitors on a more personal level by providing presentations that can accommodate groups at the Pacific Science Center. The goal is to promote critical thinking for the interns, students, and the public about the effects of pollution on an important source of water in the community.
Seattle Audubon Society $13,882
Susan Tallarico, 8050 35th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98115
Finding Urban Nature (FUN) for School Grades 2-5
Finding Urban Nature (FUN) delivers inquiry-based, hands-on science and environmental education experiences in zoology, botany and ecology at public schools, mostly in central and south Seattle, for children in grades 2 through 5 right in their schoolyards and classrooms. Volunteers are trained to assist FUN staff to provide 1-hour lessons 8 to 10 times over the course of the school year. The FUN curriculum meets both the Environmental Education Standards of Washington State and the Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) of the Seattle Public School District’s Life Science Framework for students in kindergarten through grade 5. Volunteers and participating teachers receive two intensive training sessions during the year to apply this curriculum. The goal of the project is to equip students with research skills in natural science and a basis for understanding urban nature.
Washington State University $31,899
Lynda Paznokas, P.O. Box 643140, 423 Neil Hall, Pullman, WA 99164-3140
Pre-Service Environmental Education Project (PEEP)
The Pre-Service Environmental Education Project (PEEP) incorporates environmental education into the majority of pre-service teacher preparation programs throughout the state, thus readying future teachers to effectively teach these concepts and skills in Washington classrooms. Seventy-five percent of Washington’s teacher preparation programs are expected to participate. Teachers are trained to deliver experiential, field-based, effective, accurate, and age-appropriate environmental education skills and content to students within the framework of Washington’s Environmental Education Guidelines for Washington Schools. Training programs at each university differ according to the unique student population and the missions of the university; however, they all include common elements such as field trips with children, curriculum training, field investigations, problem-based learning, and case studies.
2005 Grants
Puget Sound Action Team, Port Townsend Marine Science Society $10,000
Anne Murphy, 532 Battery Way, Port Townsend, WA 98368
Port Townsend Marine Science Center Discovery Lab Monitoring Program
Under this project, additional laboratory equipment is provided for a hands-on sea water research and science laboratory project conducted by the Port Townsend Marine Science Society (PTMSS). The project is a collaborative effort with the Olympia Region Harmful Algal Bloom Partnership and the Hood Canal Dissolved Oxygen Program. This additional equipment allows the laboratory to participate in two local research projects to collect data on harmful algal blooms and dissolved oxygen in Hood Canal. Members of PTMSS train teachers, students, and local volunteers to use the monitoring equipment. The monitoring that is undertaken is grade appropriate at all levels and includes inquiry projects initiated by individual students. Other activities funded under the grant are teacher training on monitoring and remote sensing techniques, site visits for students, and pre- and post-field trip classroom activities.
2004 Grants
Bryant Elementary School PTA $5,000
Julia Jones, 3311 NE 60th Street, Seattle, WA 98115
Water Quality Survey of Ravenna Creek
The goal of this project is for Bryant Elementary School teachers and students to gain a better understanding of the condition of Ravenna Creek. The participants first have a 4-day stay at the Island Wood Residence and then participate in a year-long community service project. During this project, the participants collect and analyze samples from Ravenna Creek to assess the quality of the creek water. Island Wood faculty members provide curriculum consultation and an orientation workshop for the teachers to help them plan individual class projects. The students post the results of their water quality analysis on the school Web site and present their findings at a summit meeting.
Dayton School District #2 $3,200
Doug Yenney, 609 S. Second Street, Dayton, WA 99328
Best Management Practices in the Dayton Area
This project addresses two essential questions: what practices are local agricultural producers using to protect soil and water resources, and how can the effectiveness of these practices be measured? The Dayton School District teaches 120 high school students about the effects of local agricultural conservation practices using project-based learning. The students hear agricultural producers talk about best management practices (BMP), and then the students design a test of the effectiveness of the BMPs in protecting soil and water resources. The project also includes five field visits over a period of 1 year; during these visits, the students conduct field measurements and testing. In addition, the students collect water quality data along the Touche River every 2 weeks. The students analyze their findings, write reports, and present them to local growers.
East Valley School District #361 $4,453
Georgianne Delgadillo, 12325 East Grace Avenue, Spokane, WA 99216
Fish Tales
This project involves approximately 180 middle school science students and five teachers in a study of rainbow trout, one of the key species inhabiting the Spokane River. The students learn about the life cycle of the rainbow trout and evaluate the river’s capability to sustain the trout population. The teachers receive training in use of sampling equipment and in the curricular elements of the project. The students participate in classroom activities, visit a fish hatchery to see and handle rainbow trout, and participate in extensive field activities to study the Spokane River habitat. They present their findings using a variety of methods, including posters, oral presentations, and research papers.
Franklin Conservation District $22,645
Heather Wendt, 1620 Road 44 N, Pasco, WA 99301
Salmon in the Classroom Program
This is a joint program between the Franklin and Benton Conservation Districts. The program’s goal is to educate students and the public about local water quality issues and their effects on salmon. As part of the program, students raise salmon from eggs in the classroom and then release the fry into the Yakima and Columbia Rivers. Under this grant, an additional 11 4th- through 12th-grade classes are participating in the program. Teachers use the Salmon in the Classroom curriculum to educate the students about salmon and the environment. Conservation district personnel visit the participating classes to help them with their projects as well as water quality testing.
National Wildlife Federation $23,485
Gretchen Muller, 418 1st Avenue West, Seattle, WA 98119
Development of Five Schoolyard Habitat Sites
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is assisting five elementary schools in the development of NWF-certified outdoor learning classrooms called Schoolyard Habitats. These classrooms provide the essential habitat elements of food and shelter and serve as places where wildlife can live and raise offspring. Through a series of educator workshops and field visits, teachers learn how to best configure, plant, and use the outdoor classrooms. Through educational activities, the students are involved in the design of the habitat and the selection of appropriate plant species. The classrooms are designed to enhance students’ interest in the environment and to give them hands-on outdoor lessons in protecting and conserving wildlife habitat.
Olympic Park Institute $5,000
Scott Schaffer, 111 Barnes Point Road, Port Angeles, WA 98363
High School Advanced Field Science Program Scholarships
The purpose of this program is to expose high school students to real science in order to encourage them to pursue a career in environmental science. The program is based at the Olympic Park Institute in the Olympic National Park. Six scientists work with three groups of eight students in an intensive 8-day study of the scientific method. Topics covered through lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on teaching in the field include wildlife and fishery biology, forest ecology, watershed health, and native and invasive plant ecology. The students complete scientific investigations and write research papers.
Port Townsend Marine Science Society $13,735
Cinamon Moffett, 532 Battery Way, Port Townsend, WA 98368
Onshore-Offshore: Marine Ecology for Teachers
Onshore-Offshore is a professional development program for teachers. The program offers teachers hands-on, inquiry-based, science education skills that are transferable to their classrooms. The program includes a week-long residential workshop for 24 kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers. The teachers work alongside research scientists both onshore and at sea to formulate research questions. Based on these questions, the teachers design inquiry-based mini-research projects. They then evaluate the results of their data gathering under the direction of scientists and educators, who also provide the teachers with examples of curricula that are suitable for classroom use. The offshore sessions are conducted on a University of Washington vessel and a historic schooner. Through these sessions and a series of lessons, teachers are prepared to return to their classrooms and teach inquiry-based science.
Rainshadow Natural Science Foundation $4,900
Bob Boekelheide, P.O. Box 3007, Sequim, WA 98382
Dungeness River Studies
This project provides hands-on field experiences in science for fourth- and fifth-grade students (including home school students) in the northern Olympic Peninsula. The focus of the project is to instill students with an interest in science careers and to educate the students and public about protection of at-risk watershed resources, an important community issue. The students monitor specific physical and chemical characteristics of the Dungeness River while learning about the importance of consistent monitoring and accurate and reliable data collection. The Rainshadow Natural Science Foundation compiles all the data collected by the students, and the results are distributed through displays at the Dungeness River Center, a student presentation for the public, the Foundation newsletter, and river and partnership Web sites, including the National Audubon Society, Olympic Peninsula chapter, and the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe.
Wenatchee School District #246 $10,146
Jeanine Butler, 235 Sunset Avenue, Wenatchee, WA 98801
Wenatchee School District Science Field Experience
Under this grant, the Wenatchee School District is conducting a region-specific field experience for all of its first-grade students that focuses on protection and conservation of the remaining shrub-steppe habitat in eastern Washington. The project provides in-service training for 24 first-grade teachers to increase their knowledge of botany and enhance their instructional skills. The teachers provide instruction to 555 students over a 2-month period using the school district’s botany curriculum. Classroom instruction is complemented by a field trip during which students observe, measure, and write descriptions of native shrub-steppe plants.
