Profiles of Environmental Education Grants Awarded in Puerto Rico
- Indicates a Headquarters grant
2014 Grants
Universidad Metropolitana $91,000
Dr. Carlos M. Padin, Chancellor
PO Box 21150, San Juan, PR 00928-1150
http://www.suagm.edu/umet/Exit
Place-based environmental education for earth science teachers in Puerto Rico
Universidad Metropolitana implements an island-wide, place-based environmental education project in Puerto Rico using the best practices developed by its graduate School of Environmental Affairs. The project prepares science teachers to teach junior high school students about climate change and other environmental issues such as coastal issues and air quality and includes a series of four professional development workshops for the teachers on topics such as Climate Change and Coastal Areas, Air Quality, curriculum integration strategies, research skills, critical thinking skills, and GIS and technology-related skills for environmental education. Additionally, Universidad Metropolitana models education programs at ten public schools.
2011 Grants
SUAGM, Inc. dba Universidad del turabo $70,000
Dr. Eddie Laboy, P. O. Box 3030, University Station, Gurabo, PR 00778-3030
Teachers & Community Harboring Environmental Vigilance of the Island Stewardship (TEACH ENVOIS)
Junior high science teachers will participate in a program to increase their understanding of the surrounding ecosystems. Participants will use digital imaging to develop webpages and engage students in the process. The best webpages will be selected at a culminating symposium. Goals include increasing the educators’ understanding of local ecosystems, helping teachers develop, evaluate and disseminate interactive materials that strengthen the environmental science curriculum and enabling participants to develop webpages to support increased stewardship of the environment of southeast Puerto Rico.
2010 Grants
Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust $36,514
Lirio Marquez-D'Acunti, Calle Flamboyan #138, Vieques, PR 00913
MANTA-SABADO
MANTA (Movimiento en Apoyo a Nuestros Tesoros Ambientales / Movement in Support of Our Environmental Treasures) Sábado (Saturday) provides environmental education programming for youths ages 13 through 18 for 11 Saturdays each semester during the school year. Middle and high school students study the ecosystems that support Puerto Mosquito, the main bioluminescent bay on Vieques, and the threats to the long-term sustainability of the bay posed by human activities. Vieques has an under-served community of 9,000 with an unemployment rate in excess of 27 percent and a high school drop out rate of almost 50 percent. The program seeks to engage young people in a program that brings them into contact with their community and opens a prospect of environmental careers. The educational and leadership building program includes interactive classroom activities, lectures from local experts, field activities in the bay, and leadership skill-building to enable them to share their understandings with family and community members. Participants are also required to organize and conduct a public meeting that focuses on stewardship plans to reduce the pollution that affects Puerto Mosquito. The target audiences for the meeting are local schoolchildren, their parents, community leaders, and the public.
2008 Grants
University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla $49,861
Robert Mayer, P. O. Box 6150, Aguadilla, PR 00604-6150
Caribbean Center for the Reduction of Aquatic Debris
The University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla Caribbean Center for the Reduction of Aquatic Debris delivers workshops for university students, who then conduct workshops with teachers and students in kindergarten through grade 12 and the public on aquatic debris. The program educates both university students and the public on the ways they can be environmental stewards as they take action to change behaviors that affect local and global waters. Nine workshops are provided for university students to prepare them to conduct the educational outreach. They deliver 19 educational workshops for students in kindergarten through grade 12 throughout Puerto Rico and six workshops for the public. The program also conducts four beach and four lake cleanups to involve students and the public in stewardship. In addition, students develop public service announcements that are offered to the media and enhance the marine debris Website.
