Journal 9

Journal 9 "Teaching Green” Waters, J. (2011). Teaching green. THE Journal , Retrieved from http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/1105/journal_201104/#/12

John J. Water is a freelance writer who focuses on teaching green through the wealth of online resources. Classroom earth is a site that was created by the National Education Foundation in partnership with The Weather Channel. The sites purpose is to push environmental awareness and education in high school classrooms across the nation. A walk in the woods is the second site and is aimed at a younger grade level(grades3-5) and at schools in more urban areas such as San Francisco. Students in large cities rarely have the chance to experience the outdoors. This site gives these students a chance to do so, through virtual walks in the woods. The next site is Environmental Education for Kids(EEK!). This site is an electronic magazine for students in grades 4 to 8. It is also directed towards teachers and can have lots of useful information and tools that can be used inside and out of the classroom. The fourth site is called Ecological Footprint Quiz and is an online quiz that gets kids thinking about their ecological and carbon footprint. This is a great way to have kids understand how nature is affected by what they do on a day to day basis. The fifth site called PowerUp is for both parents and teachers and provides lesson plans and different tools to promote environmental education. The US Environmental Protection Agency Teaching Center site is the final site Waters talks about. This site is aimed towards teachers, as it offers a wide variety of lesson plans and classroom activities that are based on the environment.

Which site do you see most beneficial in the classroom and why?

I believe that the Ecological Footprint Quiz is very beneficial because it gives students a chance to better understand the big picture of global warming and how their day to day ways of life impact our earth.

Do you think environmental issues will become a largely incorporated topic of discussion inside the classroom as time goes on? I personally haven’t been environmentally educated up until recently. We were never taught about the environment and ones footprint. All I knew was throw away your trash and that was about it! Now a day’s websites such as the ones Waters discussed educate students in a simple, understandable way. With the constant increase in internet ability, I can see Environmental studies becoming a subject just like math or science!