2003 Grants
Educational Service District 113 $20,672
Kathy Jacobson, 601 McPhee Road SW, Olympia, WA 98502
River of Words: Catalyst for Watershed Education and Action
This is a year-long project in which over 45 teachers and 1,550 students in grades 4 through 12 are introduced to "River of Words," a watershed poetry and art project designed to challenge students to explore and interpret their local watersheds through the arts. Teachers participate in a 2-day “River of Words” teacher’s institute and in a 1-day follow-up training session. Students receive instruction in the classroom and participate in field studies that incorporate water quality monitoring, art, and writing activities. Working with community partners, students also engage in watershed action projects. A “Student Congress” culminates the project and features opportunities for students to lead workshops and showcase their work.
King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks $18,134
Lexi Taylor, 201 South Jackson Street, Suite 600, Seattle, WA 98104
Wheels to Water 2: Extending Water Quality Education to All King County Students
This project expands King County's Wheels to Water program, which promotes water quality education by providing free transportation for students to on-site environmental education programs covering topics related to water quality. King County increases the water quality-related knowledge and analytical skills of about 1,800 kindergarten through 12th-grade students and teachers across the county by maximizing the number of free bus trips offered, targeting and conducting outreach to schools with the highest proportions of low-income and culturally diverse students, increasing the number of sites that the program serves, broadening the range of services offered, and expanding the geographic areas served.
Longview School District $9,935
Ann Cavanaugh, 2715 Lilac Street, Longview, WA 98632
Wake Robin Virtual Visitation Project
Through the purchase and installation of scientific monitoring devices at the Wake Robin Outdoor Learning Center, every classroom in the Longview School District has computer access to round-the-clock data from the site. This information is used to provide a context for math and science instruction. Training for 25 teachers offers strategies for using inquiry to connect classroom lessons to the data. Critical-thinking and problem-solving skills are emphasized as 500 students study stream conditions, plant and animal life, and the impact of human development on the site over time. Regardless of weather conditions or funding for field trips, the school district’s students have direct connections to the natural world that help to educate them.
Olympic Park Institute $12,903
Ian Miller, 111 Barnes Point Road, Port Angeles, WA 98363
Gateway Communities Initiative
In this outreach program, over 500 students on the Olympic Peninsula learn about the environment and their own connections to the natural world through discovery-based science instruction and a variety of stewardship activities designed by Olympic Park Institute's environmental educators. The field science curriculum is introduced to rural and tribal students in their own communities. The program also expands the reach of school-based programs, gives young people a broad and informed base of options for resolving environmental issues in their communities, and promotes environmentally responsible behavior among the participants. The program includes a series of school visits and outdoor, inquiry-based, holistic learning experiences with the students.
Salish Seas Expeditions $5,000
Lori Mitchell, 647 Horizon View Place NW, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Girls on the Sound
Girls on the Sound (GOTS) is a 3-month program for seventh- and eighth-grade, low-income girls living in inner-city Seattle. The program teaches critical-thinking and decision-making skills, fosters self-confidence, and encourages interest in environmental and marine science careers. Students design their own marine research projects, participate in a kayaking expedition that introduces them to Puget Sound, receive mentoring from environmental scientists, and take part in a 3-day research expedition aboard a 61-foot-long sailboat in Puget Sound. Throughout the program, participants, staff members, and GOTS mentors meet weekly for 2 hours away from the classroom. The students get to know one another and themselves in challenging exercises; are introduced to the scientific method, marine science, and Puget Sound issues through hands-on experiments; and conduct research on the Internet and using local news sources. The environmental scientists who visit the classroom help each student to frame and organize a research project, give water quality lectures, and are available for contact as potential role models in the sciences.
Woodland Park Zoo $10,000
Dave Hill, 601 North 59th Street, Seattle, WA 98103
Wild Wise
Wild Wise (WW) is a free outreach and education program in which middle school students are equipped with the skills of a naturalist, explore the outdoors looking for wildlife, and work on real science projects in their own communities. WW combines interactive, multimedia curricula with outdoor science experiences. The classroom portion of the program takes students on a virtual visit to five major Washington habitats and uses examples of conservation success stories to demonstrate wildlife observation and data collection skills. Students also learn how to observe and identify wildlife, the importance of mapping, how observations become data, and how to use data to help identify conservation issues and save species. Through its promotion of science, geography, and math skills, the program fulfills state-mandated Essential Academic Learning Requirements for fifth- through seventh-grade students. Teachers are provided with comprehensive WW curricula, maps and descriptions of local natural areas that are customized for each school visited, and training workshops and conferences.
2002 Grants
911 Media Arts Center $22,500
Malory Graham, 117 Yale Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109
STUFF: The Secret Life of Everyday Things
In this environmental educational program, 25 high school students explore the relationship between consumerism and waste production and their own consumption habits. They mentor with professional media producers to create a 10-minute video that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the production, distribution, and consumption of an everyday household object. The project increases the capacity of three organizations: the 911 Media Arts center (non-profit educational organization), King County Solid Waste (government natural resources agency), and Foster High School (public high school) to develop a strategic model for producing and delivering environmental education video projects on a county level.
City of Edmonds $5,000
Sally Lider, 700 Main Street, Edmonds, WA 98020
Schoolyard Habitat Network
The goal of this project is to promote and facilitate the creation of schoolyard habitats in kindergarten through 12th-grade schools in Edmonds and the surrounding community. Participation in the planning, design, implementation, and ongoing monitoring and maintenance of habitats provide teachers and students with the opportunity to connect with nature while achieving required academic goals. The project increases the awareness of teachers about other national habitat programs, helps individual schools assess their schoolyards for habitat enhancement potential, offers an educator workshop, and facilitates the network between local schools engaged in identical projects.
Pacific Science Center $21,423
Paula Williams, 200 Second Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109
Lake Washington Watershed Internship Program
This project stimulates interest in environmental science careers by providing hands-on learning opportunities for high school student participants through a project-based watershed monitoring program. The strategy uses local surroundings to generate natural curiosity for the environment and teaches concepts of biology and environmental education. It is also designed to develop job skills, to investigate environmental science as a career option, and to encourage participants to pursue their interest in environmental science through college and vocational programs and careers in the field. The students use a local watershed to develop science process skills of observing, predicting, experimenting, and collecting and interpreting data and applying knowledge. The interns interact with elementary school students to investigate science concepts and to stimulate interest in environmental science careers.
Quillayute Valley School District $5,000
Sheryl Schaaf, P. O. Box 60, Forks, WA 98331
Kids in the Creek
This project helps students understand the importance of water quality as an indicator of ecosystem health. Third- and seventh-grade students increase their knowledge and experience of how science works and occurs in the real world. They raise salmon in the classroom, place them in the creek, and monitor their progress. Comparative changes throughout the year are compiled and analyzed, which are then shared with nine other school districts via videoconferencing. Teachers become better trained in ecosystem protection, how to test and monitor its health, and how to engage students in true inquiry-based science instruction. The project is conducted by the Quillayute Valley School District (led by their Science Coordinator). Practical experience is provided by the Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition and the University of Washington.
Stillwaters Environmental Education Center $15,852
Joleen Palmer, 26059 Barber Cut Off Road, Kingston, WA 98346
Carpenter Creek Integrated Watershed Curriculum
Using existing watershed curricula, this project creates a "Supplemental Activities Guide" to augment the existing junior high science curriculum. The guide incorporates Critical Work Function Skills for environmental careers and the state's Essential Academic Learning Requirements. Activities are field- and classroom-based, project-oriented, and localized to this particular watershed. Teacher training workshops for about 20 teachers in 5 local schools are planned. Twenty-five volunteers are recruited and trained to assist teachers in the field and the classroom.
2001 Grants
Earth Island Institute $15,000
Paul Horton, 610 Fourth Avenue East, Olympia, WA 98501
Transportation Workshops at Olympia Schools
The project organizes workshops for parents, teachers, students, and school administrators in the Olympia School District during which the participants discuss and develop school-based solutions related to transportation as an environmental, economic, and health concern. Climate Solutions leads 10 workshops for parents, students, and administrators and 6 workshops for teachers. Teacher education and participation reinforce the workshops for other school groups. The elements of the program are posted on the Internet to serve as a model for other communities that wish to explore such programs.
Mason Conservation District $15,746
Jeanene Campbell, 1051 SE Highway 3, Suite G, Shelton, WA 98584-9195
Pioneer School District Environmental Education Program
The goal of the education reform project is to create an environmental education program that will reach every student in the Pioneer School District by August 31, 2002. The objectives of the program include integrating environmental education into existing curricula, planning field trips throughout the year, purchasing field equipment, and establishing an outdoor learning site. A coordinator from the Mason Conservation District works to form partnerships with community members to use their expertise to create a strong program. The program is an innovative, creative use of resources that serves as a model for other school districts.
Rainshadow Natural Science Foundation $5,000
Annette Hanson, P. O. Box 3007, Sequim, WA 98382
Dungeness Bay W.A.T.C.H. Watershed Activities To Change Habits
The project delivers an effective environmental education experience to 215 students in grade 7 and 350 parents. That experience helps develop participants’ ability to identify and address fecal coliform contamination in their watershed, a crucial ecosystem and environmental health issue in the area. Local environmental experts make classroom presentations, which are followed by a full-day field trip to the watershed. Participants also receive a family checklist for use in identifying sources of pollution and solutions to pollution problems. When the project has been completed, the foundation will share the program with educators; science and environmental education museums and centers; and local, state, and federal agencies so that it can be incorporated into school and public outreach programs.
Sound Farmers Education Foundation $15,800
Joy Garitone, 1045 Thompson Road, Poulsbo, WA 98370
Sound Farmers Education Foundation Youth Agricultural Conservation Training Project
The project educates members of 4-H and the Future Farmers of America who work in livestock projects about non-point source pollution resulting from agricultural practices. Through class presentations, demonstrations, field days at a local farm during which “hands-on” training is provided, and a tour of model farm sites in Kitsap County, the young people and their leaders learn about best management practices that can be applied to address issues related to non-point source pollution on their own small farms.
Tapteal Greenway $4,995
Ginger Wireman, P. O. Box 3007, Richland, WA 99352
Watershed Education
The program reaches preschool and school-age children, their adult care givers, and teachers with interactive, formal or informal, classroom or field experiences that help them develop an understanding of the water cycle, watersheds, water pollution, riparian and shrub-steppe habitats, and the web of life. After participating in the program, participants are able to describe the water cycle and the watershed, identify and appreciate plants of the riparian and shrub-steppe habitats, and describe the needs of area fish and wildlife and the life cycle of the salmon. Participants also learn to behave in a manner that protects public property and water resources and to protect their health when they come into contact with the river.
West Sound Academy $9,840
James Kolb, P. O. Box 807, Poulsbo, WA 98370
Creating a Sense of Place
The project trains six members of the staff of West Sound Academy in the use of existing materials to develop and implement an integrated environmental science course for students in grades 6 through 12. With the guidance of teachers and local resource experts, students develop the knowledge and skills necessary to collect, interpret, and present data on watersheds. Students use their knowledge and skills to work with teaching staff and facilitators of the NatureMapping program to develop a community education outreach program. Working with those professional authorities, the students create two “interactive storybooks” related to the health of the local watershed for display at the Poulsbo Marine Center and Kitsap County Fair. The students also create a Puget Soundbook web site to facilitate communication with the community.
2000 Grants
City of Tumwater Public Works $19,020
Cathy Callison, 555 Israel Road SW, Tumwater, WA 98501
Percival Creek: Habitat Education, Restoration and Stewardship
Through a combination of workshops, field experiences, informational brochures, and hands-on activities, the year-long project involves Tumwater teachers, students, homeowners, and city personnel in restoration and long-term stewardship of the local watershed and salmon habitat. The goals of the project are to provide education on the value of salmon, salmon habitat, and stream ecology through workshops and field studies, to offer training in how to use biological assessment as an educational and action tool to determining the health of salmon habitat in South Puget Sound; to teach habitat restoration skills to teachers, students, and homeowners; to provide teachers, students, and homeowners with a opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they have learned to a habitat restoration project; and to train city personnel in long-term maintenance of habitat restoration sites.
Columbia Basin College Mathematics and Science Division $4,990
Jennifer VonReis, 2600 N 20th Avenue, Pasco, WA 99301
Mid-Columbia Basin Shrub-Steppe Study
The Mid-Columbia Basin Shrub-Steppe Study develops and delivers an 11-week, five-credit course to be delivered during the spring of 2001. The course teaches students how to monitor and assess the effects of human activity and development on the health of the mid-Columbia basin shrub-steppe ecosystem. The Columbia Basin College (CBC) carries out the project in conjunction with Washington State University Tri-Cites, Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, the local Audubon society, the local native plant society, and area landowners who allow faculty and students of CBC on their property.
Lake Washington School District and Environmental and Adventure School $3,880
Eileen McMackin, P. O. Box 97039, Redmond, WA 98073
Finn Hill Watershed Education Project
Under a project supported by the Environmental and Adventure School, approximately 40 environmental and adventure middle school students in the Lake Washington School District engage in weekly field studies and research, including the collection and reporting of data for the King County Amphibian Monitoring Program. In turn, the middle school students provide activities to approximately 300 third- and fourth-grade students at Sandburg Elementary, Thoreau Elementary, and Arrowhead Elementary schools. At the conclusion of the project, Northshore and Lake Washington District school teachers and administrators, and interested educators elsewhere, are informed of academic and social benefits achieved through the project as a means of providing a model for wide application of the community-based environmental education method.
Land/Culture Project (Groundworks Institute) $4,838
Todd Cullison, P. O. Box 2902, Pullman, WA 99165
Environmental Education Through Stream Assessment in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho
Groundworks Institute implements a holistic educational program in stream assessment that links data-gathering and analysis and preparation of recommendations among partner schools and organizations through an interactive web site. The purposes of the program are to educate participants about the importance of good water quality and the overall health of local watersheds and to link students across geographical distances as they collaborate to assess their local watersheds. The project uses comprehensive environmental education methods to integrate mathematics, science, communication, and critical-thinking skills into an existing assessment curriculum. The integrated environmental education program connects children with their local environment through hands-on experiences in watershed assessment in the field, in the classroom, and on the web. The primary audience of the project is school children in kindergarten through 12th grade in eastern Washington and northern Idaho.
Mason Conservation District $15,000
Jeanene Campbell, 1051 S.E. Hwy 3, Suite G, Shelton, WA 98584
Mason County Environmental Education Initiative
Through a cooperative effort that involves the Washington Forest Protection Association and the Simpson Timber Company, the Mason Conservation District (MDC) offers a means of educating teachers and district administrators about the benefits of using interdisciplinary environmental education activities in the classroom. The MDC and the partner agencies form the Mason County Environmental Education Team (MCEET) to provide training for teachers in Shelton School District. The MCEET and teachers integrate environmental education into existing curricula, such as Project Learning Tree, Project WET, Project Wild, and Forests of Washington, to meet the new essential academic learning requirements (ERLR). Once integrated, the curriculum helps teachers assess environmental and ecological conditions and address specific environmental issues and problems. The work with Shelton School District will serve as a model for other districts after the project has been completed.
Salish Sea Expeditions $5,000
Ellie Linen Low, P. O. Box 976, Kingston, WA 98346
Turning Middle School Students into Real Marine Scientists
The project is designed as a pilot study to link two innovative science education endeavors in Puget Sound, the Salish Sea Expeditions (SSE) and the Truth About Science (TAS) curriculum. SSE and TAS are similar in that they both teach students how to practice real environmental science: SSE almost entirely out of doors and TAS from the platform of a structured classroom. The goal of the collaborative project is to unite and strengthen the inquiry based learning programs, thereby providing an intensive and cohesive educational experience, in both the classroom and the field. Through a partnership with TAS developers, SSE provides training to middle school teachers who are participating in the TAS curriculum in the Seattle School District in how to conduct their classes' long-term research projects using the SSE boat, science equipment, and educators.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife $29,500
Michelle Tirhi, 25644 44th Avenue South, Kent, WA 98032
Interactive Education Program for the Internet
Under the project, an interactive animated educational game is developed to educate students about the diverse wildlife in Washington and the effects of human actions on the wildlife. Through the game, sixth- through eighth-grade students in both rural and urban areas of the state are learning about and using scientific concepts and principles and applying their newly acquired skills to increase their knowledge about diverse species. The program addresses the need to assist students in urban areas in learning about and gaining an appreciation of the natural environment from which they may be far removed. The students learn about fish, wildlife, and plant species with which they may not typically come into contact in their communities. They apply critical-thinking and problem-solving skills as they are engaged in the game and are provided access to a wide selection of resources and publications. The Internet game is housed on an existing Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife site and is linked to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service site. Development of the project is supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Seattle School District; and the Tacoma School District.
1999 Grants
City of Richland $5,000
Gail Baasch, P. O. Box 190, Richland, WA 99352
Shopping Smarter for Our Home: An Environmental Workshop
A workshop is being held to teach environmentally conscious shopping in an interactive manner that is fun for participants. Packaging alternatives, durable products, bulk purchasing, purchasing of products made from recycled materials, and reuse of grocery bags are among the subjects discussed. Employees of city and county agencies work in teams to showcase local issues related to solid waste, recycling opportunities, and the importance of using safer alternatives. From ingredients generally found in the home, such safer alternatives are made and demonstrated, and the proper disposal of household hazardous waste is discussed. The workshop includes a hands-on tour of a local grocery store, and a comparison of packaging waste and prices is carried out. Each participant receives handouts, a 22-page book of recipes for safer alternatives, and a canvas Earth shopping bag.
Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe $3,000
Sharon Purser, Headstart Program, 31912 Little Boston Road NE, Kingston, WA 98346
Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe Environmental Day 1999
The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe hosts an annual forum for tribal members of all ages and school teachers in the local community to gather together to learn more about the environmental concerns that confront the reservation, northern Kitsap Peninsula, and the county. This year, the Environmental Day focuses on methods of reducing, reusing, and recycling refuse. Information booths, presentations by guest speakers, small group discussions, and experiential demonstrations are offered.
St. Martin's College $5,000
Huabin Chen, 5300 Pacific Avenue SE, Lacey, WA 98503
Integrating Telecommunication and Computer Technologies into Environmental Education
St. Martin's College and the Hoquiam School District are collaborating on an effort to enhance environmental education in the school district through in-service teacher training in the application of technology to environmental education. The project fosters global awareness and international cooperation by addressing environmental issues through telecommunications. Under the project, 20 rural teachers (who will train 30 additional teachers) are trained in how to use E-mail, the Internet, CD-ROMs, videodiscs, probeware, and other technology as learning tools for environmental education. The school district is located in a economically depressed rural community.
Thurston Conservation District $25,000
Kathy Jacobson, 2400 Bristol Court, SW, Suite 100, Olympia, WA 98502
Teacher Training in Using Biological Assessment
Thurston Conservation District is conducting a year-long project to educate 40 teachers and 1,500 students about biological assessment methods based on research that can be used to determine the health of salmon habitats in the South Sound. The goals of the project are to introduce teachers and students to salmon biology, stream ecology, and such recent developments in watershed science as biological assessment; to gather data useful to the monitoring and restoration programs of tribes and the county; and to address local initiatives and the state of Washington's salmon recovery goals by preparing and supporting the students to work in teams to undertake projects focused on the community. At the end of the year, a student congress convenes to share and analyze water quality data and biological assessment surveys.
Washington State University Center of Environmental Education $20,000
Darin Saul, Director, Washington State University Center of Environmental Education Pullman, Pullman, WA 99164-1025
Organizing Environmental Education in North-Central Washington
This grant expands and organizes environmental education in north-central Washington by linking resources of the Colville Confederated Tribes with local teachers and schools and by providing training workshops and resources to teachers. Under the expanded effort, 60 teachers in five rural school districts are reached. A planning and training retreat, a needs assessment of the tribe's staff and programs, and an assessment of the local schools' and teachers' needs are being offered. The project also establishes links with other environmental education programs, conducts teacher training workshops that integrates themes highlighted in the assessments, and integrates Native American perspectives into local curricula.
Washington State University Spokane $6,238
Dr. Sylvia Adams Oliver, 601 West First Avenue, Spokane, WA 99201
CityLab After-School Environmental Science Camps
Washington State University (WSU) Spokane CityLab is working in partnership with Shaw and Glover middle schools in Spokane and with the Health Improvement Partnership to provide students and teachers with the technology and resources necessary for hands-on experience in science. The environmental curriculum focuses on the quality of water and soil and contamination with heavy metals of water systems in the Silver Valley near Spokane. At each school, the camps run for six weeks in the fall and are offered two days per week (one and one-half or two hours a day) after regular school hours. Teachers attend a one-day intensive training workshop to receive instruction in the environmental curriculum and laboratory modules and training in instructional strategies. The students' findings are disseminated to members of the community through posters, letters, and coverage by local media.
1998 Grants
Battle Ground School District $8,143
Teresa Baldwin, P. O. Box 200, Battle Ground, WA 98604
Environmental Summer School
In 1999, five middle schools in the school district will participate in a summer school program. Seventh grade students who have deficient academic records will benefit from subject matter intended to heighten environmental awareness, improve skills in mathematics and science, and develop cooperative working skills. Each school is to focus on a specific environmental project, with activities overseen by a teacher, an assistant, an intern, and guests (faculty of Washington State University and practicing professionals). Field trips will increase the students' understanding of environmental science issues. At the end of the program, students will share the results of their work with other students and the community. The students who will be involved in the program represent a predominantly white, low-income population.
Kitsap County - Department of Public Works, Solid Waste $5,000
Gretchen Olsen, 614 Division Street, MS-27, Port Orchard, WA 98366
Danger and Danger Household Detective Agency
Kitsap County's Danger and Danger Household Detective Agency educates students in grades 2 through 6 and the community about household hazardous waste. The students receive instruction from leaders in the form of a participatory, cartoon detective game. By developing projects and participating in field trips together, both children and their parents learn the facts about hazardous household products. The program has been applied in one of five school districts in Kitsap County, and a second is to be added.
North Central Educational Service District $9,596
Jack Horner, P. O. Box 1847, Wenatchee, WA 98807-1847
Technology Applications Promoting Environmental Studies
A one-week summer training institute on biodiversity and follow-up activities during the school year for 15 teachers of grades 7 through 10 is the focus of this project. The training prepares the participants to teach the following to their students: (1) basic ecological and environmental principles associated with biodiversity; (2) key environmental and social issues associated with biodiversity; and (3) research and critical-thinking skills needed to examine issues and develop action resolutions. The teachers also learn how to involve students in investigating and evaluating real issues and help them develop patterns of behavior that befit responsible citizens.
Onalaska School District #300 $23,800
Dr. Robert P. Kraig, 540 Carlisle Avenue, Onalaska, WA 98570
Onalaska School District Environmental Education Project
The district's environmental education project is located in an outdoor educational park and is directed toward ecologically minded students. The main goal of the project is to add field work to the routine of classroom teaching. To accomplish that goal, the district, in cooperation with more than a dozen other school districts (Technical Prep/School to Work Educational Consortium) provides an interpretive trail system; provides presentations to the public that explore environmental and ecological issues; implements educational technology to improve the access of teachers, students, and members of the community to information about important environmental issues; and sponsors a festival called Music Under the Stars. High school students and the public, 60 percent of whom are minority or low-income populations, benefit from the project.
Rainshadow Natural Science Foundation $5,060
Annette Hanson, P. O. Box 3007, Sequim, WA 98382
River Resources - Education Reform and Training
The Rainshadow Natural Science Foundation, made up of educators, scientists, and engineers, is working in partnership with the National Audubon Society to develop an outdoor educational site at the Dungeness River Park, located on the Olympic Peninsula. The goal of the project is to help residents in the watershed to understand their natural environment, thereby increasing their ability to deal with local issues and increasing their involvement in decisions that affect local water quality. Experts on the local watershed instruct 24 volunteers (teachers) who then make presentations for public, private, and home school teachers; science and environmental education museums and centers; and staff of local, state, and federal agencies for incorporation into their school and public programs. During the project, the foundation is updating existing environmental education watershed curricula.
Saint Martin's College $5,000
Huabin Chen, 5300 Pacific Avenue, SE, Lacey, WA 98503
Integrating Telecommunication and Computer Technologies into Environmental Education
Saint Martin's College and the Montesano School District are enhancing environmental education in the school district through in-service teacher training on the application of technology to environmental education. The project fosters global awareness and international cooperation by addressing environmental issues through telecommunications. Teachers are trained in using electronic mail, the Internet, CD-ROMs, videodiscs, probeware, and other technology as learning tools for environmental education. The school district is located in an economically depressed rural community.
Skykomish School District $4,488
Connie A. Adams, P. O. Box 325, Skykomish, WA 98288
Adopt-A-Stream Program
Skykomish School District's partnership with the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, continues a high school environmental science class effort to study the Skykomish River. The school district, located in northern Washington, uses the nearby Maloney Creek as an outdoor classroom for biology and environmental science classes. The project also involves members of the community living near the creek, as well as parents of the students. Fisheries are key to the community's culture. This project expands monitoring efforts to include a study of aquatic insect bioassays and a study of streamside vegetation in relation to fish habitat. Students also assist in developing a drainage plan to alleviate flooding in the city of Skykomish.
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission $19,815
Paul Malmberg, 11838 Tilley Road, S., Olympia, WA 98512
Forest Stewardship Project
The objective of the Forest Stewardship Project is to increase the public's awareness of the wildlife and vegetation of public forests and the human community's essential relationship with public forests. The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and its partners are combining their efforts to support a traveling show that educates audiences through skits and interaction. In addition, a study guide, a videotape, and a guide to developing similar creative environmental education programs are being produced. The audience includes individuals and families camping at state parks, patrons of public libraries, and middle school students.
Washington State University $24,713
Darin Saul, Center for Environmental Education, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164
Expand Environmental Education in Inland Northwest
The Center for Environmental Education at Washington State University is expanding environmental education in southeastern Washington and northern Idaho by assessing the resources and needs of several local schools (Plummer-Worley School District and the Coeur d'Alene Tribal School) and technical agencies and designing workshops to meet those needs. Two workshops are provided for 80 teachers and 30 staff of technical agencies. One workshop introduces a new environmental curriculum to teachers of kindergarten through grade 12 that focuses on watershed issues (water quality, aquatic resources, fisheries, and more). The second workshop creates a partnership between technical agency personnel and the teachers that supports field trips and hands-on activities.