2006 Grants
Inter American University of Puerto Rico $25,507
Amaury Boscio-Vargas, P.O. Box 363255, San Juan, PR 00936
Environmental Programming and Career Development for College Students
College and high school students and community members are educated about the environment, especially as it relates to protection of Laguna Tortuguero Natural Reserve, an ecosystem with the largest freshwater lagoon in Puerto Rico. College students, in seminars, learn about the ecosystem, conduct scientific field work at the reserve, and teach high school students — also on field trips — about the reserve ecosystem. They also conduct workshops, partnering with the Ecotourism Office in Vega Baja, for science teachers and community volunteers. The field experiences include extensive microbiological analysis of water quality in the reserve. All involved will learn how they can be environmental stewards.
Universidad del Turabo, Ana G. Mendez University System $39,297
Eddie Laboy, State Road 189m Km.3.3, P.O. Box 3030, Gurabo, PR 00778-3030
Saturday Environmental Academy
The Universidad del Turabo works with educators from southeast Puerto Rico. Elementary school teachers participate in workshops, field trips, hands-on activities, and brainstorming sessions as they explore the ecology of southeast Puerto Rico and learn about current environmental impact issues. Teachers, in addition to participating in a simulated public hearing on a current environmental concern in the ecosystem, employ the same interactive model in the classrooms. Students explore their local ecology and the ways pollution can affect it. This process is designed to foster a sense of environmental stewardship and, in turn, enable teachers to share their care for local ecosystems with their students.
2004 Grants
G Works Inc. $20,844
Gretchen Guzman, Street L-A-13 Torremolinos, Guaynabo, PR 00969
From My Area to the World and Back
In this project, teachers help students define local environmental problems. The students use the colossal Earth Balloon as a laboratory in which they develop environmental stewardship, problem-solving, critical-thinking, and decision-making skills. They also identify and assess the causes and consequences of local environmental problems and consider how those problems relate to worldwide environmental issues. In examining potential solutions to the problems, the students come to understand that environmental stewardship has both local and global ramifications.
2003 Grants
Inter American University of Puerto Rico $15,000
Amaury Boscio Vargas, P.O. Box 363255, San Juan, PR 00936-3255
Promoting Environmental Careers Through an Integrated Approach
Inter American University of Puerto Rico is conducting seminars on environmental areas of study for the academic community and participating students. The course of study includes field trips to develop students' knowledge about the environment and assignments to develop their problem-solving and research skills. Students are focusing their studies on the Laguna Tortuguero ecosystem with the cooperation of the Ecotourism Office of the Municipality of Vega Baja. Students hold workshops to share their acquired knowledge of the environment with the Vega Baja community and present their work to the university community at the annual Congress of the Center for Environmental Education and Interpretation. These students complete both bachelor's and master's degrees in a total of 5 years.
Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico $23,043
Myrna L. Robles, P. O. Box 9023554, San Juan, PR 00902
Understanding the Wonders of Puerto Rico's Bioluminescent Bays and Lagoons
Working with the University of Puerto Rico Sea Grant College and the Puerto Rico Department of Education, The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico is developing a documentary video and accompanying teacher guide about Puerto Rico's bioluminescent aquatic ecosystems. The video familiarizes students with conditions necessary to maintain the microorganisms that produce bioluminescence. Middle and high school students learn about the interdependence of organisms in the lagoon ecosystems and the impact of shoreline runoff and coastline degradation. Educators review the video prior to final production to ensure its applicability to educational standards.
2001 Grants
Ana G. Mendez University System, Colegio Universitario del Este $24,998
Alberto Maldonado Ruiz, P. O. Box 2010, Carolina, PR 00984-2010
Integrating Environmental Health Education into the Preschool Curriculum
The project educates adults about the ways in which human behaviors can affect young children who live in Carolina, Loiza, Canovanas, and Rio Grande. Those communities border the San Juan Bay Estuary, a site that historically has been affected by environmental degradation. The project provides three sets of workshops: one for teachers in the Head Start program, another for parents, and the third for university students in preschool education programs. The workshops instruct participants in methods of integrating environmental health education into the Head Start curriculum, as well as materials that support that effort. The participating adults develop an understanding of the effects human activities can have on the environment and of how to encourage behaviors in children that shield them from such effects. The project adapts and expands materials developed under an earlier project EPA conducted in Puerto Rico to help children develop knowledge and skills that promote better health.
