Resources for Teachers - ANJEE: Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education

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Environmental Education News (EEdNews)
The New Jersey Environmental Digital Library
ASCD EE Network Web Site
Biodiversity 911: Saving Life On Earth
The Water Sourcebooks
Creative Connections Project
Green School Program
Healthy Schools, Healthy Kids
GEO-LITERACY

The New Jersey Environmental Digital Library
Are you looking for local environmental data sources for your classes? Are you looking for relevant place-based environmental information? Do you have an interesting lesson plan or presentation that you want to share with the public or other teachers? Would you like to find a member of a local environmental group to speak to your students?If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you should know more about the New Jersey Environmental Digital Library (NJEDL).
The NJEDL web site address is http://njedl.rutgers.edu. The NJEDL is a joint project of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP)and the Rutgers University Scholarly Communication Center. The NJEDL comprises an online catalogue of environmental reference materials, such as government reports, natural resource inventories, maps, brochures, videos and presentations that one can not ordinarily access through traditionally published sources.Also available at the site is the searchable Directory ofEnvironmental Organizations in New Jersey.
The mission of the NJEDL is to collect, organizeand make available digitized materials on New Jersey's environment (emanating from the state's government agencies,non-profit and non-governmental organizations, research institutes andacademic departments) for the use of students, teachers, citizensand government officials.
The NJEDL endeavors to collect any information related to New Jersey's environment that is not part of the formal realm of publication. Much of the collection is research-level reports and studies. Other materials include local reports (e.g. natural resource inventories, environmental resource inventories, hazardous waste inventories), theses (Masters, Ph.D., undergraduate honors), presentation materials(PowerPoint slide shows, digital videos), pamphlets, brochures,newsletters, maps and data sets (numeric data).
As with all libraries the NJEDL is dynamic; therefore continual registry of documents and information is encouraged. Because the NJEDL is a digital library , many of the documents cataloged at the site are available for immediate download. Currently, the collection includes over 1,500 records and roughly 500full-text/image items. The Directory of Environmental Organizations contains information on over 600environmental groups in the state,including environmental commissions, watershed associations and a variety of other local and citizen action groups. The directory is useful for finding out who is working on environmental issues in the state and perhaps in your own community. Both the document catalogue and the Directory of Environmental Organizations continue to grow. Documents and new organization listings can be submitted online via a "self-registration" process.This is easy and simply involves providing some contact information and obtaining a password.
The NJEDL also offers unique services not often found at traditional web sites or traditional libraries for that matter. For example, the NJEDL actively manages the archiving of digital documents ensuring that data formats are upgraded to current technology, and that documents are preserved into the future.In addition the system can digitally preserve historic or rare documents and provideaccess to documents that would otherwise be too fragile for general public access. The "Scan on Demand" service (for hard copy documents) andlarge format scanning capabilities are also available upon special request.As the NJEDL grows it increasingly functions as a statewide environmental resource utilized by NJDEP staff, the public,concerned citizen groups, stakeholders, students, teachers and academics. The NJEDL is designed to capture the kind of information useful to teachers,and provides a mechanism for sharing with colleagues, students and the public.
Because the collection grows through a self-registration process, motivated individuals can actively assist in building the collection,which ultimately makes it more useful to everyone.

Additional Information:
New Jersey is in the forefront of digital library development. The NJEDL site is accessible directly at http://njedl.rutgers.edu/njdlib. It is also searchable from the NJ Spatial Data Clearinghouse (http://njgeodata.state.nj.us).

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ASCD EE Network web site
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's (ASCD) Environmental Education Network has a web site intended to keep ASCD members informed about environmental education activities. ASCD, with over 165,000 members worldwide, is one of the largest education organizations in the world. The ASCD EE Network, in cooperation with NAAEE, EETAP and EE-Link, promotes awareness and understanding of environmental education and its role in the formal education system. The web site includes a quick introduction to EE, ASCD's position on environmental education, membership information, links to ASCD publications with an EE focus, and links to various other EE web sites.
Visit: http://www.ascd.org/

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Biodiversity 911: Saving Life On Earth
Developed by World Wildlife Fund and funded by the National Science Foundation, Biodiversity 911: Saving Life on Earth engages visitors in hands-on activities to explore what biodiversity is, why it's declining,and how we can help to protect it. To complement the traveling exhibition, WWF has developed a comprehensive Web site that provides interactive games, video clips, and special downloads that explore biodiversity and teach how to help conserve it.

