GreenWorks!

GreenWorks! is the community action service learning component of PLT, built around action projects that partner educators, students, and the community in an effort to understand, respect, and improve the world around us.

GreenWorks! is the community action service learning component of PLT, built around action projects that partner educators, students, and the community in an effort to understand, respect, and improve the world around us. To support community action, GreenWorks! blends service activities with the academic curriculum and addresses real community needs as students learn through active engagement. The key to a healthy environment lies in informed action. Green-Works! offers PLT educators and their students the opportunity to positively impact the communities in which they live and work. By combining the environmental knowledge and resources of PLT with community action initiatives, Green-Works! action projects have a true impact on the future of America. GreenWorks! action projects make a difference in how young people think, in their sense of responsibility toward their communities, and in their understanding of their relationship to the environment. GreenWorks! offers opportunities for people of all ages to work together to enhance their surroundings. By linking PLT educators and their students with local community groups, GreenWorks! action projects help educate communities about environmental issues and engage people in working together to find solutions to environmental problems within their communities. Community participation is the cornerstone of a GreenWorks! action project—people working together to improve the environment. For example, a GreenWorks! action project might involve students partnering with a local nursery to provide more green space for observing and exploring the many cycles of life. A GreenWorks! action project may involve many groups working together to enhance our city streets by cleaning-up graffiti and planting trees. Or a GreenWorks! action project may involve a group of high school students working with a forestry agency and a local forest resources company in an effort to understand the complexities of fire in a forest ecosystem. Green Works! provides students with experiences that extend learning beyond the classroom into real world contexts. By linking community action with classroom activities, students gain an understanding of environmental issues while enhancing basic math, science, English, and communication skills; strengthening problem solving and decision making skills; and developing civic skills, abilities, and competencies. GreenWorks! addresses community issues and integrates academic learning with community action projects to connect young people with their communities.

NUCFAC recommended award: NA-99-0441

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