YMCA of Snohomish County $5,000
Maddy Metzger-Utt, 2720 Rockefeller Avenue, Everett, WA 98201
YMCA Earth Service Corps
With assistance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, YMCA of Snohomish County's Earth Service Corps provides seven environmental education workshops that focus on real and current environmental problems the community is facing. The workshops educate young people about local issues and teach them job skills. They also demonstrate to the young people how environmental awareness strengthens the community and allow adults to see youth in a positive light. Speakers representing a variety of agencies provide hands-on activities for the young people, teachers, and YMCA staff. Currently, three of the seven workshops, covering water, waste management, and world hunger, have been completed. Subject matter for the remaining workshops will be selected by the participants.
1997 Grants
Adna School District $4,769
Debbi Davis, P. O. Box 148, Adna, WA 98522
The Tech Prep Program
Tech Prep enhances students' understanding of environmental careers and transfers classroom learning to actual field work. Ninth-grade students in a small rural community, as well as special needs students, participate in the program. Students perform extensive water quality testing and produce a database of the information that they have compiled. The project aims to improve water quality in local streams, thereby increasing the number of salmon that return to those streams to spawn.
Bainbridge Island School District $15,000
Brent Peterson, 8489 Madison Avenue NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Bainbridge Island Wildlife Corridor Study
Integrated into the existing watershed education program in Bainbridge schools, the Bainbridge Island Wildlife Corridor Study supports an ongoing effort to identify and preserve an islandwide wildlife habitat corridor. Activities conducted under the program include workshops, in-field data collection, and exhibits at public events. Participants are working with partners in the program, including government agencies and community organizations, to develop a database of components of the wildlife habitat and species observed in areas to be included in the wildlife corridor. The primary audience of the program is students in grades 4 through 12 in the Bainbridge Island School District and their teachers.
Central Basin Audubon Society $3,348
Joye Lucas, Education Committee, 2129 South Belair Drive, Moses Lake, WA 98837
Lakeview School Arboretum and Wildlife Habitat
Under this project, an arboretum and wildlife habitat was constructed on the grounds of Lakeview School for use as a laboratory for observing and investigating the interrelationships among birds and other wildlife and their habitat. Wildlife biologists, refuge managers, and nursery staff conduct workshops in the new living lab. Students use the laboratory to observe and investigate habitats of the Columbia River Basin and to draw conclusions and solve problems related to those habitats. The project targets the school's fourth- to sixth-grade students, 25 percent of whom are minorities and 31 percent of whom are children of low-income families.
Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science and Technology $4,975
Gwen Leth, P. O. Box 1890, Richland, WA 99352
Environmental Summer Science Camp
This community-based program educates students and their parents about the environmental issues that affect the Columbia River. The science camp program, of which examination of cleanup efforts at the nearby Hanford Nuclear Reservation is an integral part, is designed to show youngsters that study of the environment is science and that science is fun and accessible. The program reaches 105 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students and their families and places special emphasis on reaching families that home-school their children.
Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis $5,000
Rio Lara-Bellan, Chehlis Tribal Learning Center, P. O. Box 536, 420 Howanut Drive, Oakville, WA 98568
Chehalis Tribal Learning Center Workshops
This project provides environmental education to young people from 8 to 12 years old who live on the Chehalis Indian Reservation and in the community of Oakville. Participants learn about management of water resources, treatment of solid waste and wastewater, recycling and composting, restoration and management of habitat, fisheries, and wetland conservation, and explore air quality issues, as well. The young people attend workshops conducted by environmental professionals and participate in field trips during the summer.
Kitsap Conservation District $17,051
Carla Pizzano, 817 Sidney Avenue, Port Orchard, WA 98366
Kitsap County Fair On-Site Agricultural Waste Composting Demonstration Project
The Kitsap County Fair On-Site Agricultural Waste Composting Demonstration Project addresses the effects on water quality of management of livestock waste and creates an awareness of the benefits to both farm and community of the composting of livestock waste. The Conservation District provides a demonstration exhibit at the Kitsap County Fair that both educates the community and manages the livestock waste generated at the fair. The project is intended to increase understanding among officials of local jurisdictions of the benefit of taking a leadership role in addressing such environmental issues and to encourage members of the community to adopt the role of resource stewardship related to decisions about land use. Among its target populations are owners of livestock operations in the county, as well as the support services and interest groups associated with the farming industry.
Local Government Institute $5,000
Don Morrison, 4009 Bridgeport Way West, Suite E, Tacoma, WA 98466-4326
Local Official Problem-Solving Skills Enhancement Project
This project adapts existing environmental information and curricula to the environmental education needs of members of the city council and planning commission of a small city in the state of Washington.
Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma $5,000
Tom Weathers, 1919 S. Tyler, Tacoma, WA 98405
Environmental Education and Career Awareness for Multi-Cultural Schools
The Environmental Education and Career Awareness for Multi-Cultural Schools program provides a model for environmental education and career awareness programs for multicultural schools. The model, which is intended to increase knowledge, provide hands-on opportunities, and promote environmental justice, is intended for use in schools that have large multicultural populations, specifically in three fourth-grade classes located in economically disadvantaged communities in the Tacoma School District and six classes of junior and senior high school students in the Bethel School District. Teachers receive training through workshops and students gain experience through service projects and strengthen their awareness of environmental careers.
Pacific Science Center $5,000
Carole Hoffman, 200 Second Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98109
Family Science Career Awareness Workshop
The Family Science Career Awareness Workshop is a new program designed specifically for underserved populations that reaches primarily low-income, culturally diverse girls, ages 6 to 12. The five workshop sessions, reaching 60 children and their families, focus on increasing interest in careers in environmental science.
Pullman School District #267 $4,800
Stewart Higgins, District Administration, Larry and Hall Drive, Pullman, WA 99163
Pullman School District Teachers' Workshop
Under this program, wetlands, flood plains, and streams are used to integrate education in biology, agriculture, mathematics, language arts, geography, civics, and technology. The program draws on existing curricula in soil morphology, production of greenhouse gases, and qualitative analysis of vegetation. Various aspects of the program will involve all students, from kindergarten through 12th grade, enrolled in the Pullman School District, which has a 14 percent minority population.
The Giraffe Project $5,000
Laura Rudd, 197 Second Street, Langley, WA 98260
Eastern Washington Giraffe Project
The Giraffe Project focuses on the use of environmental education to advance the goals of education reform, informing teachers, students, parents, and community leaders about the threats to human health posed by environmental pollution and making the public aware of the environmental issues that affect their communities. The program works with before- and after-school child care sites, each of which develops and implements an environmental community service project. Young people taking part in the program, which targets students in kindergarten through 12th grade, learn to identify the issues that have the greatest effect on their environment and to apply problem-solving skills in addressing those issues.
Yakima Valley Opportunities Industrialization Center $4,977
Mary Jane Vujovic, 815 Fruitvale Boulevard, Yakima, WA 98902
Household Hazardous Waste Neighborhood Education Project
The Household Hazardous Waste Neighborhood Education Project strengthens the capacity of the Lower Yakima Valley Rural Enterprise Community to both develop and deliver quality environmental education programs and public education in environmental issues of significant concern to the community. To do so, the organization provides customized educational programs to Spanish-speaking adults who have limited proficiency in English and limited literacy in their native language. Five bilingual and bicultural members of the AmeriCorps Program, along with 25 volunteers from the community, are trained to serve as household hazardous waste educators. The AmeriCorps members and volunteers in turn educate 100 adults in one-on-one and small group sessions.
1996 Grants
Blue Mountain Demonstration Forest $5,000
Jack Waud, P. O. Box 3143, Port Angeles, WA 98362
The Blue Mountain Demonstration Forest
The Blue Mountain Demonstration Forest will be used as the field site for outdoor studies to develop an education program about forest ecosystems and modern forest practices for 25 elementary school teachers and 100 children in the Sequim and Port Angeles School Districts. The project is training teachers to use the curriculum and access the forest.
Chief Leschi School of the Puyallup Tribe $5,000
Cherlyn Pijanowski, 5625 52nd Street, E., Puyallup, WA 98371
Chief Leschi School of the Puyallup Tribe
This project provides teacher training towards improving lesson plans that promote environmental stewardship for 12 kindergarten through twelfth grade Native and Non-Native teachers and four Native American students at the Chief Leschi Tribal School. Approximately 400 students will benefit from this training. The training focuses on watersheds, wetlands, degradation impacts on anadromous fisheries and shellfish, and environmental justice. The workshops are hands-on training that emphasize problem-solving and critical thinking skills. The training is conducted with a variety of community-based partners.
