[B]WASHINGTON, D.C.[\/B]\u2014Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced last week a new agreement to build, develop and formalize programs that use national parks, national wildlife refuges and other public lands as classrooms and catalysts for 21st century education\u2014designed to benefit teachers, students and parents in rural America and urban classrooms alike.<\/p>\n
The announcement came in advance of Friday\u2019s White House Conference on Conservation that was hosted at the Department of the Interior that will spotlight community-driven conservation efforts as part of President Obama\u2019s America\u2019s Great Outdoors Initiative.<\/p>\n
The memorandum of understanding signed by Salazar and Duncan enables the Department of the Interior and the Department of Education to work together in new and more effective ways to connect young Americans to the outdoors, improve environmental literacy, support experiential learning outside the classroom, and form partnerships at the local level to learn from and conserve public lands.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the agreement will help implement the President\u2019s goals for the Department of Education by investing in the education necessary to build a workforce with skills to succeed in the conservation and outdoor recreation economy and to develop careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).<\/p>\n
\u201cAn economy that\u2019s built to last requires that we make sure our children get the education and training they need so we have a workforce ready to take on the jobs of tomorrow,\u201d said Salazar. \u201cThis innovative partnership will help schools use our national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands as educational and professional development tools to bring new environmental and historical knowledge to students and develop skills for the next generation of workers in America\u2019s growing outdoor economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
America\u2019s outdoor economy\u2014including outdoor recreation, conservation and heritage initiatives\u2014powers 8.4 million jobs and generates more than $1 trillion in economic activity annually, according to recent non-governmental estimates. Independent estimates also show that the leisure and hospitality sector could add 2.1-3.3 million jobs this decade\u2014the third highest job growth potential by sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cScience, technology, engineering and math fields are driving forces in the global economy,\u201d said Duncan. \u201cPartnerships between our nation\u2019s schools and our national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands is a smart approach that can better prepare our children in STEM subjects by providing engaging, hands-on learning experiences, making lessons tangible, and enhancing schools\u2019 ties to their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agreement will create new bridges between America\u2019s schools and its public lands\u2014often at the local level, where national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands exist in close proximity to communities, ideally situated as outdoor classrooms for teachers and students nationwide.<\/p>\n
Under the agreement, Interior may offer both in-service and pre-service professional development opportunities for teachers and other educators, including workshops, in-depth subject-matter seminars, and summer employment opportunities. The goals include improving teaching skills and developing deeper levels of subject-matter expertise, with a special emphasis on those who work in, or will work in, Title I, rural, and other high-need schools.<\/p>\n
Through its relationships with state educational agencies, local school districts, and colleges and universities, the Department of Education can serve as a resource in developing a range of teaching and classroom skills for Interior employees, including Bureau of Indian Education funded schools, and partners who serve as educators in the classroom and on public lands. The Department of Education will also commit to encourage math and science, American history, and other programs.<\/p>\n
This initiative will build upon, elevate and formalize some programs already in place. The National Park Service, for example, presents more than 95,000 education programs annually and reaches more than 2 million students enrolled in K-12 schools. It also provides extensive online resources for students and teachers. More than 40 parks have educational institutes and field schools.<\/p>\n
Other key ongoing initiatives include the Fish and Wildlife Service\u2019s \u201cschoolyard habitat\u201d and \u201cbiologists-in-training\u201d programs. In fact, the National Wildlife Refuge System welcomes almost a million school children each year to these and other environmental education programs and partnerships held at hundreds of refuges around the nation. Additional programs include Science camps held by the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Hands on the Land initiative\u2014a network of outdoor classrooms involving six federal agencies that connects America\u2019s students, teachers and parents to their public lands and waterways, while supporting school-based curricula correlated to local standards of learning. [B][I](DOI)[\/I][\/B]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced last week a new agreement to build, develop and formalize programs that use national parks, national wildlife refuges and other public lands as classrooms and catalysts for 21st century education\u2014designed to benefit teachers, students and parents in rural America and urban classrooms alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}