We are proud to announce that Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers has been awarded:
? 2021 Independent Publisher Book Award in the category of Education: Workbook/Resources?
Engage learners ages 12-25 in exploring green careers in forestry and conservation with these hands-on activities, suitable for schools or community youth programs.
Green jobs represent one of the fastest growing and changing segments of the global economy. At the same time, today’s youth are seeking rewarding careers that help us move towards more sustainable lifestyles and greener economies.
The next generation wants to work with purpose. They want to find a job they can be proud of; they want to feel like they are making a difference in the world. Moreover, an estimated 30% of the workforce in the forest and conservation sector will retire in the next ten years.
You have an opportunity to introduce young people to career paths that are not only in demand, but that are also rewarding and help conserve the environment.
This Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers guide contains four learning activities that engage youth in actively exploring forest-related green careers. Anyone can use this resource with youth ages 12–25 in settings ranging from community youth programs and school classrooms, to college and career prep, to field trips and forest tours. It is especially appropriate for educators, career and guidance counselors, Scouts, 4-H, and FFA leaders, foresters, and job training advisors.
Learning Activities
Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers includes four hands-on instructional activities that help youth explore forest-related careers and get excited about green jobs. Youth research forestry jobs, and practice managing and monitoring forest resources with these activities.
Activity 1 — 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.
Activity 2 — If You Were the Boss
Acting as foresters, learners grapple with decisions about how to manage a forest sustainably while serving different needs.
Activity 3 — 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.
Activity 4 — 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.
The activities are designed to be flexible. They may be taught as individual, stand-alone lessons or all together as a cohesive unit of instruction. Depending on your program, you may teach them in the sequence provided, switch the order around, or pick and choose components from different activities.
Each activity has a suggested time allotment, ranging from one to three 50-minute sessions, plus time for youth to conduct research, participate in learning in the field, or prepare presentations, depending on the activity.
Some or all of the learning activities may be used to enhance a range of subjects:
- Arts
- Biology
- Career Technology Education
- Earth Science
- Ecology
- English
- Environmental Science
- Forestry
- Geography
- Government
- Information and Communication Technologies
- International Studies
- Mathematics
- Natural Resources
- Science
- Social Studies
What’s Included
- Learning Activity Components for each activity include content objectives; materials needed to conduct the activity; recommended time allotments for leading the activity, including preparation; how to prepare for facilitating the activity; and step-by-step procedures for leading the activity.
- Worksheets that accompany each activity are copyright-free reproducible handouts for learners, also available as PDF downloads.
- STEM It Up! suggests ways educators can enhance connections to STEM teaching and learning that encompass technical and leadership skills that are important for green jobs.
- STEM Skills Self-Assessment provides youth an opportunity to assess their technical and other skills, such as communication and problem solving.
- Personality Quiz helps youth match their personality with an array of green jobs opportunities.
- Career Connections suggest tools and resources to broaden and/or deepen learners’ exploration of forest careers.
- Enrichment Exercises contain suggestions for educators to enrich or extend the learning experience for each activity.
- Appendices include a list of career information websites, job boards, and other teaching tools to supplement the learning activities. Educators can also learn about the support available to them for adapting the activities to their audience and setting.
- Connections to Academic Standards such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Common Core State Standards for Math and English Language Arts, and the C3 Framework for Social Studies.
- Adaptations for Remote Learning can be found online for several activities to help educators during COVID-19.
Envisioning Green Career Opportunities
If you ask a young adult what they’d like to do after graduating high school or college, you might hear answers like be a doctor, teacher, writer, mechanic, or police officer. These answers aren’t surprising because we’re all exposed to these types of jobs in our daily lives and in the media.
But what about jobs like park ranger, soil scientist, or wildland firefighter?
Youth and adults alike may be surprised at the range of green career opportunities. There is a wide array of jobs related to forests, offering opportunities for people with diverse backgrounds, skills, interest areas, and personal qualities. Some of the many jobs profiled in Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers include forester, wildlife biologist, lumber mill worker, and sustainability manager, plus jobs like environmental educator, social media director, policy advisor, and financial forecaster.
Learners can take a quiz to match their personality type with an array of forest-related career opportunities using the “Your Personality and Green Jobs” Worksheet from Activity 1 in PLT’s Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers guide. In addition, Find Your Green Job is an interactive, digital adaptation of this personality quiz. By answering a few simple questions online, youth get recommendations for green careers that might suit their personality.
Once completed, the students’ quiz results are displayed instantly, along with Career Facts and interactive features to learn more about skills they’ll need for specific jobs. For each job, Career Facts provide an overview of the major job duties, suggest high school classes and college degrees, provide an average salary range, and identify areas for possible job placement.
Educators also have access to download students’ results and save for discussion later to help them explore a rewarding career path that fits their passions and personality. Talking to the young people you work with about different kinds of job options can open up new opportunities, motivate them academically, and help them prepare for the types of jobs that will be in demand when they graduate.
Project Learning Tree® (PLT) is a long-established, award-winning environmental education program that advances environmental literacy, stewardship and pathways to green careers using trees and forests as windows on the world. Through interactive and engaging activities, suitable for all ages and settings, PLT builds understanding and appreciation of the natural world and supports getting youth into nature in ways that are meaningful. PLT is designed to help young people learn how to think not what to think about complex and pressing environmental and sustainability issues. PLT also offers high-quality professional development to help teachers integrate teaching about the environment into their lesson plans and become comfortable teaching outdoors edition.
