If You Were the Boss
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Acting as foresters, learners grapple with decisions about how to manage a forest sustainably while serving different needs.
To get PLT’s Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers unit, purchase a copy from Shop.PLT.org or find information about an in-person workshop in your area.
Supporting resources for this activity include the Worksheets from the guide (also known as Student Pages).
Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers is a supplementary curriculum that is multi-disciplinary, with an emphasis on science, reading, writing, mathematics, and social studies.
Each activity displays explicit connections to practices and concepts expected by the following national academic standards so teachers can easily see where the materials will fit into their lesson plans:
- Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
- Common Core Toolkit, includes
- English Language Arts (CCSS.ELA)
- Mathematics (CCSS.MATH)
- College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies (C3)
Our professional development further demonstrates these connections, as well as to state and local standards, contact your state coordinator.
EE Resources
Adaptations for Remote Learning: Activity 2, If You Were the Boss
To support you in teaching remotely we have adapted this activity for the virtual environment. Download this PDF, Educator Adaptations for Remote Learning with suggestions for using technology to support and deepen learning.
Remote Ready Student Pages – Who Works In the Forest
Google Slides and Docs are great tools for facilitating remote learning and student collaboration. They can be integrated into Google Classroom or other e-learning platforms. Check the Who Works In the Forest for our remote-ready educator instructions and student pages. Please note: Resources are available as view only and require that you make a copy to your own Drive... Read more »
NGSS Toolkit for Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers
Download this PLT Green Jobs NGSS Correlations Toolkit. The Toolkit includes guiding questions, a list of science connections, and explicit NGSS correlations for each activity. Each is organized around the three dimensions of science, making it useful for educators even if their state has not adopted NGSS.
Forests at Work: Video from a Science Teacher in Indiana
Go on an adventure with Rick Crosslin, a science teacher in Indiana, to investigate forest management in this video Forests at Work: An Indiana Expeditions Special. Students will learn how the genetic traits of seedlings can turn result in a tree farm full of magnificent hardwoods—similar to how our DNA can determine athletic ability, height, and... Read more »
Conservation Careers: Video Series from New York
The video series On the Front Lines, created by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, profiles conservation professionals working in New York’s natural lands and environments. Select the playlist “On the Front Lines” to choose from 25 videos highlighting a variety of green careers including Wildlife Biologist, Forest Health Specialist, and Environmental Educator.
Outdoor Careers and Connections to Nature: Video Series from New Hampshire
The video series North Country Calling: Finding Home in Northern New Hampshire documents four young people in New Hampshire who have found rewarding careers in forestry and the manufacture of wood products, in outdoor recreation and education. Their chosen paths strengthen their close connection with nature and fulfill their thirst for outdoor adventure. The videos, created by... Read more »
Career Profile Cards
Explore jobs in the environment, natural resource, outdoor recreation, and renewable energy sectors with these Career Profile Cards, developed by the Pacific Education Institute. The cards highlight voices of individuals in those careers. Learn about the day-to-day, career pathway, and tips and tools of the trade from an Assistant Forester, Salmon Habitat Restoration Manager, Water Quality... Read more »
Make That Paper: Careers in Forestry Online Game
Make That Paper: Careers in Forestry is an online game designed to help high school students learn about the forestry industry and career employability skills. In the game, students are managers in three different forest industry career tracks, hiring personnel, solving industry-related problems, and making sound business decisions. Objectives include maintaining sustainable, efficient, and successful management of... Read more »
PLT Green Jobs Youth Personality Quiz
Project Learning Tree has launched an interactive quiz that allows youth to answer a few simple questions online and receive recommendations for a rewarding green career path that suits their personality. It’s fast, easy, and fun to do! — perfect for youth ages 12-25 looking to learn about what it takes to perform jobs in sustainability,... Read more »
PLT’s 12 Green Job Fact Sheets
Learn more about the wide array of jobs related to forests with PLT’s 12 Green Jobs Fact Sheets, which highlights the following green jobs: Forester, Environmental Educator, GIS Specialist, Indigenous Relations Specialist, Forestry Technician, Park Ranger, Hydrologist, Silviculture Technician, Urban Forester, Machine Operator, Wildlife Biologist, and Sustainability Manager. Green jobs offer opportunities for people with... Read more »
About That Forest – Simulation Game
About That Forest is a web-based role-playing simulation game that takes place in a forest where players are members of a community jointly managing their forest. Players try to achieve their goals, facing many challenges, interacting with the decisions made by other people living in the forest and an uncertain environment. Participants make decisions that affect the shared... Read more »
Management Planning for Woodland Owners
Learn more about management planning from the lens of a woodland owner in this interactive online module. With videos, maps, and audio segments, you can dive deeper into the experiences of woodland owners and how they create management plans to fit their specific property goals.
Sample Forest Management Plan
In this sample forest management document from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, view the type of information a property owner in Massachusetts must submit to their Department of Environmental Management. In Massachusetts, property owners need to provide information on land history, ownership, landowner goals, stewardship purpose, forest stand descriptions, and proposed management practices for the next... Read more »
Beer-Bottle Tops: A Simple Forest Management Game
Read about how Australian forest professionals created a simple game using a few hundred beer bottle tops and a couple of maps to explain forest planning and management concepts in a published peer-reviewed article through Southern Cross University. From undergraduate to professional development situations, the authors discovered the game was effective in communicating concepts related... Read more »
STEM Teaching Tools
The University of Washington’s Institute of Science and Math created Practice Briefs. These free articles highlight ways of working on specific issues that come up during STEM teaching. These briefs helps K-12 educators and administrators stay informed on teaching STEM issues, including STEM issues relating to teaching NGSS and implementing meaningful STEM learning. Each brief... Read more »
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Seeking Sustainability
Learners explore the concept of sustainability by examining the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, while also taking a look at some jobs involved in ensuring forest sustainability.
Monitoring Forest Health
Through a variety of health indicators, learners assess the health of a forest area and see how soil scientists, wildlife biologists, arborists, and other forest professionals monitor forests.
Who Works in this Forest?
As an introduction to some of the people who work in and on behalf of forests, learners research different forest sector careers to learn what it takes to perform these jobs.
Forest Biotechnology
Students learn how traditional methods of artificial selection and modern methods of bioengineering have been used to improve the quality of forests products worldwide. Students investigate both the risks and benefits of genetically modifying trees.