Aldo Leopold's Shack

Links

• LEP National

• The Aldo Leopold Foundation

• Pheasants Forever

The Leopold Education Project trains and equips educators and youth program staff, both paid and volunteer, to lead hands-on  investigations into "land": soil, water, plants, animals.  These activities, often conducted in the outdoors, each correlate to an essay in A Sand County Almanac which provide the "big ideas" and "big questions" behind these explorations.

In South Dakota, trainings in LEP are conducted around the state at the request of host organizations.  A minimum of 10 attendees is recommended.  A summer training is offered annually for classroom teachers. A training consists of a minimum of 6 hours and may be extended to 15 to meet contact hour requirements for teachers seeking credit.  Basic material costs are covered thanks to the generous support of the 319 I&E project.  Other costs may apply.

See pictures from Summer 2009 educator training A Study of Place which used LEP and other curricula.  Study of Place 2009

For more information or to schedule a training, please contact Anne Lewis (annelewis@sd-discovery.com) or call 605-224-8295.

The Leopold Education Project is a national project of Pheasants Forever. 
 

The Leopold Education Project integrates multiple curriculum through investigations and experiences in the outdoors.  One way to use the LEP in a classroom or program is through a nature or outdoor journal.

Journaling Resources:

Articles:
• Introducing the Nature Journal (from Smithsonian Education)
• Nature Journal: Tools for Discovery (from Roger Torey Petersen Institute)
• Field Journal (Field Museum)
• How To Keep A Field Journal (American Museum of Natural History)

Journals:
• All Weather journals
  Pros: Journal is water resistant and durable. Good for more extreme : outdoor settings.
  Cons: Spendy and paper is not the best for artwork.
• Bare Books #2705
  Pros:  Inexpensive and good quality blank paper for drawing at the price.  Cons: Getting wet and dirty is a consideration as students generally don't enjoy using journals once they've become overly soiled.
• Homemade journals
.  Use the blank side of one sided copies and cardboard for an inexpensive journal tethered together with a stick and rubber band.
Pros: The least expensive.  Reduces and reuses resources.
Cons: Not very durable.  Back side of copies may be distracting to some.
Requires a time commitment to prep books.
• Composition notebooks.
  Pros: Easily obtained, inexpensive. Fairly durable, especially if sewn instead of glued.
  Cons: Lined paper makes drawing distracting.   

Practices:

• Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie (book)
  This book is an absolute essential for the educator who wishes to use the nature journal in the classroom or program. It will inspire and instruct you in how to keep a journal but also give valuable pointers on the pedagogy of nature journaling including assessment.
• For an overview on the history and purpose of a field journal, read Notes on Keeping a Field Journal (University of Western Ontario).  This will provide important background information on the field journal as a scientific document.
• Nature study: A pupil's textbook Published in 1905, this book features 33 natural items for observation and investigation in the nature journal.  The introduction by Anna Botsford Comstock is by itself worth clicking through the link.
   

The University of Wisconsin and the Aldo Leopold Foundation have partnered to make Aldo Leopold's writing, publications and photographs available online.  Of particular interest to the SD LEP project is Aldo Leopold's Watershed Handbook written for the US Forest Service in 1923. 

 Watershed Handbook (scroll down to the link).