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National Wildlife Federation, through funding support by the Motorola Foundation, is creating authentic outdoor learning laboratories on school grounds and related curriculum to engage and motivate educators, students, and community members in Philadelphia and Chicago. 

NWF’s Eco-Schools USA program and its partners for the project—Earth Partnership for Schools (EPS), Earth Force, and DeHavilland Associates—are creating sustainable outdoor classrooms where students are directly engaged in "greening" their schools and improving their carbon footprints. Students are able learn about STEM disciplines from working professionals and through real life applications on their school grounds.

Eco-Schools USA, part of the international Eco-Schools program, focuses on greening schools (inside and out), engaging students in real-world solutions and providing opportunities for teachers to “green” the curriculum.

Lessons and Resources

Lesson Plans to Enhance Your Teaching

Working with our partners, we have created STEM-based lessons to enhance the School Grounds Pathway of the Eco-Schools USA program and to support creating a Schoolyard Habitat.

• Habitat Hunt 
• Who Can Live Here 
• Site Inventory 
• Advanced Site Inventory 
• Site Mapping 

Helpful Links

NWF’s How-to Guide for Schoolyard Habitats is designed to help you with planning, creating and maintaining your outdoor classroom.

NWF has over 50 additional online lessons on a variety of topics that you can utilize when teaching outdoors.

Webinars

• Taking Learning Outside (coming August 24th—sign up now!)
• Designing Your Schoolyard Habitat Project (recording)
• Creating a Schoolyard Habitat (recording)
• Summer Maintenance Planning for Your Schoolyard Habitat (recording)

If you wish to learn more about how to become an Eco-Schools USA school, need assistance with your outdoor classroom, or have any additional questions contact us at educators@nwf.org.