Environmental Education Activities for the High School Geometry Classroom

The purpose of this project was to develop a collection of environmental education (EE) activities and to make recommendations for their infusion into a high school geometry class. Wisconsin has employed an infusion model for EE. In this approach, each subject area shares the responsibility for addressing EE in its curriculum, including math. The Wisconsin Academic Standards for math and EE were examined. Overlaps were found in the standards of these two subject areas. A list of typical topics covered in high school geometry classes was made. Some EE lessons were found in curriculum guides that matched the list of geometry topics. Others were developed to align with the remaining geometry topics. The lesson plans were used in the STEP Program (The SPASH Turn-Around Evening Program is an after-school program to help students catch-up on credits). This project was presented at the Wisconsin Mathematics Council's Green Lake Math Conference. A survey was used to determine the likelihood that other teachers would use the lesson plans. The survey confirmed that high school math teachers were not incorporating EE into their classes to a great extent, the lesson plans were helpful, and the teachers were very likely to use the lesson plans