RE Sources $13,275
Carl Weimer, 1155 N. State #625, Bellingham, WA 98225
Northwest Airnet Air Quality High School Project
This project adopts New England's successful "Air Net" project, based on air quality and atmospheric science curriculum, for 1,500 high school students in a three-county area in Northwest Washington. Products include a teacher-training workshop, air quality in-class presentations, an end-of-year "Congress" in which students will exchange results and information on what they have learned, and an Internet news group for teachers and students to share results of air quality experiments.
Salish Sea Discovery Center $5,000
Katherine Murphy, 9948 Shorty Campbell Road, Kingston, WA 98346
Salish Sea Program
The Salish Sea Program involves 1,200 students in seventh through twelfth grades each year in researching and taking action on 40 issues facing the quality of Puget Sound waters. The program occurs in the students' classrooms, in the local community, and aboard a student-operated research sailing vessel. Students experience scientific careers through participating in the daily tasks of those areas. Approximately 40 to 80 teachers are exposed to a community-based action-oriented approach to presenting environmental education, and ultimately will provide existing grassroots groups with young adults who have the skill and motivation to act to solve environmental problems.
Seattle Audubon Society $5,000
Christine Peterson, 8050 35th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98115
Finding Urban Nature (FUN)
Finding Urban Nature (FUN) is a hands-on nature program for third and fourth graders in the Seattle Public Schools. FUN combines the curiosity of children with trained community volunteers, the enthusiasm of knowledgeable teachers and the coordination skills of a highly respected environmental organization. The Seattle Audubon Society trains parents and other volunteers to lead small groups of children through eight separate hands-on environmental education activities over the school year. The explorations take place on the schools grounds, and the children learn that nature is everywhere.
St. Martin's College $5,000
Huabin Chen, 5300 Pacific Avenue SE, Lacey, WA 98503
Integrating Telecommunication and Technology into Environmental Education
This project develops a core of teacher leadership to support a rural school district's use of telecommunication and other technology within environmental education at the kindergarten through eighth grade level. Elma School District is located in a severely economically depressed western coastal area. It also fosters global awareness and international cooperation in addressing environmental issues, such as acid rain and water quality, through telecommunication. Teachers are trained on how to use electronic mail; explore the Internet; and use CD-ROM programs, videodiscs, probeware, and other technology in environmental education.
Steilacoom Historical School District - Saltar's Point Elementary School $4,796
Kristina Sullivan, 908 Third Street, Steilacoom, WA 98388
Forest Ecology: Training Project
This grant revises and strengthens environmental education curriculum by incorporating both the work of Project Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN) and the school's study of forest ecology into a program of study for students in third through fifth grades. The project provides in-service training to teachers in the study of local forest ecology and communicates this teacher expertise to the entire student body through field trips to forested sites.
Stevens Elementary School - Seattle Public Schools $5,000
Pamela Roberts, 815 4th Avenue, North Seattle, WA 98109
Weather Station - Curriculum Link Project
This project provides hands-on experience with scientific and math concepts through on-site manual and automated weather monitoring systems and data. It develops and supports service learning links between five to ten Seattle Community College students and 120 third to fifth grade students at Stevens Elementary.
Washington State Department of Ecology $5,000
Christine Corrigan, P. O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600
Central Washington Teacher Workshop
The Department of Ecology is organizing and conducting three teacher air quality workshops in selected rural schools in central Washington. Each workshop trains 15 to 20 teachers and reaches 900 to 1,200 students. The workshops will help teachers incorporate air quality education into their normal curriculum with the message carried home by students.
Western Washington University $5,000
Marie Eaton, MS 9118, Bellingham, WA 98225
Whatcom Watershed/Service Learning Project
This grant supports the training of teachers, future educators, and students to deliver high quality environmental education and service learning as part of the on-going Whatcom Watersheds Service Learning Project. The target audience includes 30 university students, 120 high school students, 100 elementary school students, 20 teachers, and 10 community members. Funds are used to coordinate two workshops and for watershed and wetlands resource materials.
1995 Grants
Brookside Elementary - Shoreline School District $5,000
Rick Stendera, 17447 37th Avenue N.E., Seattle, WA 98155
Developing Hillside Creek
The Brookside Elementary School will create a stream where there is now a cement culvert adjacent to the school. Once the stream enters this new corridor, it will become a migration route for salmon headed further upstream. The school and community will provide 1,000 feet of protected salmon habitat and a living laboratory for the students to do hands-on research and discovery. The students (504 in kindergarten through 12th grade) will test water quality, explore the role of debris and invertebrates in the water, discover the contributions each type of plant makes to riparian health, and examine the life cycle of the salmon.
Clark County Environmental Services Department $5,000
Peter DuBois, 1300 Esther Street, Vancouver, WA 98668
A-Way with Waste Teacher Workshop
Clark County will produce an environmental education video and new educational materials to be used by 200 Clark County teachers who have completed A-Way With Waste Workshops. The county will encourage the teachers to use the video as a classroom teaching tool to help empower students to solve environmental problems using an investigative learning approach. The video will explain what happens to Clark County's household waste and recycling after it leaves the curb. The video will follow a bag of trash as it moves to the landfill and trace curbside recycling collection, processing, and re-manufacturing into new products.
Department of Ecology $5,000
Susan Campbell, P. O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600
Clean Air Week Teacher Workshops
The Washington Department of Ecology, the Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency, and the American Lung Association will sponsor three teacher workshops during or near Clean Air Week in May 1996. The workshops will be held state-wide to reach 60 teachers in low income and rural communities to educate them about air quality and air pollution issues and how to prevent, reduce, and possibly eliminate environmental problems through the education of their students. The workshops will present available air quality curricula to the teachers in an interactive setting and make use of hands-on, problem solving activities and an investigative approach.
Gonzaga University - Department of Civil Engineering $5,000
Noel Bormann, Spokane, WA 99258
On-Site Environmental Analysis Workshop and Course
The University will have six high school educators and six university level students majoring in education and science participate in the analysis of environmental contamination while visiting sites during a university-sponsored workshop. Mobile laboratory equipment will be used to enable project participants to prepare detailed laboratory notebooks of the analysis; photograph sampling techniques; study analytical procedures and the effects of contamination at the site visited; and prepare a paper at the conclusion of the workshop. The educators and students will work together to collaborate in the analyses and interact throughout the project.
Jemtegaard Middle School $5,000
Mark Miller, 35300 SE Evergreen HW, Washougal, WA 98671
Jemtegaard Environmental Education Project
This project will enable the school to complete a discovery trail which will allow all students in kindergarten through 12th grade to gain access to Gibbons Creek, an on-site stream. This opportunity will allow students to study environmental conditions, improve riparian habitat for both plants and animals, and maintain a part of their natural environment. During construction, students will learn how to design and build the discovery trail, landscape for wildlife, and create an enhanced riparian zone along Gibbons Creek. Completion of the trail will increase the faculty's ability to teach skills, provide classes in a natural setting, promote awareness, and encourage environmental consciousness. This model facility will be available not only to all 2,000 Washougal School District students, but also to community education groups.
Mason County Conservation District $4,975
Susan Hayward, 615 W. Alder, Suite 3, Shelton, WA 98584
Farmer-to-Farmer: A Mentor Program
Mason County Conservation District will educate 100 members of the community through a grassroots, community-based organization about the use of Best Management Practices (BMP) to protect water quality and conserve and manage natural resources. Community volunteers will be used as mentors to educate the landowners. After mentors are recruited, a training session will be provided for them. A community workshop, using the mentors, will be held to promote BMPs, and a tour of mentor sites will be organized. A reference guide of existing educational material will also be developed.
North Canal Shellfish Coalition $20,000
James Donaldson, P. O. Box 327, Quilcene, WA 98376
Quilcene Brinnon Schools-Shellfish Farm Program
The North Canal Shellfish Coalition will develop a self-supporting shellfish farm for hands-on application of science, math, business, and leadership skills. Thirty teachers from Quilcene and Brinnon schools have been trained to use shellfish as a mechanism to present and teach environmental awareness and stewardship to 400 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. These students will learn about water quality, marine habitats, and watershed interaction and produce an educational video on the school farm, the bay, and a history of shellfish culture in the area. The communities will serve on advisory boards, attend field trips, and assist the students. The existing curriculum will be expanded to include working shellfish farms for Puget Sound schools.
North Cascades Institute $5,000
Saul Weisberg, 2105 State Route 20, Sedro Woolley, WA 98284
Changes in Our Own Backyard -Padden Creek Watershed
For this project, the North Cascades Institute will develop and implement a series of four teacher workshops for Larrabee Elementary School. Project organizers will develop materials for the students that will encourage effective critical-thinking and problem-solving skills around watershed issues in their community, and they will lead field trips for each class. The project will initially involve 225 children, 19 teachers and other staff, and 20 community members. The workshops will offer new materials, develop existing curricula further, provide a model for sequential watershed education in the community and throughout local school districts, and address a high priority issue, watershed degradation and protection.
