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Cranetivities – Crane Careers Environmental Educator

Welcome to another exciting edition of Cranetivities! This week we are learning about crane conservation careers. We will be focusing on the career of Environmental Educator. See the previous edition of Cranetivities here.

Activity Description: The International Crane Foundation works worldwide to conserve cranes and the ecosystems, watersheds and flyways on which they depend. We have many different staff members with a variety of skill sets that make our work possible. Each team member is important, to help us further our mission. In this blog post, we give you a closer look at one of our crane careers, Environmental Educator. Teaching people about cranes and our work is an important part of our mission.. Education Program Coordinator Ben Lam will speak about his experience working in environmental education and give insights on working in this career path.

Grades: 6 to adults

Time estimate: 1 hour

Topics covered: Conservation careers and crane biology

Materials needed: Internet connection

Adult involvement: No

Indoor or outdoor: Indoor

Links:

Texas A&M Conservation

North American Association for Environmental Education (NAEE) Job Board

Interview with Education Program Coordinator

Crane Species Field Guide

 

Work Plan:

Explore a Conservation Job Board

Many different types of organizations offer conservation careers. You can choose to work for a national department like the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, a state agency like the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, a non-profit organization like the International Crane Foundation, or even a private business. The list goes on. In this activity, explore these two job boards to see what types of conservation jobs are open now. Visit the Texas A&M Conservation Job Board and the North American Association for Environmental Education Job Board to get a glimpse at some job postings. These job boards do not include all conservation jobs but give you an idea of what other conservation careers look like.

Find three different job postings that seem interesting to you.

Read the job listing’s description.

Do any of these jobs seem like something you would want to do for a career?

 

Watch Interview with Ben Lam, Education Program Coordinator

Watch the short interview with our Education Program Coordinator. Ben will talk about some of his experiences and thoughts on being an environmental educator.

If you have any more questions for Ben, you can send them to blam@savingcranes.org.

 

At Home Cranes of the World Tour

You can be an environmental educator at home with your family and give them a Cranes of the World Tour. Use our crane species field guide to learn about all 15 crane species. After you learn some facts about all the cranes, give your very own Cranes of the World Tour.

At Home Tour Suggested Guideline:

Crane facts abound!  Here’s a suggested list of facts you should know for each crane species.

Name of crane

How to identify the species of crane

Height

Population – How many there are

Range and Habitat – Where do they live?

Diet – What do they eat?

One fun fact

Once you have learned your crane facts, use the photos in our species field guide to show each crane as you talk about them. You can also use photos from online searches to show different photos of the cranes and their habitats. Showing more pictures of the cranes and their habitats makes your presentation more enjoyable.

What do you think? Do you enjoy talking to your friends and family about cranes? Or would you rather be working directly with the birds in captivity, doing research on them in the field, creating art about cranes, throwing a fundraiser, or doing something else to help them? Being an Environmental Educator is one career in conservation that you could do to help cranes, but there are many other ways you can help. Check out the International Crane Foundation’s staff page to see the many different types of careers available in conservation.

We would like to thank you for supporting and participating in our Cranetivities blog posts. By learning and doing these activities, you are already making a positive difference in conservation. Much of our work is made possible by our International Crane Foundation members. If you are a member, we especially thank you for all of your support. Please learn more about supporting our conservation work as a member here.

Got feedback? We would love to hear your thoughts on our educational resources. This survey will allow you to provide feedback on our Cranetivities series. If you have used any of our other educational resources, like our From the Field series or our online activity packets, you may provide feedback on those resources here. You may also email us at info@savingcranes.org if you have questions or comments for us or would like to share photos of you and your kids’ crane creations! We will see you next time for a new edition of Cranetivities!