‘Growing Greener Schools’
Education Business, In The News Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
We’ve received this email. It may be of interest to you.
“During this green revolution, we are all becoming increasingly concerned about the environment and aware of the urgent need for change. The education system, of all fields, has particular responsibility to educate the new generation on the importance of green living and better ensure a healthier, more sustainable environment for our children. Idealistic and not limited by habit, they may be our greatest hope for change.
This Earth Day Week in April, PBS stations will be airing the one-of-a-kind documentary, “Growing Greener Schools.” As the below news release explains, the program not only reveals how people across the country are leading the way in greening our schools, but offers a roadmap for school boards and administrators to do the same. To this end, the DVD even offers a downloadable 175-page Handbook and Curriculum Guide.
For more information on this ground-breaking documentary, go to http://www.mediapolicycenter.org/ or contact us at WHPR: 323-730-0233. Thank you for considering this information for The Learning Network blog.
Thank you,
WHPR
Sydney Weisman, WHPR, 323-730-0233
Kirsten Holguin, WHPR, 805-796-0038
Dara Salem, WHPR, 713-594-6815
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 19, 2010
For More Information Contact: Sydney Weisman, WHPR, 323-730-0233 (323-804-3012, cell) Kirsten Holguin, WHPR, 805-796-0038
PBS Distribution’s Educational Media announces a groundbreaking new program illustrating today’s best practices for creating sustainable schools and communities.
Alexandria, Virginia, January 19, 2010– With the release of the only program of its kind, Growing Greener Schools, on March 8, 2010, PBS Educational Media offers a new multi-media best practices program steeped in 21st Century skills to help educators, communities, and organizations learn how to ‘green’ their schools.
Produced by the Media & Policy Center (Going to Green and Eden’s Lost and Found), the program is the result of an extensive survey of resources and standards including more than 40 local, state, and national programs and organizations pledged to greening America’s schools. The project is made possible by a major grant from Siemens.
Growing Greener Schools includes interviews with a coast-to-coast group of industry experts, educators, and administrators, scientists, environmentalists and contractors, school and public health officials, and students who participate in sustainability programs in schools that incorporate environmental studies into every curriculum area. Producers profiled green schools across the country from elementary schools to Ivy League schools such as Harvard University.
Divided into two parts, Part I showcases projects undertaken by schools around the country that include hands-on examples of how these institutions are creating sustainable gardens, cultivating nature centers in inner cities, transforming lunchroom trash into composts, and assigning green ambassadors to initiate green change.
Still other examples show the nuts and bolts of how schools have integrated green initiatives into their math and art curricula. Viewers get an up-close look at service projects at work in communities that provide learning experiences for students. Students tell how these green programs have inspired them to make changes and have changed how they view the world. Interviews with educators detail the benefits of such programs from improved attendance to improved health, better test scores, and greater academic success.
Part II is a roadmap for administrators and school boards to examine how to build eco-friendly school buildings from the ground up; retrofit older classrooms to new green standards; and operate green facilities on a daily basis. Real-life examples are provided of budget savings realized from these changes, best practices for preparing students for the green jobs of the future, and more.
The DVD includes a downloadable 175-page Handbook and Curriculum Guide with 12 interdisciplinary classroom modules with lessons for grades 5-12, support material, a matrix of 21st Century Skills to corresponding lessons, grant writing tips, and more. Six interactive games are also included to further reinforce the concepts and ideas presented in the curriculum.
Modules and games included:
• Light and optics
• Solar – includes interactive game
• Organic Gardening
• Composting
• Energy
• Water Conservation – includes interactive game
• Heat Flow
• Design
• Recycling – includes interactive game
• Transportation
• Consumer Choices
• Careers – includes interactive game
ABOUT PBS DISTRIBUTION
PBS Distribution is the leading media distributor for the public television community, both domestically and internationally. Jointly owned by PBS (Arlington, VA) and WGBH (Boston, MA), PBS Distribution extends the reach of public television programs beyond broadcast while generating revenue for the public television system and our production partners. PBS Distribution is also a leader in offering programming through new media platforms including download to own, broadband syndication, and wireless.
PBS Educational Media has been providing trusted classroom resources to educators, librarians, and trainers for more than 30 years and is devoted to bringing the abundance of PBS educational resources to its customers.
ABOUT MEDIA & POLICY CENTER
The Media & Policy Center, located in Santa Monica, CA, uniquely combines multi-media productions with grass roots initiatives to help transform communities and the lives of those involved in those initiatives. Their PBS documentaries, community organizing and other widely seen productions have, over the last 10 years, helped keep Americans informed on everything from elder care to the greening of schools. Co-founders Dale Bell and Harry Wiland have won, between them, one Academy Award (Woodstock), five Emmys, one Peabody, two Christophers and two Cine Golden Eagles. They are both Ashoka Fellows, recognized as social entrepreneurs who use media effectively and creatively to inspire citizen action. For more information, visit www.mediapolicycenter.org
Executive Producers/Directors are Harry Wiland & Dale Bell; Writer and Editor is Beverly Baroff.
Producers are Beverly Baroff, Dr. Stacy Sinclair, David Rosenstein, Charla Barker.”
Greetings,
I appreciate your dedication to higher ed and enjoy your blogs. I too love higher ed and have launched a new website http://www.campusleftovers.com. The website is free for everyone to use and is comparable to a “craigslist” for higher ed. Some unviersities have begun to use it in correlation with their sustainaility and go green practices. I encourage you to look and let me know what you think. I truly believe it can benefit all students and institutions. Educated Shopping!
Thanks,
Tyson