LearnForests.org: A fast, easy-to-use resource for teachers

OFRI’s main website, OregonForests.org, is chock-full of great information for the public at large, but not so great if you are a K-12 teacher looking for forestry education materials to use with students. Now in its second year, LearnForests.org is set up especially for teachers.

K-12 students are a priority audience for OFRI and one that has very specific needs.

Before designing our new K-12 website, we asked teachers what they wanted. For most of them it came down to time – essentially, the need to find and sort information quickly and easily.

We kept that in mind when we set up LearnForests.org. It saves teachers time by compiling forest-education information in one easy-to-use website.

LearnForests.org, based on OFRI’s Oregon Forest Literacy Program, helps teachers develop classroom- and field-based lessons about forests and natural resources. It also includes examples of service-learning projects that connect to Oregon forests.

The website has a three-step filtering tool, allowing teachers to search for materials by grade, standard and topic. After the filters are selected, the website sorts the data and produces a list of concepts correlated to Oregon education standards. It also builds a custom list of related resources: field programs, in-class programs, teacher workshops, publications, service-learning guides and related links.

By pressing just three buttons, teachers get everything they need to teach forest topics, all on one Web page. If you know a teacher, have them try it at LearnForests.org!
 

Norie Dimeo-Ediger
Director of K-12 Education Programs