To What Extent Would an Environmental Resource Topic File, Located in the Elementary Art School Library Media Center, Increase the Infusion of Environmental Education in the Boscobel, Wisconsin Elementary School Curriculum?

Abstract

Boscobel Area School District inserviced the entire early childhood through the twelfth grade teaching staff in the infusion of environmental education into their curricula in 1991. In the summer of 1993 an Environmental Education (EE) committee was instructed to revise the existing Boscobel Environmental Education Curriculum. The committee designed the curriculum around thirty environmental issues that were derived from a list of issues generated from the staff. The development of Earth Files was also based on these topics. The first step in the development and placement of the Earth Files was to gain the approval of both the building administrator and the Library Media Center (LMC) resource person. Once this was accomplished, a committee was formed and the gathering and sorting of resource material continued until fifteen completed Earth files were placed in the elementary LMC. Types of resource material included in the files are from: federal and state agencies; environmental organizations; business and industry; activities from workshops, conferences, Project Wild, Project Learning Tree, and Nature Scopes. The final phase of the project involved coaxing staff members to use the Earth Files. Teachers were encouraged to use the files through Earthly Newsletters, incentives, membership in an Earth Squad Club, and reminders in their mailboxes. The Earth Files were in place for 16 months, during which time 17 out of the 39 staff members had used at least one file. According to the results of the Earth Reports (a survey filled out by each person who checked out a file) the majority of teachers indicated that the files were moderately or greatly beneficial to them.