Participants and Project Leaders from the March 19-20, 2004 Correlations Training

Introduction

The development of this collaborative project between Ohio’s Project WET, Project WILD and Project Learning Tree titled “WET, WILD and PLT – Correlations for All Three” has been several years in the making.  The coordinators for the three “Projects” realized that in order to increase the use of their materials in formal school systems, they needed to correlate their activities to the new Ohio Academic Content Standards. 

The focus of this project was to correlate the activities of the three “Projects” to the Ohio K-12 Science Academic Content Standards.  This project was modeled after the recent correlation project that ODNR, Division of Soil and Water Conservation created: “Correlating Soil and Water Conservation Education Activities with Ohio’s Science Content Standards”.

Basics of the Project

At this training, participants learned how to correlate activities to academic content standards by matching activities to the science grade level indicators.  At the end of this training, the participants were placed in teams of three and given Project WILD activities to correlate to their assigned grade level band.  Teams of three were assigned to a certain grade band level and were given the same activities so that subjectivity could be reduced. 

In June 2004, the groups met for a one-day meeting to compare and cross check their WILD activity correlations. At the end of this meeting, teams were give PLT activities to correlate.  A final one-day meeting was held in August 2004 so that teams could compare their PLT correlations and pick up their WET and HWHP (Heathly Water-Healthy People) activities.  They were then asked to mail their final correlations to the project leader.  The final approved correlations were placed in the searchable database found here. 

This database is searchable by grade level band, grade level, academic content standard, benchmark, organizer, grade-level indicator, and/or a specific “Project” (PLT, WET, WILD).  This will help educators customize their lesson plans to meet their specific needs. 

A limited number of hard copies (correlations guidebook) were printed for those who either do not want to search the database or do not have access to the Internet.

Disclaimer

The project leaders realize that correlating WET, WILD and PLT activities to academic content standards is a challenging and subjective process.  We encourage creativity while using the WET, WILD and PLT activities so consider these correlations as starting points for selecting and using the activities.

What’s Next?

The next steps for the WET, WILD and PLT coordinators will be to have their activities correlated to the Ohio Academic Content Standards for English Language Arts, Social Studies and Technology.

Project Partners

This correlation project, “WET, WILD and PLT - Correlations for All Three”, was funded in part by an OEEF grant from the Ohio EPA’s Office of Environmental Education.  Additional sponsors include ODNR, Divisions of Wildlife, Water, Forestry and Soil and Water Conservation.

Acknowledgments

The key personnel for this project, Bill Schultz (retired PLT-Ohio Coordinator), Sue Wintering (PLT-Ohio Coordinator), Jen Dennison (Project WILD Coordinator), Leonard Black (Project WET Coordinator), and Diane Cantrell (Deputy Chief of ODNR-Division of Soil and Water Conservation) would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of the participants in this project.  These include:  Christy Ahnmark, Christine Ault, Christine Barnett, Annette Barzal, Susan Boggs, Frances Boyens, Kathleen Bradley, Barb Cook, Lindsay Deering, Marilyn DuFour, David Galloway, Jennifer Gee, Cindy Giulivo, Loretta Harvey, Scott Hoff, Glenna Hoff, Diana Hunn, Rachel Joseph, Barb Kuck, Tom Lavergne, Sharon Meyer, Mark Mohr, John Neth, Marilyn Peacock, Amanda Podach, Skye Powers, Marc Sommer, Michael Stewart, Timothy Taylor, Carol Wells, Deb Wickerham, Erika Wiggins, Diane Wiktorowski, Fred Williams, Tammy York, Andrea Zacharias and Missi Zender.  Also, a special thanks to Pat Barron, Executive Director, Science & Mathematics Network of Central Ohio for her guidance and encouragement.