Youth Programs

Keeping Track's Youth Program is designed to introduce young people (grades K - 12) to wildlife habitat monitoring and to instill an appreciation for healthy natural areas. We also offer training for educators and leaders, designed to give them teaching tools, methods, and skills in wildlife tracking, ecology, and habitat monitoring. Our Youth Program presents a scientifically based curriculum that meets both state and national educational standards.

Objectives

The Youth Program encourages students and teachers to explore the following questions, both in the classroom and in the field:

• How can we use authentic research skills to monitor the presence of animals?
• What is "habitat", and what is the relationship between healthy habitat and biodiversity?
• Why are carnivores an important measure of habitat health?
• How can we use signs of animals to learn about their behavior?
• Why is it important to protect habitat for all wildlife?

Methods

Keeping Track offers a variety of options for schools, camps and other youth organizations that can be combined depending on the facilities available and your particular interests:

• Hands-on presentations with animal pelts, skulls, and track molds (including an activity where youth can make their own plaster casts).
• Slide shows with spectacular photographs taken by renowned wildlife habitat specialist and photographer Susan Morse.
• One-half to full day, on-site, field workshops that cover track and sign identification, habitat characterization, and an introduction to monitoring wildlife habitat using authentic research skills to collect data.
• Games and role-playing.