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New Environment and Ecology Textbook Now Available - January 2003
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - A new resource designed to help Pennsylvania teachers meet the new Academic Standards for Environment and Ecology is now available.
"Environment and Ecology for Pennsylvania, Meeting the Standards" is aimed at secondary educators to help their students understand the environment, natural resources, and the human impact upon them. The 272-page textbook contains activities, Pennsylvania-specific case studies, and lesson reviews. The textbook also includes chapters on topics ranging from watershed and wetlands and environmental health to threatened and endangered species and integrated pest management. In addition, it can be adapted to meet the needs of other states.
Integrated pest management, or IPM, aims to manage pests -- such as insects, diseases, weeds and animals -- by combining physical, biological and chemical tactics that are safe and environmentally compatible. The Pennsylvania IPM Program (PA IPM) contributed information and materials to the IPM chapter.
The accompanying Teacher's Manual refers teachers to the Environment and Ecology Standards that can be met with each activity, assesses students' proficiency through chapter tests and includes a sample of the upcoming Pennsylvania STEEP test. Web resources and integrated lessons and activities are also included.
Patricia Vathis, Environment and Ecology Curriculum Advisor for the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), says the PDE is encouraging schools to use the textbook for a 9th or 10th grade half-credit course to meet the environment and ecology standards. "Academic standards establish expectations for what students should know in the content areas of science and technology and environment and ecology. By state regulations, every public and charter school in the state must be teaching to the standards by the end of this school year," Vathis explains.
Published by The Globe Fearon Pearson Learning Group. "Environment and Ecology for Pennsylvania, Meeting the Standards" hardcover textbook and Teacher's Manual are $29.95 each, plus shipping and handling. For more information on the textbook or teacher's manual, contact Tony Piperno at 800-435-3499, ext. 5763, or Mary Ann Reck, 866-811-9400.
For more information on IPM in schools, see the PA IPM Program's web site at http://paipm.cas.psu.edu. Under the "Schools" link find out more about the School IPM effort in Pennsylvania and links to educational material from across the country. You can also download a new publication, IPM for Pennsylvania Schools, A How-To Manual. In addition, there is an interactive database on the web site to assist teachers with IPM background information, lesson plans and support materials throughout the U.S.
The Pennsylvania IPM program is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture aimed at promoting integrated pest management in both agricultural and nonagricultural situations. For more information, contact the program at (814) 865-2839, or Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu.