ICF's education activities are closely connected with ambitious and effective conservation programs for cranes and wetlands in the many countries where ICF works. Through these programs, educators have the opportunity to cross cultural and political boundaries through a shared concern for the future of cranes and our environment. Click on the links below to learn more about ICF’s international education programs and how teachers can involve their classrooms in these exciting programs.

Children’s International Art Exchange

The Children's International Art Exchange helps promote understanding among students of different cultures, and shares the beauty of cranes and the value of healthy ecosystems needed to sustain people and cranes. Artwork submitted by students in the United States, Cuba, Russia, China and other countries is displayed at the Foundation’s headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Select pieces of international artwork are chosen for a traveling exhibit, which is sent to participating schools in the United States, while pieces of artwork from American students are sent to other countries. Learn how to involve your classroom

One Helps One Program

The One Helps One Program was developed by ICF to support education for young women in rural China.  The program was initiated in 1998 at the Cao Hai Nature Reserve in southwestern China.  The reserve is an important wintering area for the threatened Black-necked Crane and is home to over 30,000 people, who live in one of the poorest regions in China. Due to poverty, many young women in rural areas like Cao Hai must drop out of school to help support their families.

Through the One Helps One program, students are paired with a sponsor, who provides an annual donation to cover their school costs, including books, supplies and uniforms. The donation goes directly to the students, who are chosen based on their above average performance in school and their family’s economic situation. The local villages, schools and the Cao Hai Nature Reserve work together to choose the students for the program.

If you and your class would like to sponsor a student through the One Helps One Program, please email the This E-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.

Three White Cranes, Two Flyways, One World

As a global family of birds, cranes offer a unique opportunity for teachers to combine the study of cranes with learning about diverse cultures and countries.  Through Three White Cranes, Two Flyways, One World, we invite you to join us in an exciting education project to link classrooms in the United States with students in eastern China and Russia that are also learning about cranes and their conservation.

Through this project, you and your students can:

• Visit ICF for a class field trip or invite an ICF educator to our school to bring the global story of cranes into your classroom.
  
  
• Visit the Three White Cranes, Two Flyways, One World website to learn more about cranes in North America and East Asia and meet other students and schools in the United States, China and Russia who are learning about cranes and their conservation. The website includes a project blog and an online classroom with student activities focusing on bird migration and the cranes and people of East Asia. Beginning in fall 2008, we will join an international team of researchers as they study the endangered Siberian Crane in Asia. Through regular website field updates and an online migration map, students can follow banded Siberian Cranes on an exciting 3,000 mile journey between Siberia and southeastern China.
  
  
• Participate in the Three White Cranes, Two Flyways, One World Student Art Exchange.  Your artwork will be shared with students in Russia and China participating in the Three White Cranes project, who in turn will send art to the United States to distribute among participating project schools. The artwork from the three countries will be exhibited at schools, museums, nature centers, and libraries in the U.S., and then go to east Asia as a traveling exhibit along the crane flyway.

For more information on becoming involved in this project, email This E-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   or contact the ICF Conservation Education Department at  608-356-9462  ext. 142.