For more information: http://www.biodiversity911.org/

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The Water Sourcebooks
Created by the Environmental Protection Agency, The Water Sourcebooks contain 324 activities for grades K-12. This environmental education program explains the water management cycle using a balanced approach showing how it affects all aspects of the environment. Activities are available online in PDF and are also available on CD-ROM. To order the CD, call (800)424-4372or send an email to haertel.jan@epa.gov. For more information about this free resource visit: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/wsb/

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Creative Connections Project
The Creative Connections Project links US/world K-12 classrooms with partner classes from the Amazon Rain Forest, Africa, the Galapagos Islands, the Arctic and China through E-mail, the Internet, art exchanges, music exchanges and Study Partnerships. Detailed information and a registration form are available online at
http://www.ccproject.org. Registration is now open to all US and world K-12 schools.

The Creative Connections Project is a sponsored project of The New York Foundation for the Arts, a non-profit organization funded by registration fees and a small grant from The Avery Arts Foundation and supported by WorldTeach, Inc. of the Harvard Institute for International Development. Over 740 classes have participated since 1999.

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Green School Program
As part of their educational outreach programs, the Alliance to Save Energy sponsors the Green Schools Program that helps schools use energy efficiently through changes in the behavior of building users and changes in operational and maintenance routines. In addition Green Schools encourages schools to get retrofits, install renewable technology, and bring the energy efficiency message home and into the community. The Green Schools Program combines conservation and education in a way that strengthens schools, involves students in making a real difference, encourages teamwork, and fosters community involvement.
http://www.ase.org/greenschools/

Top

Healthy Schools, Healthy Kids
With all the recent talk about school safety, one of the greatest dangers has often been overlooked: the physical environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), half of our nation's schools have poor indoor air quality, which can cause or aggravate health problems and impair children's ability to learn.

There are various sources of toxins in and around schools, including pesticides, cleaning products, chronic leaks, chipped paint, and idling school buses. What's worse, a tightly sealed building may interfere with much-needed ventilation. The result is a buildup of pollutants-radon, arsenic, mold, carbon monoxide, asbestos, lead, volatile organic compounds, and more-that may be harmful when inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin.

Six hours of exposure a day, 180 days a year, represents a potentially grave risk for children, who cannot metabolize toxins as effectively as adults. Children are also more likely to sit or play on the floor, touch walls, and put objects (including their hands) in their mouths, putting them at even greater risk of ingesting harmful substances.

If you're worried about conditions at your child's school, bring your concerns to the administration, as well as local PTA and school board meetings. You might also consider running for a position on the school board in order to work on these issues directly.

Encourage the school to provide a clean, safe learning environment by:

Seeking natural alternatives to cleaning products that contain toxic chemicals, or using products labeled "biodegradable" or "non-toxic."

Using integrated pest management instead of chemical pesticides. If pesticides must be used, use the minimum amount needed.

Fixing leaks to avoid mold growth.

Inspecting for lead, asbestos, and radon. Schools built before 1978 should be tested for lead if there is evidence of chipped paint.

Changing air filters in the ventilation system to regularly ensure fresh air circulation.

Requesting the EPA's free "Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools" kit (see the link below).

Lastly, ask the school to prepare for a possible industrial accident, natural disaster, or other catastrophe by developing, posting, and then practicing an evacuation plan.

For related information, see these pages:

IAQ BASICS FOR SCHOOLS FROM THE AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION
http://www.lungusa.org/air/air00_iaqbasics.html/

CHILD PROOFING OUR COMMUNITIES
http://www.childproofing.org/

EPA HEALTHY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS
http://cfpub.epa.gov/schools/index.cfm/

EPA INDOOR AIR QUALITY TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/

Top

GEO-LITERACY
In exploring the land and remaining buildings on a local historic ranch, Eva La Mar's third-grade class learned about ecology, geography, and social history. They also became historians, documenting their work through video and digital photography, and created a final multimedia Web product with the help of high school mentors. Geo-Literacy: Forging New Ground, includes sample lesson plans and printable PDFs of documents and rubrics for use in other projects. http://www.glef.org/geo-literacy.html

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		Promoting and Improving Environmental Education for people of all ages in New Jersey


