PA Land Choices is a curriculum, a collection of activities that guides learners in understanding the forces and choices that shape a community and region. It challenges participants to become involved in their community and to conserve their natural resources.

Summary

PA Land Choices is a comprehensive educational program to engage and enlighten citizens and stakeholders regarding the importance of civic responsibility and the power of citizens in planning the future of a community.

PA Land Choices is a collection of sequential activities that provide a simple and engaging approach to community involvement. Each activity guides the learner to understand the power of choice by first analyzing the forces that create change in a community and region. The program facilitates discussion, focusing on a key question: “What defines a good community?” and guides learners to identify positive and negative impacts of community elements. It identifies the importance of natural resources, green spaces, public lands and public spaces.

PA Land Choices promotes civic responsibility through place-based education and service-learning. Through its interactive and thoughtful activities, it challenges the learner to become involved in creating the communities of the future.

Track Record

PA Land Choices has been incorporated into the curricula of fifteen school districts as of 2009 and smaller pieces of it have been used in countless others. It has also been utilized successfully for college courses by at least three Pennsylvania universities.

PA Land Choices training has been delivered to over 2000 educators, planners and citizen groups throughout Pennsylvania and beyond. These materials are also a standard component of the National Park Service Trail to Every Classroom initiative. The program has been instrumental in furthering land use education and has been a model for other state and national education initiatives, including programs in Maryland, Michigan, Rhode Island and the Project Learning Tree.

Typical End Users

Most commonly used by teachers, the PA Land Choices program is also useful for community leaders and nonprofit organizations.

Conservation Impact

PA Land Choices educates citizens and students on the importance of citizen involvement and its role in shaping the future of sustainable communities and the Commonwealth.
PA Land Choices educates on the conservation of natural and historic resources, the value of public land and the responsibility of land ownership.
It focuses on the role of local government and the tools available for guiding growth and protecting regional character and resources.

What You'll Need

A copy of PA Land Choices, available at http://www.palandchoices.org (or the ConservationTools.org library).
Materials as identified in PA Land Choices.
Some background knowledge of governmental structure in Pennsylvania as well as basic land use and planning terminology. (This information is provided as part of PA Land Choices.)

Obstacles and Challenges

Educators may have difficulty finding adequate time to incorporate the material into their teaching schedule especially considering federal and state mandates; however, material is developed into self-contained sections so that instructors can choose to deliver portions of the material as their academic schedule permits.
Environmental educators may compete with more traditional environmental education curricula (e.g., biology & habitat-based curricula) and find it difficult to convince those in the field that land use planning is a legitimate environmental topic.
Civic leaders may struggle with engaging interested participants and may suffer from time constraints since they are often volunteers themselves.
The field of land use planning may be intimidating to those new to the subject though a fairly comprehensive introduction to the material is included with the curriculum.

Contents of Main Description

Goals
Introduction
A Valuable Tool for Education
   Democratic Deliberation through Group Problem Solving
   Alignment to Pennsylvania Academic Standards
   Civic Learning
   Place-based Education
   Service Learning
History
Getting Started

Goals

PA Land Choices is based on the following goals:

To increase citizen involvement in shaping the future of our communities and the Commonwealth
To promote conservation of natural and historic resources, the value of public land and the responsibility of land ownership
To encourage citizens in defining and promoting healthy, sustainable communities
To understand the role of local government and the tools available for guiding growth, protecting regional character and promoting valuable resources

Introduction

PA Land Choices is a collection of sequential activities developed to educate and engage citizens regarding the importance of civic involvement and the power of planning in a changing community. Programs are directed and implemented locally and address local issues, challenges and local service opportunities.   The activities are easy to use and available through workshops or downloading at http://www.palandchoices.org (or the ConservationTools.org library). The information is self-contained and based on data from a variety of sources. The concepts are simple and the activities are fun and engaging.

Each activity guides the learner to understand the power of choice by analyzing the forces that create change in their community and region. It challenges the learner to become involved in creating the communities of the future. It reflects on the importance of natural resources, green spaces, public lands and public spaces. It promotes civic responsibility through place-based education and service-learning.

Citizen programs can be delivered in a variety of circumstances and within a length of time deemed appropriate for the audience.   PA Land Choices is a tribute to the unique character and leadership that make up the communities of Pennsylvania and is easily adapted to suit the uniqueness and flavor of any region.

PA Land Choices recognizes that citizen education is imperative for the success of communities. This curriculum appeals to a diverse audience, including citizens, municipal officials and community leaders. It encourages participation by a variety of community constituents and is most valuable if it involves a diverse representation of the community.

In classrooms, PA Land Choices can be applied in a week-long social studies unit or during a series of class periods teaching about local environmental responsibility. Teachers may choose to schedule individual activities as a one-day experience or applied in an integrated program of multidisciplinary education. The material can also be used in classrooms conducting Project Citizen or with Project Learning Tree.

PA Land Choices is offered through teacher workshops, which have been granted Act 48 status by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. These workshops have been endorsed at the Governor’s Institute for Social Studies and the Governor’s Institute for Environment and Ecology.

A Valuable Tool for Education

Five key features make PA Land Choices a valuable tool for public education.

Democratic Deliberation through Group Problem Solving

The activities involve opportunities for small groups of students to analyze issues, distinguish fact from opinion and work together to solve problems. Group dynamics engage students in developing confidence and leadership skills that foster responsible action. Individuals become aware of their role in society – developing faith in the group process, the importance of sharing information through public dialogue and the role of compromise to advance an agenda. The educational process does not intend to advocate a particular viewpoint but encourages the learner to make their own choices and chart their own course of action.

Alignment to Pennsylvania Academic Standards

Activities are aligned to Pennsylvania academic standards focusing on social studies and environment and ecology while including such standards as mathematics and language arts. It is a multidisciplinary approach to learning that is valuable to public education.

Civic Learning

PA Land Choices reflects the goals established by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS): The NCSS goal of Citizen Education is “to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good”. Our right to participate in governing ourselves in order to protect rights and promote common welfare carries certain responsibilities. Citizens must develop knowledge and skills to participate intelligently and work together to make our communities a better place to live.

Place-based Education

According to David Sobel, 2004, Place-Based Education Connecting Classrooms and Communities, place-based education is the process of using the local community and environment as a starting point to teach concepts in language arts, math social studies and science. Emphasizing hands-on, real-world learning experiences, this approach has been determined to increase student academic achievement, building strong ties to community and a heightened commitment to serving as active citizens.

Service Learning

Service learning combines service objectives with learning objectives with the intent that the activity changes the recipient and the provider. According to the report developed by the National Commission on Service Learning “Learning in Deed, The Power of Service Learning for American Schools”, service learning is different from volunteerism – teaching and learning by integrating community service with academic studies to teach civic responsibility and strengthen the community. It links the task to self reflection, self discovery and the acquisition and comprehension of values, skills and knowledge.

History

PA Land Choices began as a pilot project in 1998 as the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources recognized the growing issues related to changing communities, increasing land development and the need for natural resource awareness and protection. Over 40 teachers. community leaders and education specialists came to Lancaster for a week-long workshop led by the Bureau of State Parks. Following the workshop, a series of trainings and advancements led to the development of a manual of activities to help teach about the impacts of land choices and civic leadership needed to shape a changing community and a changing Commonwealth.

PA Land Choices training has been delivered to over 2000 educators, planners and citizen groups throughout Pennsylvania and beyond. These materials are also a standard component of the National Park Service Trail to Every Classroom initiative. This program has been instrumental in furthering land use education and has been a model for other state and national education initiatives, including programs in Maryland, Michigan, Rhode Island and the Project Learning Tree.

Activities have been aligned to state academic standards in social studies and environment and ecology for application in public school programs in grades 6-12. For classrooms, it is a model for place-based education, focusing student learning on communities and familiar places, addressing standards in civics and geography. It encourages citizenship through public stewardship and service learning. It provides students with connections to projects in their community and on public lands throughout the Commonwealth.

Getting Started

To implement PA Land Choices and obtain the materials, educators and community leaders are encouraged to attend a training workshop, which is intended to provide participants with the basic knowledge of the course objectives and resources as well as an opportunity to network and gain confidence in using the materials.

It is recommended that anyone conducting workshops or utilizing PA Land Choices provide feedback to the PA Land Choices coordinator (contact information below) in an effort to assess the materials and solicit recommendations for improvement. Evaluation forms are included with the materials or can be downloaded at http://www.palandchoices.org (or the ConservationTools.org library).

Many State Park educators are certified facilitators for the PA Land Choices curriculum and can provide regional training opportunities. Visit the state park web site at http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/ for a list of workshops offered through state parks. Contact your local state park to inquire about scheduling a workshop for your group or contact the PA Land Choices Coordinator, Bureau of State Parks.

Those interested in becoming a certified facilitator for PA Land Choices should contact the PA Land Choices Coordinator in the Bureau of State Parks.

To request a PA Land Choices program for your community or organization, contact the PA Land Choices Coordinator or a state park educator.

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