Understanding the Local Environment
Experiencing and observing the local environment is an essential part of environmental education. Understanding their surroundings helps learners build a strong foundation of skills and knowledge for reaching out further into the world and deeper into the conceptual understandings that environmental literacy demands. Direct experience in the environment also helps foster the awareness and appreciation that motivate learners to further questioning, better understanding, and appropriate concern and action.
The following chart suggests ways in which learners at different grade levels might explore and understand the local environment. It is printed in each grade level section of these guidelines to help show progression as learners mature. Other ideas are included in the guidelines. |
Grades K-4
Identify basic types of habitats (e.g., forests, wetlands, or lakes). Create a short list of plants and animals found in each.
Trace the source of their drinking water and where it goes after it is used.
Recognize resident animal species, migrants, and those that pass through on migratory routes.
Collect or produce images of the area at the beginning of European settlement.
Describe aspects of the environment that change on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.
Identify sources of electricity used in the community (e.g., hydroelectric, fossil fuels, solar, nuclear).
Record weather observations such as precipitation, temperature, or cloud cover.
Identify food crops that are grown or processed locally. |
Grades 5-8
Classify local ecosystems (e.g., oak-hickory forest or sedge meadow). Create food webs to show--or describe their function in terms of--the interaction of specific plant and animal species.
Describe how drinking water and wastewater are treated.
Map migratory routes of birds, butterflies, and other animals that pass through the area. Identify their local habitat needs.
Monitor changes in water or air quality, or other aspects of the local environment.
Identify species that are locally threatened, endangered, or declining in population. Describe their habitat needs.
Describe the area's climate and identify factors that contribute to it.
Create a map for the local area that shows where food that is consumed locally comes from. |
Grades 9-12
Identify several plants and animals common to local ecosystems. Describe concepts such as succession, competition, predator/prey relationships, and parasitism.
Evaluate sources of nonpoint source pollution of local bodies of water, including sources that are not local.
Investigate short- and long-term environmental changes in a local watershed, and aquifer, or in air quality. Or document changes in land use and their environmental effects.
Research population trends for a locally threatened species. Describe changes, activities, and other factors that seem to affect the population trends.
Calculate the potential for generating wind or solar power on a particular site.
Trace human population trends for their region and make projections, based on research findings, for the future. |