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Home ANJEE Leadership Members About ANJEE ANJEE Basics Alliance Song Regions North Central South Affiliates NJOCN NJNREC WPNJ Membership Conference Calendar Press/Media Getting the Word Out NJEED Teachers Students Links Awards		Teachers Resources Back to Teachers' Grants and Contest Environmental Education News (EEdNews) The New Jersey Environmental Digital Library ASCD EE Network Web Site Biodiversity 911: Saving Life On Earth The Water Sourcebooks Creative Connections Project Green School Program Healthy Schools, Healthy Kids GEO-LITERACY The New Jersey Environmental Digital Library Are you looking for local environmental data sources for your classes? Are you looking for relevant place-based environmental information? Do you have an interesting lesson plan or presentation that you want to share with the public or other teachers? Would you like to find a member of a local environmental group to speak to your students?If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you should know more about the New Jersey Environmental Digital Library (NJEDL). The NJEDL web site address is http://njedl.rutgers.edu. The NJEDL is a joint project of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP)and the Rutgers University Scholarly Communication Center. The NJEDL comprises an online catalogue of environmental reference materials, such as government reports, natural resource inventories, maps, brochures, videos and presentations that one can not ordinarily access through traditionally published sources.Also available at the site is the searchable Directory ofEnvironmental Organizations in New Jersey. The mission of the NJEDL is to collect, organizeand make available digitized materials on New Jersey's environment (emanating from the state's government agencies,non-profit and non-governmental organizations, research institutes andacademic departments) for the use of students, teachers, citizensand government officials. The NJEDL endeavors to collect any information related to New Jersey's environment that is not part of the formal realm of publication. Much of the collection is research-level reports and studies. Other materials include local reports (e.g. natural resource inventories, environmental resource inventories, hazardous waste inventories), theses (Masters, Ph.D., undergraduate honors), presentation materials(PowerPoint slide shows, digital videos), pamphlets, brochures,newsletters, maps and data sets (numeric data). As with all libraries the NJEDL is dynamic; therefore continual registry of documents and information is encouraged. Because the NJEDL is a digital library , many of the documents cataloged at the site are available for immediate download. Currently, the collection includes over 1,500 records and roughly 500full-text/image items. The Directory of Environmental Organizations contains information on over 600environmental groups in the state,including environmental commissions, watershed associations and a variety of other local and citizen action groups. The directory is useful for finding out who is working on environmental issues in the state and perhaps in your own community. Both the document catalogue and the Directory of Environmental Organizations continue to grow. Documents and new organization listings can be submitted online via a "self-registration" process.This is easy and simply involves providing some contact information and obtaining a password. The NJEDL also offers unique services not often found at traditional web sites or traditional libraries for that matter. For example, the NJEDL actively manages the archiving of digital documents ensuring that data formats are upgraded to current technology, and that documents are preserved into the future.In addition the system can digitally preserve historic or rare documents and provideaccess to documents that would otherwise be too fragile for general public access. The "Scan on Demand" service (for hard copy documents) andlarge format scanning capabilities are also available upon special request.As the NJEDL grows it increasingly functions as a statewide environmental resource utilized by NJDEP staff, the public,concerned citizen groups, stakeholders, students, teachers and academics. The NJEDL is designed to capture the kind of information useful to teachers,and provides a mechanism for sharing with colleagues, students and the public. Because the collection grows through a self-registration process, motivated individuals can actively assist in building the collection,which ultimately makes it more useful to everyone. Additional Information: New Jersey is in the forefront of digital library development. The NJEDL site is accessible directly at http://njedl.rutgers.edu/njdlib. It is also searchable from the NJ Spatial Data Clearinghouse (http://njgeodata.state.nj.us). Top ASCD EE Network web site The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's (ASCD) Environmental Education Network has a web site intended to keep ASCD members informed about environmental education activities. ASCD, with over 165,000 members worldwide, is one of the largest education organizations in the world. The ASCD EE Network, in cooperation with NAAEE, EETAP and EE-Link, promotes awareness and understanding of environmental education and its role in the formal education system. The web site includes a quick introduction to EE, ASCD's position on environmental education, membership information, links to ASCD publications with an EE focus, and links to various other EE web sites. Visit: http://www.ascd.org/ Top Biodiversity 911: Saving Life On Earth Developed by World Wildlife Fund and funded