Participants will gain a greater understanding of appropriate program content for their audience thru a variety of materials and techniques, including the new USDA Forest Service Learner Guidelines, a tool to help you design a conservation education program.

New knowledge, skills, or insights that participants will gain from session: 1) Increased understanding of appropriate program content for different audiences and age groups. 2) Techniques to educate audiences on natural resources topics. 3) Exposure to materials on and tools available for conservation education.

“Tools for Educating Your Communities” is an interactive learning session designed for natural resource professionals called upon to present conservation education programs to school groups, civic groups, scoping audiences, and others. This hands-on session will increase the participants’ experience and simplify the job of filling the role of educator, as well as natural resource professional. Participants will learn how to use the new USDA Forest Service Learner Guidelines, a tool for use in the design and presentation of age-appropriate conservation education programs. While the guidelines have been developed for USDA Forest Service use, they are based on guidelines produced by the North American Association for Environmental Education and are applicable to any conservation education setting. Use of the guidelines will increase the quality and effectiveness of the programs. The session will focus on how to make your program relevant to your audience. Groups will be given real-life scenarios to address. The session will be very interactive, giving participants opportunities to gain experience and ask questions about scenarios they face. Teaching and communication materials will be available to use in the development of an education program. The result will be increased experience and comfort level in designing conservation education programs and exposure to available education materials and tools.