2000 Grants
Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Inc. $24,992
Amaury Boscio, P. O. Box 363255, San Juan, PR 00936-3255
Barranquitas Campus Environmental Education Program (BCEEP
The Barranquitas Campus Environmental Education Program (BCEEP), in partnership with the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Inc. and local school districts, is increasing five communities' understanding of environmental issues and is targeting teachers and students at eight elementary schools and four high schools in neighboring municipalities. Using multimedia computer technology, the University is conducting a series of conferences on environmental issues of concern to communities in central Puerto Rico, including endangered species, solid waste, freshwater resources, composting, and environmental careers. Targeted schools are located in Barranquitas and the neighboring communities of Aibonito, Orocovis, and Corozal. BCEEP is conducting pre-service programming to improve the ability of future teachers from the Barranquitas campus to integrate environmental education into elementary and science curricula. The materials developed are made available on the university's Web site.
1999 Grants
Technological College of the Municipality of San Juan $24,700
Olga A. Benitez, Chancellor's Office, 180 Jose Oliver Avenue, Urb. Industrial Tres Monjitas, San Juan, PR 00918
Getting a Head Start on Environmental Education
This project provides education in environmental health for teachers and parents of preschool children who live in the vicinity of the highly contaminated San Jose lagoon in the San Juan Bay Estuary. Two eight-part workshops target teachers, health professionals, and parents. Participants develop educational materials suitable for a tropical environment that teach children how pollution, environmental health, and human behavior are connected. Activities include identification of specific risk factors and behaviors in the participants' immediate communities and development of a guide that focuses on health issues relevant to nearby communities and Head Start centers. Staff of Head Start programs develop activities to help children form healthy habits.
1998 Grants
Puerto Rico Department of Education $5,800
Blanca M. Aponte, Soller Agricultural-Vocational School, P. O. Box 190579, San Juan, PR 00919-0759
Take Charge of Your School, Community, and Environment
This project establishes a recycling program at the Soller Agricultural-Vocational School, which is located in a rural farming community in northwest Puerto Rico. The recycling program incorporates the concept of sustainable development, achieving a balance that ensures that economic growth will not cause irreversible environmental damage. The three-step project trains and educates faculty members and school personnel in methods of environmental education and recycling techniques. The participants learn how to apply problem-solving and decision-making techniques to teach students and members of local communities about recycling and to establish a recycling center.
1997 Grants
The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico $23,500
Alexis Molinares, P. O. Box 9023554, San Juan, PR 00902-3554
Hacienda Buena Vista: An Environmental Education Laboratory
Hacienda Buena Vista conducts a one-year model program in south-central Puerto Rico that educates teachers and students in two rural schools in the Ponce area. Using the hacienda, a museum and educational facility for the public, as a living laboratory, the teachers and students learn about ecological issues associated with the subtropical forest. They use the riparian and cultivated areas of the hacienda property to increase their understanding of issues of conservation and environmental protection that are associated with rural farm settings. The project also provides educators materials on conservation and solutions to environmental challenges in the small farm setting and coffee cultivation operations.
1996 Grants
Puerto Rico Agricultural Service (PRAES) $24,500
Nilda Gonzales, University of Puerto Rico, P. O. Box 5000, College Station, Mayaguez, PR 00681-5000
Superheroes of The 4-H Environmental Project
The Superheroes of The 4-H Environmental Project is targeting students in seven elementary schools in northeastern Puerto Rico's Canovanas, Loiza and Rio Grande communities. During the program, Puerto Rico Agricultural Service (PRAES) professionals and youth leaders are being trained and developing a curriculum; the youth leaders will implement the in-school activities. During the final phase, students and leaders will evaluate situations and make decisions (watch, think, and preserve) related to the environment in their locale. The program goal is develop a group of future decision makers who will make environmentally sound evaluations to protect and preserve natural resources.