by the National Science Foundation, Biodiversity 911: Saving Life on Earth engages visitors in hands-on activities to explore what biodiversity is, why it's declining,and how we can help to protect it. To complement the traveling exhibition, WWF has developed a comprehensive Web site that provides interactive games, video clips, and special downloads that explore biodiversity and teach how to help conserve it. For more information: http://www.biodiversity911.org/ Top The Water Sourcebooks Created by the Environmental Protection Agency, The Water Sourcebooks contain 324 activities for grades K-12. This environmental education program explains the water management cycle using a balanced approach showing how it affects all aspects of the environment. Activities are available online in PDF and are also available on CD-ROM. To order the CD, call (800)424-4372or send an email to haertel.jan@epa.gov. For more information about this free resource visit: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/wsb/ Top Creative Connections Project The Creative Connections Project links US/world K-12 classrooms with partner classes from the Amazon Rain Forest, Africa, the Galapagos Islands, the Arctic and China through E-mail, the Internet, art exchanges, music exchanges and Study Partnerships. Detailed information and a registration form are available online at http://www.ccproject.org. Registration is now open to all US and world K-12 schools. The Creative Connections Project is a sponsored project of The New York Foundation for the Arts, a non-profit organization funded by registration fees and a small grant from The Avery Arts Foundation and supported by WorldTeach, Inc. of the Harvard Institute for International Development. Over 740 classes have participated since 1999. Top Green School Program As part of their educational outreach programs, the Alliance to Save Energy sponsors the Green Schools Program that helps schools use energy efficiently through changes in the behavior of building users and changes in operational and maintenance routines. In addition Green Schools encourages schools to get retrofits, install renewable technology, and bring the energy efficiency message home and into the community. The Green Schools Program combines conservation and education in a way that strengthens schools, involves students in making a real difference, encourages teamwork, and fosters community involvement. http://www.ase.org/greenschools/ Top Healthy Schools, Healthy Kids With all the recent talk about school safety, one of the greatest dangers has often been overlooked: the physical environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), half of our nation's schools have poor indoor air quality, which can cause or aggravate health problems and impair children's ability to learn. There are various sources of toxins in and around schools, including pesticides, cleaning products, chronic leaks, chipped paint, and idling school buses. What's worse, a tightly sealed building may interfere with much-needed ventilation. The result is a buildup of pollutants-radon, arsenic, mold, carbon monoxide, asbestos, lead, volatile organic compounds, and more-that may be harmful when inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin. Six hours of exposure a day, 180 days a year, represents a potentially grave risk for children, who cannot metabolize toxins as effectively as adults. Children are also more likely to sit or play on the floor, touch walls, and put objects (including their hands) in their mouths, putting them at even greater risk of ingesting harmful substances. If you're worried about conditions at your child's school, bring your concerns to the administration, as well as local PTA and school board meetings. You might also consider running for a position on the school board in order to work on these issues directly. Encourage the school to provide a clean, safe learning environment by: Seeking natural alternatives to cleaning products that contain toxic chemicals, or using products labeled "biodegradable" or "non-toxic." Using integrated pest management instead of chemical pesticides. If pesticides must be used, use the minimum amount needed. Fixing leaks to avoid mold growth. Inspecting for lead, asbestos, and radon. Schools built before 1978 should be tested for lead if there is evidence of chipped paint. Changing air filters in the ventilation system to regularly ensure fresh air circulation. Requesting the EPA's free "Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools" kit (see the link below). Lastly, ask the school to prepare for a possible industrial accident, natural disaster, or other catastrophe by developing, posting, and then practicing an evacuation plan. For related information, see these pages: IAQ BASICS FOR SCHOOLS FROM THE AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION http://www.lungusa.org/air/air00_iaqbasics.html/ CHILD PROOFING OUR COMMUNITIES http://www.childproofing.org/ EPA HEALTHY SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS http://cfpub.epa.gov/schools/index.cfm/ EPA INDOOR AIR QUALITY TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/ Top GEO-LITERACY In exploring the land and remaining buildings on a local historic ranch, Eva La Mar's third-grade class learned about ecology, geography, and social history. They also became historians, documenting their work through video and digital photography, and created a final multimedia Web product with the help of high school mentors. Geo-Literacy: Forging New Ground, includes sample lesson plans and printable PDFs of documents and rubrics for use in other projects. http://www.glef.org/geo-literacy.html Top