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The Idea is Simple...
The Envirothon idea is simple -- combine the proven concepts of hands-on
education with the excitement of a good competition and the fun of spending a day in the outdoors. The result is
an effective educational tool which will help our state's schools to nurture environmentally aware students and
meet the immediate need to teach more environmental education. Because of its diversity and complexity, environmental
science is a mixture of disciplines difficult to integrate together. To help teachers with the task, schools around
the country have begun using supplemental curricula and activities, often developed with the help of various community
resources. Envirothon, with its rapid growth and exciting success, is a first rate example of how well such a program
can work.
Essentially, the Envirothon is a series of hands-on contests in which teams of high school students complete to
solve environmental problems. The event works much like an athletic competition, and the winners of that event
get the chance to compete in the Canon Envirothon. The Envirothon stimulates practical curriculum development by
establishing broad study areas and helping schools to find useful resources in their community. Partnering schools
with your local Soil & Water Conservation District, and other environmentally concerned organizations, is a
smart match. Conservation Districts alone cannot provide students with a first hand look at what environmental
careers are like.
Unlike programs which hand out curricula on a platter and depend entirely on school personnel for support, the
Envirothon encourages a constantly changing curriculum and helps to build strong ties between schools and the organizations
that can help them teach a practical, interdisciplinary brand of environmental awareness. It's an exciting program
that has attracted wide community involvement and grown rapidly in every state where it has been introduced. By
incorporating the Envirothon curriculum into classrooms, Conservation Districts across the nation are taking a
notable lead in responding to the public school system's need for a strong, hands-on approach to environmental
education.
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