School Environmental Education Program

American Forests' environmental education program provides students with a real world learning experience while providing teachers an innovative yet well organized program for teaching science, math and Geographic Information Systems.  American Forests, working with Lyn Malone, co-author of Mapping Our World: GIS Lessons for Educators, has created, and classroom tested, a set of lesson plans that help teachers and students get started with GIS in their schools.

Detailed step-by-step instructions for the student; well-placed screen shots; and questions at the end of each lesson, guide the students through the process of mapping the trees on their school campus or local neighborhood. The students are able to conduct an environmental analysis of their trees and determine the benefits that the trees provide for cleaning the air and water using American Forests’ CITYgreen software.

With advanced investigation lessons, the students are able to create and analyze alternate scenarios that build broad-based problem-solving skills.  Through this program, students and their teachers will become stronger advocates for investment in maintenance of local tree canopy and the region’s green infrastructure.

Contact Mike Lehman for details

Teacher Resources:

Lessons Plans
CITYgreen Environmental Education brochure

Mapping Our School Site
Taking a Measure of Community

Sponsorship Successes:

Washington DC "GreenTech”- Sponsored by Casey Trees
Texas "Trees for Texas” - Sponsored by H-E-B Grocery Stores - Poster of Participants

To help your class get started, below are a few activities for your students:

Tree Inventory Worksheet (20 KB)

Tree Health Worksheet (100 KB)
Measuring Trees (How to build a Clinometer) (96 KB)