Pennsylvania Envirothon

Pennsylvania Envirothon 2010
2010 Teacher Resource Packet (PDF format)
For the past 27 years, high schools in Pennsylvania have been recognizing the value of the Envirothon experience. Students and their teachers become empowered by their own motivation as the Envirothon engages them in an exciting, multi-faceted study of the environment. Students involved in the Envirothon often pursue further education in environmental fields. Many Envirothon participants pursuing college degrees in various natural resource studies have indicated that their education choice was partly due, or strengthened by, their Envirothon experience. Many Envirothon advisors credit the Envirothon with increasing student interest and involvement in environmental sciences. To many people involved, the Envirothon is more than just a competition.

We hope that whether this is your first Envirothon or you are a veteran, you and your team are excited to learn about the environment, our relationship with it, and how we can each work towards its protection and conservation.

This year features "Protection of Groundwater through Urban, Agricultural, and Environmental Planning" as the Current Environmental Issue. We have made an effort to link the other stations (Forestry, Soils and Land Use, Wildlife, and Aquatic Ecology) with the Current Issue in the Essential Topics and Learning Objectives to emphasize their interrelatedness.

This Teacher Resource Packet is intended to help you and your team become fluent in a broad range of environmental topics. It outlines the guidelines of the Envirothon, including the Learning Objectives and Reference Lists. Included are:

* The following are specified for each station:
a) Essential Topics
b) Learning Objectives - Correlations to PDE Academic Standards for Environment and Ecology.
c) Reference Materials List - If you are missing any of these materials, contact your County Conservation District.
d) Learning Enhancements

ENVIROTHON MISSION STATEMENT
The Envirothon is an environmental education program made available to Pennsylvania Conservation Districts in partnership with related state and federal agencies and other organizations. The Envirothon program is designed to test high school students’ knowledge of Pennsylvania natural resources and environmental sciences. The program emphasizes the importance of environmental sensitivity while stressing a need to achieve a social, ecological, and economic balance. The Pennsylvania Envirothon provides future generations with the ability to be better equipped to address the complex natural resource concerns facing today’s world as well as the challenges of tomorrow.

ENVIROTHON OBJECTIVES
Awareness: The Envirothon will help students cultivate an awareness of the total environment and acquire a sensitivity towards its limited natural resources.

Knowledge: The Envirothon will help students develop a basic understanding of the earth’s ecological systems and the life-sustaining implication these systems have on all living things.

Attitudes: The Envirothon will help students develop attitudes, which embrace environmental sensitivity and instill the dedication to participate in activities geared towards protecting the environment.

Application: The Envirothon will help students develop skills needed to identify, investigate, and contribute to the resolution of environmental issues and problems.

PARTNERS AND SPONSORS
State Conservation Commission
Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts
Pennsylvania’s sixty-six Conservation Districts

Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural

Resources Bureau of Forestry
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural

Resources Bureau of State Parks
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission
Pennsylvania Game Commission
U.S. D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service

STATION/TENT SPONSORS
Cargill
Dwight Lewis Lumber
Lewis Lumber Products
The Hershey Company

2010 PENNSYLVANIA ENVIROTHON
What: 2010 Pennsylvania Envirothon – Twenty-Seventh Annual
Who: Teams of High School Students from all across Pennsylvania
When: Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Where: PPL Montour Preserve, Danville, PA
Why: To test the students’ knowledge of Pennsylvania’s natural resources while providing them with the ability to address the complex environmental concerns facing today’s world as well as the challenges of tomorrow.

(* The fifth testing station is a Current Environmental Issue, which changes annually.)

Past Current Environmental Issues:
1984 - Acid Rain
1985 - Hazardous Waste
1986 - Solid Waste Management
1987 - Water Quality
1988 - Farmland Preservation
1989 - Recycling
1990 - Wetlands
1991 - Energy Sustainability
1992 - Groundwater
1993 - Pesticides
1994 - Acid Rain
1995 - Groundwater
1996 - Greenways
1997 - Pest Management
1998 - Watersheds
1999 - Wildfire Management
2000 - Wetland Management
2001 - Urban Nonpoint Source Pollution
2002 - Introduced Species
2003 - Farmland Preservation & Conservation
2004 - Natural Resource Management in the Urban

Environment
2005 - Managing Cultural Landscapes
2006 - Water Stewardship in a Changing Climate

2010 CANON ENVIROTHON
The winning team of the Pennsylvania Envirothon will advance to the Canon Envirothon held August 1 – August 7 2010, at the Fresno State University, Fresno, California. Over forty-five states and nine Canadian provinces/territories are expected to participate in this 23rd Canon Envirothon!

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ENVIROTHON
The Envirothon program began here in Pennsylvania as the “Envir-Olympics” in 1979 with three counties holding competitions. In 1984, the first State competition was held with six counties participating. 1988 marked an important year in our history: the event had grown to include thirty-eight teams; the program was officially changed to “Envirothon”; and Pennsylvania planned, hosted, and won the first National Envirothon. Over 15,000 students now participate each year and the program has grown to include every conservation district in the state.

SOME TIPS FOR TEACHING ENVIROTHON MATERIAL
1. Try a few of the learning enhancements with this year’s reference materials! We have tried to identify learning enhancements that would assist you in teaching Envirothon material. They can be a lot of fun and would help improve student understanding of key concepts for each station. All new learning enhancements have been included in your reference materials. Others have been supplied in previous years. If you do not have a copy and would like one, contact your County Conservation District.

2. Arrange a visit to a local park or nature center! Just one day or afternoon “in the field” can do wonders for bringing all of your team’s studying to life. Many environmental educators in parks and nature centers can lead hikes based around themes or concepts that you want covered with your students. Hands-on investigations, tree identification walks, stream investigations: all of these may be possible at sites near your school.

3. Ask your Conservation District about tree and log scales, diameter tapes, topographic maps, and other available educational resources and programs! Many Conservation Districts have educational resources that you can check out for use with the Envirothon and they offer a variety of training workshops. Talk to your County Envirothon Coordinator about the possibilities of a school program or other educational activity. This person (or persons) is your contact for a wide array of helpful services. Write or give them a call! A listing of contacts and phone numbers can be found on the Envirothon website.

4. Visit the PA Department of Education’s website! The Envirothon learning objectives can assist you in addressing the adopted Environment and Ecology standards. If you would like to see how the Envirothon’s learning objectives correlate to these standards, visit the PA Department of Education’s website at www.pde.state.pa.us.

5. Utilize the World Wide Web! The Envirothon WebPages have been recently updated and, in addition to all of the information there, it also has links to all of our sponsors and partnering agencies. For updates, current events, and resources, this is a great way to go!

6. Follow environmental issues in your local newspapers! This is a great way for your students to connect all of the environmental concepts the Envirothon covers with “real life.” In every spot in Pennsylvania on every day, something is happening which affects the health of our forest ecosystems and watersheds, the quality of living for local residents, and the use of our resources. There are success stories as well as hard lessons in economics, politics, and sociology. Following a current local event in the classroom is an effective way of engaging students in informed discussions and action.

7. Check out Keystone WILD! Notes This is wonderful Pennsylvania-centered conservation education publication. Each issue reviews special articles that can be used in the classroom as foundations for a lesson.
For further information, contact:
Wild Resource Conservation Program
P.O. Box 8764
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8764
(717) 730-6263

8. Check out Bay Journal! This is a broad-reaching and informative monthly magazine put out by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay that focuses on issues and updates on our downstream estuary. It would be a great addition to teacher reference materials for use in student research assignments, in-class discussions of current events, or a year-long monitoring of this critical ecosystem’s health. Topics covered include: water quality, pollution violations, the Clean Water Act, conservation efforts, oyster and crab population levels, and threats of industrial development projects. This is free! You may read the Bay Journal online at www.bayjournal.com or for further information, contact:
Alliance for Chesapeake Bay
6600 York Road, Suite 100
Baltimore, MD 21212

9. Last, but certainly not least: have fun! One key to a meaningful environmental education experience is fun. Reading up on your local ecosystems, having an energetic discussion about a forestry issue, investigating a stream for water quality, measuring trees like professional foresters, even getting your hands “dirty” in an exposed soil profile: all of these can be fun and exciting adventures in learning. If it’s fun, you will not only get the students excited for more, but what they end up learning will probably stand a better chance of sticking with them. Have a great time with the 2010Envirothon!

REFERENCE MATERIAL AVAILABLE ON COMPACT DISKS
It is the goal of the Pennsylvania Envirothon program to go "almost" paperless. For each station, we are providing you with a compact disk that contains most of the required reference material. Some publications are not available in electronic format or via the internet. These publications are still available in hard copy by contacting your County's Envirothon Coordinator.

		Phone: 814-623-7900 Ext. 111 E-mail: