This article by Olivia Griset, 2009 PLT National Outstanding Educator, was published in the February 2010 “Going Green” issue of The Science Teacher, the peer-reviewed high school journal of the National Science Teachers Association (http://www.nsta.org/highschool/). The article includes the adapted activity “Cast of Thousands” from PLT’s secondary module The Changing Forest: Forest Ecology. For more information, contact iaoun@forestfoundation.org.

An experiential environmental education course primarily using the school grounds as a field site was designed as an elective at Lisbon High School in Lisbon Falls, Maine, in 2005. Since then, the class has attracted diverse learners and regularly has a waiting list. While the school’s setting does facilitate the logistics of outdoor learning, it is this teacher’s belief that field-based experience benefits students no matter the size and ecology of the available site. Community experts, including a forester and woodlot owner, have helped make the learning relevant, and have also served as real-world role models for “green” careers. At-risk students normally disengaged in traditional classroom and lab settings have excelled in the course, many going on to take three or four science electives. Discussions about current environmental controversies in the state and service learning opportunities have also emerged as students conduct field investigations.