Teachers and Conservation 



659 



ties, references, as well as supplemen- 

 tary teaching aids, such as motion pic- 

 tures, film strips, charts, and posters. 



Agencies in Louisiana and South 

 Carolina have developed forestry sub- 

 ject matter for the grade-school level, 

 which has been well received. 



Conservation of resource-use work- 

 shops or special courses have been con- 

 ducted by several institutions of higher 

 learning in 38 States and the District 

 of Columbia to train teachers in gen- 

 eral conservation. Forestry was an im- 

 portant segment of the instruction. 

 Teachers of all grades attended. Ses- 

 sions lasted from a few days to 8 weeks ; 

 time was allotted for field trips and 

 the preparation of curriculum mate- 

 rials. In New Mexico one year all the 

 teachers' colleges conducted conserva- 

 tion workshops for teachers. 



IN THE VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE 



program of the United States Office of 

 Education, forestry is often offered as 

 a subject of classroom and field instruc- 

 tion for high-school students. Stu- 

 dent participation in forest work is 

 expected on the home farm or some 

 other farm or school plot to give a stu- 

 dent actual experience. 



As a continuing project, the chap- 

 ter of Future Farmers of America in 

 Adrian, Ga., planted 2,500 trees 25 

 years ago. The trees have had constant 

 care by succeeding members of the 

 chapter. Several thousand farm boys 

 in Georgia have been given practical 

 training in tree identification, tree 

 planting, woodland management, esti- 

 mating standing timber, and the con- 

 struction of firebreaks. 



In Garrett County, Md., the voca- 

 tional agriculture teacher arranged to 

 teach 40 classroom hours of farm 

 forestry. In Illinois, the State extension 

 service and the vocational agriculture 

 department prepared detailed subject- 

 matter outlines and three slide films on 

 planting farm forests, the farmstead 

 windbreak, and improving and pro- 

 tecting Illinois woodlands. The mate- 

 rial has been used by more than 350 

 high-school departments of vocational 



agriculture. In Virginia a State-wide 

 vocational forestry program is carried 

 on by the vocational agriculture high 

 schools. Cooperating with the Vir- 

 ginia State Board of Education in the 

 program are the State forester, the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, and the forest 

 industries. 



Effective programs of providing 

 nonresident technical and general in- 

 struction in forestry have been devel- 

 oped by agricultural extension services 

 in most States. The work includes field 

 demonstrations, group meetings, pub- 

 lications, and lesson materials for per- 

 sons who are not attending State 

 colleges. In the cooperative extension 

 work, funds are provided to hire State 

 extension foresters on the staffs of the 

 land-grant colleges. The extension for- 

 esters carry on an educational farm- 

 forestry program among rural people 

 through the county agricultural agents; 

 the educational work may include the 

 preparation and distribution of publi- 

 cations, group meetings, visual aids, 

 on-the-farm demonstrations of meth- 

 ods and results, and, sometimes, in- 

 dividual technical assistance. 



The subject matter used as a basis 

 for such nonresident instruction is 

 founded upon the research done by 

 Federal and State forest and agricul- 

 tural experiment stations. Among 

 rural people the education in forestry 

 consists of tree plantings, woodland 

 management, wood preservation, 4-H 

 Club work, and the like. The extension 

 forester coordinates his forestry work 

 with other similarly employed special- 

 ists, among them specialists in live- 

 stock, dairying, horticulture, and in 

 entomology. 



As a part of the agricultural exten- 

 sion service educational program, 4-H 

 forestry ranks high in conservation 

 teaching. It has accomplished much in 

 getting rural people to recognize the 

 value of forestry. Through a 4-H 

 project, a club member works out for 

 himself the principles and theories he 

 has been taught. The project method 

 gives a better understanding of subject 

 matter and develops a plan of reason- 