University of Puerto Rico, Humacao University College $49,841
Alida Ortiz, UPR Sea Grant Program, Humacao, PR 00792
Solid Wastes and Marine Debris: From Awareness to Action In-Service Training Workshop for Teachers in Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico--Humacao University College project takes the problem of marine debris and solid waste from awareness to action. Solid Wastes and Marine Debris: From Awareness to Action In-Service Training Workshop for Teachers in Puerto Rico consists of a one-year, hands-on field workshop project that: (1) infuses the solid waste disposal problem as an environmental education component throughout the formal curriculum in Puerto Rico's school system, (2) trains 60 teachers with hands-on field experience in the scientific, social, and economic aspects of the solid waste problem, and (3) promotes the change of attitudes and behavior in students to lead to a reduction in the amount of solid waste found on Puerto Rican beaches and roads. The project reaches 60 teachers, but impacts more than 10,000 students.
1995 Grants
Hoy Desde Salinas, Inc./ComitT Comunal Playa-Playita, Inc. $5,000
Ruth Santiago, Apartado 467, Salinas, PR 00751
Teacher Training at Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve
Hoy Desde Salinas is a community newspaper incorporated to inform communities in and outside Salinas, Puerto Rico. In this project, Hoy Desde Salinas will facilitate the design, demonstration, and dissemination of environmental education curricula by a group of 20 low-income youth from five communities in Salinas. The youth will receive training in organizing grassroots groups to teach Salinas residents about pollution prevention issues.
Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve $24,510
Alexis Molinaras, P. O. Box 4747, San Juan, PR 00902-4747
Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico
The Conservation Trust will initiate a one-year, in-service workshop series for intermediate-level teachers. The program will expand use of an environmental education curriculum which focuses on the Cabezas de San Juan Nature Center. Teachers enrolled in the 18 session workshop will be encouraged to develop materials that infuse environmental education into current curricula. A special event as part of the workshop series will promote parental interest and involvement. The project will take place in Fajardo, an area of Puerto Rico where students are challenged by a history of high unemployment and the increased pressure on the environment from expanded tourism.
Mayaguezanos por la Salud y el Ambiente, Inc. $5,000
Juan C. Martinez-Cruzado, Calle Aduana 257, Suite 274, Mayaguez, PR 00680
Environmental Education Radio Broadcast
This project consists of an environmental education radio broadcast to increase public awareness about environmental problems and issues. The broadcasts will be developed to stimulate the public to design the solutions to problems and participate in solutions. The estimated audience is 300,000 residents of western Puerto Rico. Government agency members, leaders of communities, and volunteers from Mazaguezanos por la Salud y el Ambiente will do the broadcasts in cooperation with the faculty of the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus and other universities in the region. Topsoil conservation and the conservation of coastal areas and river basins are issues of primary concern.
1994 Grants
Mayaguezanos por la Salud y el Ambiente, Inc. $5,000
Henry L. Beauchamp, Claudio Carrero #293, El Mani, Mayaguez, PR 00680
Classroom Presentations on Recycling
This program will specifically target communities in western Puerto Rico and orient environmental education activities by taking into account the cultural and social reality of this area. Teacher resources and materials will be developed and used in workshops to enable educators to develop classroom presentations on recycling, a critical issue in western Puerto Rico.
1993 Grants
Inter American University of Puerto Rico (IAUPR) $20,185
Eddie N. Laboy, P. O. Box 363255, San Juan, PR 00932-3255
Inter American University of Puerto Rico Environmental Education Workshop
The Inter American University of Puerto Rico will develop an environmental education workshop for elementary and junior high school teachers from southeastern Puerto Rico to strengthen their teaching methodology. Forty-five science teachers will be involved in a program to enhance their teaching skills and develop interpretive materials and a teacher's guide about the estuarine environment. Hands-on experience and critical thinking activities will be incorporated into the program.