Presenter(s): Katy Kuechle—Environmental Studies
Co-Presenter(s): Zoe O’Toole, Garrett Reagan, Ellie Townsley,
Faculty Mentor(s): Kathryn Lynch, Sasha White
Session 4: Environmental Leaders Program
The Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary service-learning program rooted in the University of Oregon Environmental Studies Program . ELP works with Mount Pisgah Arboretum and a cohort of kindergarten through fifth-grade students from Adams Elementary School . Our team mission was to develop an environmental education program for fifth-grade students that cultivated an understanding of the connections between people and their environment, specifically the Kalapuya’s relationship with oak savanna habitats and fire regimes, delivered through online lessons . The Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde provided feedback to our curriculum to accurately portray the history of the Kalapuya . Our curriculum was adapted into an online format to provide students with real-time lessons that deepened a sense of appreciation of the natural world within the local Willamette Valley through interactive activity sheets, journaling, and storytelling . Given the current pandemic and the lack of traditional classroom education, environmental education is more important than ever . Our curriculum helped create a sense of structure by establishing core routines and encouraging them to continue to interact with their environments in a safe and personally relevant way .