North Mason School District $20,000
Marie Pickel, P. O. Box 167, E. 50 N. Mason School Rd., Belfair, WA 98528
Bringing Project GREEN to the Lower Hood Canal Watershed
This project will integrate Project GREEN into the North Mason School District's existing curriculum. The project seeks to train students and teachers in action research and water quality monitoring, while completing monitoring projects with various partners like the Department of Natural Resources and Department of Fish and Wildlife. Nine hundred students and 20 teachers will be directly involved in this project the first year. Through community outreach and agency interaction, many others are expected to be involved. Because many visitors come to the Hood Canal, the project will be highly visible as a public education tool.
Snohomish School District $5,000
Ardi Kveven, 1601 Avenue D, Snohomish, WA 98290
Elementary Teacher Training in Science Kits and Field Work
The purpose of this project is to develop a new 2nd grade science kit, provide in-service on the use of the kit, plan and coordinate the field work, and use high school students as mentors on site. Teachers will be given knowledge about the local environment and existing hands-on curriculum that integrates CD-ROM technology. The organizer of the project will plan and implement field work at the 2nd grade level, teaming each group of five elementary students with a high school student in order for the children to learn about salt water communities. The focus will be on the Snohomish Watershed and estuarine habitats. Seven hundred and fifty 2nd grade students will work with 30 teachers and 30 high school advanced oceanography students and their teachers on the project.
Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority (SCAPCA) $4,879
Lisa Woodard, 1101 West College, Suite 403, Spokane, WA 99201
Two Live Cable-Delivered Classroom Enrichment Programs
The Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority (SCAPCA), in conjunction with the Spokane Regional Solid Waste System and the Spokane County Water Quality Management Program, will develop a series of two live, interactive cable programs for teachers and their students in kindergarten through 6th grade in the Spokane and Seattle areas. The programs will be available to the Spokane City elementary schools (40,000 students) and the Seattle Schools Instruction Broadcast Center, which will include the programs as part of its after school weekly hands-on science series, "Eye on Science." Existing curriculum and hands-on activities will be modified for the television series. The programs will increase the students' awareness of environmental issues involving air quality, water quality, and solid waste management in a way that is relevant to their lives. These two programs are an expansion of an existing Spokane City school assembly program, hands-on environmental curriculum, and two live televised enrichment programs.
Thurston Conservation District $4,965
Rochelle Rothaus, 6128 Capitol Boulevard, Olympia, WA 98501
Teacher Training Environmental Workshop and Student Field Work
Budd/Deschutes Project GREEN will conduct a workshop for 30 teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade to learn methods for integrating environmental education using watershed investigation as a theme, to develop an understanding of the significance of water quality to watershed health, to be trained in water quality monitoring and analysis, and to provide opportunities for teachers and students in participating schools to work collaboratively with community members on action projects. Instruction will be designed to lead teachers toward implementing an action research and community problem-solving approach. At the workshop, teachers will meet local resource managers and community members.
University of Washington - Dept. of Environmental Health SC-34 $5,000
David Eaton, Seattle, WA 98195
Risky Business Teacher Training Workshop
This teacher training workshop will consist of a hands-on training session which will prepare 10 high school teachers to use new environmental educational materials from curriculum under development at the University entitled, "Risky Business: Living in an Chemical World." The first unit, "Environmental Genetic and Cells," teaches basic biology and chemistry incorporating principles of environmental health and toxicology. This new teaching strategy will introduce computer-aided teaching and learning which allows students to work at their own pace in a non-linear fashion, and to choose how much biology and chemistry review they need before proceeding on to an environmental health application of basic scientific principles. The teachers will be provided with materials to use in their classrooms, such as video discs, CDs, transparencies, and printed materials.
YMCA Earth Service Corps $5,000
Kara Palmer, 908 Fourth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
Environmental Education Symposium
The YMCA Earth Service Corps will enhance the design and dissemination of its one-day Environmental Education Symposiums through a series of experiential learning activities. At these symposiums, students and teachers learn from community experts about current regional environmental issues, engage in role-playing real environmental dilemmas, and apply win-win techniques to resolve issues among diverse interest groups. To add to the symposium, the YMCA will work with students, teacher advisors, and community volunteers to develop a series of related activities such as curriculum that may be used in the classroom before the Symposium and following it; field trips; carrying out action projects at schools or in the local community; and an Earth Day event that brings together the different issues addressed at the symposium. Participation by low income and minority youth will be increased at the symposium.
1994 Grants
Adopt-A-Stream Foundation $100,000
Tom Murdoch, Adopt-A-Stream Foundation, Snohomish County Admin. Bldg. 4th Floor, 3000 Rockefeller, Everett, WA 98201
Northwest Region Streamkeeper Network
The "Northwest Region Streamkeeper Network" will train volunteers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia to become watershed stewards by monitoring the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of streams and developing action plans for protecting them. The project places emphasis on establishing and maintaining partnerships between citizen volunteers, community leaders, and the Adopt-A-Stream Foundation.
Bainbridge Island School District $21,942
Brent Peterson, 8489 Madison Ave. NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Watershed Characterization
The purpose of this project is to develop and integrate a school district-wide education program with the Bainbridge Island watershed management planning process and to develop action plans that protect the quality of Bainbridge Island's watersheds. Teachers will be trained in watershed characterization techniques and the process of student action and project implementation.
Department of Ecology $5,000
Sandi Newton, P. O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600
Maintenance of Motor Vehicles to Ensure Air Quality
Funding from this grant will be used to develop a workshop, instructional videos, and classroom materials for high school driver education, automotive shop, science, and social studies teachers to educate and train students on the proper use and maintenance of motor vehicles to ensure air quality.
Environmental Education Association of Washington $5,000
Russ Hanbey, P. O. Box 4122, Bellingham, WA 98227
Project Diversity
"Project Diversity" addresses a state-wide need to bring under-represented populations into the mainstream of environmental education and to bring the environmental education community closer to minority and under-represented communities. This grant will fund localized workshop series, held throughout the state, which will include recommended approaches in structured problem solving, interactive hands-on exercises, and community action strategies.
North Cascades Institute $5,000
Saul Weisberg, 2105 Highway 20, Sedro Woolley, WA 98284
Watershed Restoration Education
This project, "Watershed Restoration Education," will make practical connections between classroom instruction and field applications in watershed restoration. Teacher training will be provided for middle school classroom teachers on how to involve children in environmental restoration and how to lead restoration projects for 6th grade classes. This is a cooperative partnership with children, school districts, natural resource agencies, the three Skagit River Indian Tribes, and the business community.
Northwest Chicano Network $5,000
Amelia Ramon, 120 Sunnyside Ave., Granger, WA 98932
Pollution Prevention and Environmental Equity Program
Participants in this project will work with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and schools to implement an environmental education program, with a focus on pollution prevention and environmental equity (waste reduction, household hazardous waste, and pesticides). The goal of the project is to motivate the general public to make informed and responsible decisions that impact the environment. Materials printed in both Spanish and English will be developed. Existing brochures and focus sheets will be translated into Spanish. Radio public service announcements, call-in programs, and surveys will be used to provide environmental information.
Olympic Peninsula Foundation $4,985
Betsy Carlson, 1200 W. Sims Way Suite 201, Port Townsend, WA 98368
Tutoring Program on Wetlands
In partnership with the Olympic Peninsula Foundation and Port Townsend School District, this project will create a tutoring program on wetlands for 7th and 8th grade students working with 3rd and 4th grade students. A two-week 8th grade wetland tutoring curriculum will be created to instruct younger students. To improve their understanding of and protection for local wetlands, 3rd and 5th grade students will participate in classroom and outdoor workshops on wetlands.
Pacific Lutheran University $7,800
Rachel Nugent, 12180 121st St., Tacoma, WA 98447
Watershed Evaluation and Planning
Using funds from this grant, Pacific Lutheran University will conduct a four-week summer course for teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade, providing hands-on, inter-disciplinary approaches to watershed evaluation and planning with the focus on the Clover Creek Watershed. The course facilitates cooperative relationships among the university, a nonprofit citizen organization, and the county by involving them in a cooperative process of gathering, interpreting, and disseminating data and analysis.
Pacific Science Center $5,000
Suzanne Tripp, 200 Second Ave. North, Seattle, WA 98109
Mercer Slough School Program
This project will support the development of the Mercer Slough School Program for elementary school groups. Hands-on learning experiences will be offered for classes on field trips to the slough. The classes will study the ecosystems of the freshwater peat bog and its surrounding scrub-shrub and forest wetland communities.
Seattle Audubon Society $5,000
Kathy Malley, 8028 35th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98115
Finding Urban Nature Program
The "Finding Urban Nature Program" uses volunteers to lead 3rd and 4th graders in Seattle Public Schools through a series of eight separate hands-on, nature-oriented science explorations over the course of a school year. The goals of these explorations are to teach children about nature and science and the basics of scientific investigation, and to show the children that nature can be appreciated in all areas, even on the school grounds.
Spokane Conservation District $9,663
Christine Armstrong, North 222 Havana, Spokane, WA 99202
Watershed Education
This existing project incorporates watershed education into the social studies, science, and language arts curricula. Approximately 1,000 high school and middle school students will work on the Upper Palouse Habitat Restoration Project. Students have spent time in the field learning about riparian habitat and doing actual restoration work. This grant will fund the portion of the project that will help the students to develop an understanding of the individual and cultural choices which impact water quality. They will study the history of areas to provide the context in which these choices have been made.
Thurston Conservation District $4,992
Rochelle Rothaus, 6128 Capitol Blvd. South, Olympia, WA 98501
Project GREEN
For this project, a training session will be provided for teachers in six schools on applying Project GREEN to the Budd/Deschutes Watershed. The training will include instruction on monitoring, telecommunications, and global change. The training will make use of an action research and community problem solving approach to education. Students and teachers will be able to participate in field work with community members.
University of Washington $4,751
Nan Little, Dept. of Chemistry BG-10, Seattle, WA 98195
Science Role Models Program
The Science Role Models program was developed to address issues of science-based environmental education and to increase the number of women and minorities entering careers in science. This project targets Native Americans, women, and other minority students to research and make environmental education presentations at local high schools.
Washington State University Cooperative Extension $14,623
Craig MacConnell, Courthouse Annex-1000 N. Forest St., Bellingham, WA 98225
Lake Whatcom Watershed School and Community Partnership Project
The "Lake Whatcom Watershed School and Community Partnership Project" is designed to promote interaction among watershed volunteers, science students, and the public. Participants will work together on the study of Lake Whatcom, the municipal water supply and its outlet, Whatcom Creek. They will collect and analyze data. This data will be used by the residents of Whatcom County to make informed decisions when developing the watershed management plan.
1993 Grants
Benton Conservation District $4,395
Jack Chenoweth, 618 8th Street, Prosser, WA 99350
Air and Water Quality Curriculum
The purpose of this project is to set up an environmental curriculum and teaching unit for enhancing air and water quality available to high school teachers in the Yakima Valley schools. Participants will work with agricultural educators in the development of the curriculum.
Bethel School District $5,000
Cathy Patterson, 516 E. 176th Street, Spanaway, WA 98387
Woodland and Meadowland Wilderness Laboratories
The Woodland and Meadowland Wilderness Laboratories project will give district students hands-on opportunities to study a basic environmental curriculum at two wilderness laboratories that the school district will establish.
Chautauqua Northwest $5,000
Jane Hardy, 1510 IBM Building, 1200 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101-1127
Water Quality in the Puget Sound
This project is designed to educate senior citizens in the Puget Sound region regarding water quality concerns and practices. The participants will be involved as instructors and students. The project involves one-hour presentations to 20 target audiences of active retiree organizations, using senior presenters, guest experts, educational video, and take-home materials.
Kettle Falls School District #212 $4,790
Al Kowitz, Kettle Falls, WA 99141-0300
Water Quality in the Colville River Watershed
For this project, high school environmental science students and community members will learn about ways of preserving water quality in the Colville River watershed. Two public workshops will be held after data is collected by the students. A problem-solving format will be used to discuss water quality and best management practices.
King County Department of Development and Environmental Services $4,420
Ken Carrasco, Environmental Education Section, 3600 136th Place S.E., Suite C, Bellevue, WA 98006-1400
Workshop on the King County Senstive Areas Ordinance
This pilot program involves two 3-day environmental education training workshops for 50 teachers of grades 7 through 12, community college teachers, and advanced students. The workshop is based on the King County Sensitive Areas Ordinance which addresses wetlands; streams; and hazardous areas involving erosion, flood, volcanic, seismic, and historic coal mining.
Public Utility District #1 of Kitsap County $5,000
Kathy Dickerson, Water Quality Education, P. O. Box 1989, Poulsbo, WA 98370
Stream Watcher
The Stream Watcher curriculum for the Kitsap County Girl Scouts will provide water quality education materials prepared for Junior Girl Scouts in the 4th through 6th grades. The curriculum will teach a method of biological monitoring for water pollution.
Seattle Audubon Society $5,000
Kathy Malley, 8028 35th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98115
Finding Urban Nature Program
The "Finding Urban Nature Program" is comprised of volunteers leading 4th graders in 15 Seattle public schools through a series of nine separate hands-on nature oriented science explorations over the course of a school year. The intent of the program is to teach children about nature and science, and the basics of scientific investigation.
University of Washington $4,930
Nan Little, Department of Chemistry, BG-10, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
Science Role Models
The Science Role Models course will include women and minority students in the science outreach program. College students will make environmental education presentations at high schools, especially targeting Native American, women, and other minority students.
Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction $249,948
Cheryl Lemke, Old Capitol Bldg., P. O. Box 47200, Olympia, WA 98504-7200
Environmental Education in the School Culture: A Systemic Approach
This grant is funding a statewide project entitled "Environmental Education in the School Culture: A Systemic Approach." The project will ensure interdisciplinary instruction in the sciences, social studies, and the humanities on conservation, natural resource, and environmental issues, including the link between the natural environment, the well-being of the populace, and the health and sustainability of the economy. The project will focus on wetlands and ecosystems and will create a state model enabling schools across the state to access the knowledge, skills, research, and support to design and implement community-based environmental education programs in their schools.
Yelm School District $5,000
Mary Zodrow, P. O. Box 476, Yelm, WA 98597
Nisqually River Basin: Ecology Plus Mathematics
The "Nisqually River Basin: Ecology Plus Mathematics" curriculum will be developed for an environmental math and science high school class which will use the streams of the Nisqually River basin as its field laboratory. In the field, the participants will study the geology, hydrology, habitats, natural and cultural history, and economy of the basin.
YMCA of Greater Seattle/Earth Service Corps $5,000
Mary Smith, 909 4th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
Earth Service Corps
For this project, 250 students and teachers from 40 high schools in western Washington will be involved in planning and preparing for an environmental education symposium. At the symposium they will learn from a variety of community experts about the realities of science, engage in role-playing real life environmental dilemmas, and resolve issues among diverse interest groups. From this experience, the teachers and students then will create and carry out community service follow-up projects.
1992 Grants
Gonzaga University $3,145
Spokane, WA 99258
Air Pollution Workshop
This grant funds a workshop for primary and secondary educators in Spokane on the control of air pollution.
Marine Science Society of the Pacific Northwest $4,996
Poulsbo, WA 98370
Water World Kits
The "Water World Kits" project involves developing an environmental education curriculum that will serve as the pilot for an extensive program to design, test, and disseminate hands-on environmental study kits for junior high students.
Mt. Baker School $24,900
Deming, WA 98244
Connections
The "Connections" project will allow educators and students from kindergarten through 12th grade to participate in research and problem solving activities that involve local solid waste activities.
Quileute Tribal Council $5,000
La Push, WA 98350
Marine Science Program
This grant funds a project that will initiate a marine coastal science and stewardship program in the Tribal School. The project will involve developing a diverse library of educational resources for use by educators and students who also will participate in Adopt-A-Beach activities.
Seattle Solid Waste Utility $26,625
Seattle, WA 98104
Kids for Recycling
The "Kids for Recycling" project will provide a school-based recycling education program for students in kindergarten through 5th grade using a variety of methods to encourage and support children in their understanding of solid waste issues. The program includes a kick-off magic show, faculty training on the use of a Learning Box filled with hands-on activities, site visits, community resource references for in-class assistance, field trip subsidies, and incentives geared towards reaching specified recycling and waste reduction goals.
Seattle University $4,990
Seattle, WA 98102
Streamwater in the Urban Environment
The "Streamwater in the Urban Environment" project at Seattle University will involve a week-long summer educational program for 25 minority middle school students and five middle school educators.
Snake River Nature Center Foundation $5,000
Tacoma, WA 98405
Self-Assessment Resource Station for Watershed Citizens
This Self-Assessment Resource Station for Watershed Citizens project is designed to provide opportunities for students and visitors to perform self assessments using a touch-screen computer application.
Spokane County Conservation District $21,481
Spokane, WA 99202
Upper Palouse Habitat Restoration Project
The "Upper Palouse Habitat Restoration Project" will promote environmental stewardship opportunities for students in kindergarten through 12th grade by incorporating principles of ecology and activities related to native habitat restoration.
YMCA of Greater Seattle/Earth Service Corps $4,900
Seattle, WA 98104
YMCA Earth Students
This grant funds an environmental education symposium for up to 400 YMCA Earth Students from western Washington high schools. The symposium will provide a scientific foundation for the students' understanding of environmental issues and for becoming active, educated leaders.