This article originally appeared on the website of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and was written by Kurt Knebusch.
MANSFIELD, Ohio — A July 18-19 workshop in Mansfield — called A Walk Through Ohio’s Forests: The Good, the Bad and the Invasive — will feature two helpful tools for teaching students about nature and the environment, says co-organizer Kathy Smith of The Ohio State University.
The event, which takes place on Ohio State’s Mansfield campus, will explore the campus itself — which covers 600 mostly wooded acres plus has wetlands and a range of plants and wildlife — and the newly revised Project Learning Tree-Ohio, an award-winning environmental education curriculum that includes web-based teaching units.
“These are amazing resources for teaching youth about Ohio’s natural resources,” said Smith, who’s forestry program director in Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources, part of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
Smith and others often give workshops on the tree-covered Mansfield campus through the school’s Ohio Woodland Stewards Program.
Smith said the upcoming workshop, which is for teachers of pre-K through high school, will focus on using Project Learning Tree to study Ohio’s forests, its wetlands and amphibians, the impacts of invasive species, and climate and its impacts on forests and wildlife.
Tools for indoors, outdoors
“Our goal is to provide information and activities to use inside and outside the classroom,” she said.
Participants in the workshop will receive Project Learning Tree’s pre-K through 8th grade activity guide, an activity guide for high school students, and access to the project’s new online units.
The event is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 18 and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 19 in Ovalwood Hall, 1760 University Drive on the Mansfield campus.
Register by July 14
Registration is $60, includes lunches and materials, and is due by the end of the day July 14. Overnight accommodations on campus are available for $30. Optional credits through Ashland University are pending.
Details, including links to the full agenda and online registration, are at go.osu.edu/WalkThruOhioForests, or call 614-688-3421.
Co-sponsors of the workshop are Ohio State University Extension, the School of Environment and Natural Resources, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ divisions of Forestry and Wildlife, Project Learning Tree-Ohio, and the Environmental Education Council of Ohio.
OSU Extension is the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences’ statewide outreach arm.
WRITER(S):
Kurt Knebusch
knebusch.1@osu.edu
330-263-3776
SOURCE(S):
Kathy Smith
smith.81@osu.edu
614-688-3136