May 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 34

C O N S E R V AT I O N

educational applications. Tellingly,
three in four teachers say that using
technology in the classroom motivates kids to learn.
Parks and recreation have a vital
role to play in connecting kids to
nature and the outdoors, and while
this historically has been part of the
mission of many park and recreation agencies, there is a new sense
of urgency. One indication of how
strongly we believe in this is the level of support that has been shown
by the nearly 600 NRPA member
agencies that signed onto the 10
Million Kids Outdoors initiative
launched last fall by the National
Wildlife Federation in cooperation
with NRPA.

Many new resources
can enhance a nature

In addition, parks and recreation
have an important role in creating
environmentally literate citizens and
taxpayers as well. We provide the living classrooms and laboratories for
youth to have field experiences and
learn lessons about conservation, climate change, energy conservation
and other challenges that we face in
dealing with our natural environment.
Clearly, the creative use of technology
will help us achieve all of these objectives, and in fact, it will be essential to
how youth will assimilate, share and
benefit from knowledge.
The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) has been
looking into the increasing use of
technology for environmental education and has produced an outstanding

Parks & Recreation

| M AY 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

Source: http://eeweek.org/assets/images/Tech-and-Our-Planet-Infographic.jpg

experience for kids.

short video (http://bit.ly/13IOGw3)
as well as a number of other resources, including a summary of the Top
Ten Apps for environmental education, a tool kit and a wealth of materials on their Environmental Education Week website (www.eeweek.
org). Other organizations are also
providing excellent online resources,
such as eNature's FieldGuides (www.
enature.com) and Project Noah,
which provides an online information exchange and networking to promote understanding of wildlife and
pathways to citizen science (www.
projectnoah.org). The North American Association for Environmental
Education (NAAEE) is studying innovative ways that environmental
education promotes STEM (science,
technology, engineering and mathematics) learning (www.naaee.net).
Many new resources can enhance
a nature experience for kids, while
online tools allow leaders to employ
the scientific method, find additional knowledge and enrich the outdoor
experience.
This is a subject of keen interest
to parks and recreation. Look for
more on this subject in the coming
months, including a webinar by the
10 Million Kids partnership on the
use of technology in environmental education, Congress education
sessions and an open discussion
forum, and new information and
resources on the NRPA website,
NRPA social media and in Parks &
Recreation Magazine.
So, fear not - pick up your smartphone or tablet, join some kids outdoors and see how much fun you can
have using technology to connect
kids to nature.
Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA's Vice President of
Conservation (rdolesh@nrpa.org).

May 2013 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May 2013 - Parks & Recreation