Project WILD's new high school curriculum, Science and Civics: Sustaining Wildlife, is designed to serve as a guide for involving students in environmental action projects aimed at benefitting the local wildlife found in a community. It involves young people in decisions affecting people, wildlife, and their shared habitat in the community.

The program consists of four major components: 1) Awareness: alerts students to the impact of human and individual activities on habitat quality and quantity; 2) Participatory Democracy: develops principles related to government structures and is appropriate for government and civics units of social studies courses; 3) Habitat Exploration: studies biotic and abiotic parameters of a site and is appropriate for ecology and environmental science units of science courses; and 4) Taking Action: guides both science and social studies students in designing, implementing, and communicating projects to enhance a particular site.

• Table of Contents
• Conceptual Framework

This sample activity, "Then and Now", helps students to visualize the affects of human development on wildlife. How do human settlements (parking lots, apartment buildings, etc.) influence wildlife habitat and populations? What are the effects of human made structures on native and non-native species? These questions are explored by interpreting aerial photographs and related information sources in an attempt to uncover some of the correlations between changes in habitat and habitat numbers and types of wildlife.

• "Then and Now"

Science and Civics: Sustaining WIldlife is distributed through participating State Project WILD program offices in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). Participating states offer educators, youth group leaders, and others the opportunity to receive the Science and Civics: Sustaining Wildlife Curriculum Guide for Grades 9-12 by attending a Science and Civics workshop. Please see our listing of State Project WILD Coordinator for workshop information.

For more information about workshops and obtaining materials, visit Get WILD.

If Science and Civics is not offered in your state, please contact the Project WILD National Office at info@projectwild.org or 713.520.1936 for additional help.