Project WILD
Project WILD seeks to provide wildlife-based conservation and environmental education lessons that foster responsible actions toward wildlife. All materials are designed for teachers, non-formal educators, college professors, youth group educators, and more. The guides are backed by sound educational practices and theory. Project WILD is one of the most widely used environmental education curriculum among K-12 educators. Nationally, Project WILD is managed by the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (AFWA).
Workshops
Educators can find upcoming professional development trainings offered by the Bureau of State Parks at the Calendar of Events - Educator Workshops. If one of the family of Project WILD educator workshop is not scheduled near you, with enough notice, one could be coordinated and facilitated at your local state park, school, or nature center (minimum 10 or more workshop participants).
Most Project WILD curricula can only be obtained by attending an educator workshop.
Professional Development
Pennsylvania State Parks offer a variety of professional development opportunities for:
- Classroom Teachers (pre-Kindergarden to college level)
- Pre-service Teachers
- Non-formal Environmental Educators
Workshops can be:
- Hosted at state park sites
- Scheduled for a school or district
- Virtual
- Hybrid (in-person and virtual)
All curricula address the Pennsylvania Department of Education standards, including Pennsylvania's Science, Technology and Engineering, Environmental Literacy, and Sustainability (STEELS) standards.
For Pennsylvania-certified educators, Act 48 hours are offered for all curricula listed.
Project WILD: A Kindergarden-12 Curriculum and Activity Guide for Educators
The Project WILD Guide is a wildlife-focused, award-winning interdisciplinary conservation and environmental education curriculum containing 81 activities. The goal of Project WILD educator trainings is to develop awareness, knowledge, skills, and commitment resulting in informed decisions, responsible behavior, and constructive actions concerning wildlife and the environment.
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Growing Up WILD: Exploring Nature with Young Children
Growing Up WILD is a multi-award-winning early childhood curriculum that builds on children’s sense of wonder about nature and invites them to explore wildlife and the world around them through scientific inquiry, art projects, music and movement, reading and math connections, and more. The guide contains 27 field-tested, hands-on, nature-based, ready-made thematic units for ages 3 to 7. The guide is now also available in Spanish, and it is correlated to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Standards and the Head Start Domains.
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Aquatic Project WILD Kindergarden-12 Curriculum and Activity Guide
Aquatic WILD utilizes the successful Kindergarten-12 format of the Project WILD Guide with 55 activities that emphasize aquatic wildlife and aquatic ecology.
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Flying WILD - Birds Across the Curriculum: An Activity Module for Grade 5-8 Educators
Eight hands-on activities that focus on birds.
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Climate and Wildlife: An Activity Module for Grade 6-12 Educators
Eight climate-focused WILD activities.
Learn moreOther Curricula
- Pennsylvania Biodiversity Guide for Grades 6-10 – 12 Pennsylvania-specific, biodiversity-focused activities and an extensive, well-researched background section. The guide was developed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Biological Survey and is based on the World Wildlife Fund’s “Windows on the WILD: Biodiversity Basics” Curriculum.
- Project WILD Science and Civics: Sustaining Wildlife Curriculum Guide for Grades 9-12 - It combines habitat exploration with civics to encourage students to take action to help wildlife in their communities.
- Proyecto WILD Guide - Spanish edition of Project WILD; 34 translated WILD Activities
Learn more about the Project WILD family of curricula and online resources at the Project WILD website.
Contact us
For questions about Project WILD, please contact the PA Project WILD Coordinator.