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Project: History of the NCO Replicable Model Grant
Professional Development

There are many environmental education opportunities out there for teachers and their students, but this does not always translate into students spending more time learning in the out-of-doors.  Many educators are not comfortable taking their students outside and have concerns about student behavior, their own knowledge of content, or think their schoolyard does not have an adequate outdoor learning area.  Current research indicates that there are many benefits, both academically and behaviorally, to outdoor learning opportunities. UNC-TV applied for and was granted a PBSKIDS GO! Outreach Replication Grant from the National Center for Outreach (NCO) /Corporate Public Broadcasting (CPB).  UNC-TV partnered with the Office of Environmental Education, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and UNC Chapel Hill's Carolina Environmental Program to create a national replication model workshop that would encourage teachers to incorporate outdoor, inquiry-based learning into the (NC) Standard Course of Study and become comfortable taking their students outside.  The workshop is titled, "You Have an Outdoor Classroom! How Can You Use It? - Inquiry-Based Learning in the Schoolyard."  Participants will springboard from the PBSKIDS GO! website.

The workshop is an exciting, innovative, and interactive model that leads you through several activities involving nature observation, nature journaling, and experimentation and reading.

Leading the workshop were Marty Wiggins and Rachel Golden from the Office of Environmental Education at NC DENR, Elissa Totin from the UNC-Chapel Hill Carolina Environmental Program, Kelly Leovic and Donna Rogers from EPA, and Dr. Merle Price, Rosemary Hallberg, and Pamela Hines, from the Programming and Educational Outreach and Communication Department at UNC-TV. 

This partnership serves a three-fold purpose: besides offering this replicable model workshop for teachers across North Carolina and developing a national model for partnerships between public television stations and agencies in other states.  The Outdoor Classroom workshop also provides environmental education credits to North Carolina. Using the community of learners model, visits were made by UNC-TV staff to school to introduce materials and engage learners on many levels through outdoor exploration, through the web, through group and individual activities, through books, and selected PBS instructional programs.

Special thanks to the Rocky Mount Children's Museum and Science Center who graciously provided the space for the February 10, 2006 training for teachers; EPA/RTP for providing the space, binders and certificates for both workshops that were conducted on February 10, 2006 and February 27, 2006; the UNC-TV Design Department for creating the Outdoor Classroom canvas bags; and UNC-TV Webteam for continual support throughout the project.

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