Discovering a passion for the environment happens inside the classroom as well the outdoors – education can help make the wonders of nature accessible to everyone. Plant the seeds of natural curiosity in your students with Defenders of Wildlife teaching guides and tools. 

Mountain goat overlooking roadway
Glacier NPS

Watch Out For Wildlife

Imperiled species are heavily impacted by roadways. Traffic has been shown to be the leading human-caused mortality source for some wide-ranging mammals such as the critically endangered Florida panther and the endemic Florida black bear. 

Children may not be old enough to drive, but it’s never too soon to start teaching them to be aware. This lesson plan uses hands-on activities to make sure that watching for wildlife will be second nature in the future.

Sea Otter Lesson Plan

The sea otter teaching manual is a way for middle school students to learn more about one of nature’s cutest keystone species! This booklet combines social studies, geography, reading and writing comprehension to empower students to develop their own solutions on current threats to domestic sea otter populations.

Sea otter
NOAA

Raingardens

Raingardens are large shallow indents in the ground that absorb and naturally filter stormwater runoff in urban settings. The following resource is a complete guide to planning, building and maintaining a raingarden in your local community.  

If your class is located outside of the Washington region, see if you can set a goal with your students to fundraise and help save our oceans by purchasing plants and materials! Investing in work to build raingardens will help protect marine species like salmon and orcas.

Bering Strait Response Teaching Tool

The Bering Strait is a vulnerable Arctic pathway for some of the largest wildlife migrations in the world, but is becoming increasingly exposed to shipping and oil pollution. This simulation tool can help students to browse current data catalogues and simulate oil spills to see how this would impact the surrounding region.

Adult humpback whale breaching in Southeast Alaska
Cheffy Thomas
Students from Fern Hill and Blix explore Point Defiance and Commencement Bay

Skype a Scientist

Defenders staff have joined the growing force of scientists using technology to connect with classrooms around the country. The program Skype A Scientist  works to match science teachers with passionate experts to speak to their students. Topics can be about anything from astrophysics to zoology! 

Skype a Scientist: Sharing Science with Lindsay Rosa

Skype-a-Scientist: The Role of Communication in Science with Shari Wilcox

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