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Education E-update
- May 2008
BGCI Education Team
 | Botanic Gardens: Now Blooming Online!
 Last month we discussed harnessing the power of the Internet to promote your botanic garden and education programmes. A new online video from Brooklyn Botanic Garden (USA) is an excellent case in point. Tens of thousands of visitors come every year to see the botanic garden's famed cherry tree esplanade. The garden realised, however, that it could reach countless more 'visitors' online. This year, the garden featured a time-lapse video of the trees' pink and white blossoms, raising an interesting discussion point about nature moving into a virtual world. We would love to share the innovative work your botanic garden or education site is doing whether it is on- or off-line. Send us your resources, and we'll include them in the next Education E-update. Best wishes,
The BGCI Education Team
education@bgci.org (for general education enquiries to BGCI)
e-update@bgci.org (for Education E-update enquiries)
| | Education News from Around the World
Register your interest for the next Education Congress: The website is now open for BGCI's Seventh International Congress on Education in Botanic Gardens, 'Action Learning: Places, Spaces and Partnerships for Biodiversity and Human Well-being'. Log on to register your interest. Don't miss the latest issue of Roots: The latest issue of BGCI's education journal Roots is now available. 'Climate Change: Can We Handle It?' demonstrates that botanic gardens are perfect locations for exploring issues related to climate change. The issue features contributions from botanic gardens around the globe including South African National Biodiversity Institute, Oman Botanic Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden (USA), Zoological Botanical Foundation (Brazil) and Winterbourne Botanic Garden (UK) as well as contributions from the Green Belt Movement (Kenya) and Barrie Pittock, one of the world's leading scientists in atmospheric research. New visitor centre at Dawyck Botanic Garden: A new £1.6m state-of-the art visitor centre has opened its doors at Dawyck Botanic Garden (Scotland), one of four botanic gardens of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Funded by the Scottish Government and Scottish Borders Enterprise, the centre sets out to be a model of environmental sustainability. Its floor uses heat-retaining blue limestone, and the interior is enhanced by oak frames, structural columns and ceiling beams. The facility also enjoys the additional features of an external copper wall, designed to shimmer gently within the natural light of Dawyck's stunning arboretum, and attractive copper rain catchers and down pipes. All this is topped by an attractive, insulating roof, planted with a carpet of sedums. Plants of the paramo exhibit in Venezuela: The Botanic Garden of Merida (Venezuela) recently opened its first photo exhibition on plants of the paramo ecosystem. The goal is to convey the beauty of paramo plants and the unique qualities of the paramo ecosystem. The photographs by Venezuelan botanist Ivan Akirov will be on display until September. The exhibit also includes a special guide for children. Even more news online: Check out even more botanic garden and plant-based education news on BGCI's website, including a story about the National Botanic Gardens Day in Mexico. You can also sign up to have weekly news updates from BGCI delivered straight to your email inbox. What's going on at your botanic garden? Send us news from your botanic garden or education site, and we'll include it in the next issue of Education E-update. | | PlantEd Poll
It's easy and fun! Read this month's poll question and click on your response. We'll publish the results in the next Education E-update! This month's poll: Does your botanic garden or education site offer an email newsletter to keep visitors up to date on news and events? Click on a response below to cast your vote! Yes No Last month, we asked how many education staff (full- and part-time) are employed at your botanic garden or education site. Here's what you said! 
| | Tools You Can Use
Forensic Botany Investigations: The New York Botanical Garden (USA) has published a new ethnobotany curriculum that enables students in grades six through nine to explore the relationship between plants and people. Forensic Botany Investigations introduces the vital roles plants play in culture, commerce and in our daily lives. Students are presented with fun and challenging scenarios and investigations, and work in teams to solve plant-based mysteries while learning about plant science, ecology and conservation. The lessons are accompanied by a documentary-style DVD featuring New York Botanical Garden scientists. 'Take a Child Outside Week': Running from 24-30 September, 'Take A Child Outside Week' is an international programme to help break down obstacles that keep children from discovering the natural world. The programme is designed to provide parents, teachers and other caregivers with resources on outdoor activities in order to help children develop a better understanding and appreciation of the environment in which they live. Free book on running a school garden: Seed to Seed: Food Gardens in Schools is a 90-page guide to setting up and maintaining a garden on school grounds. Published by Seedsavers (Australia), the book is available as a free, downloadable PDF. Botany on Your Plate: Written by staff at the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley (USA), Botany on Your Plate explores the world of edible plants through a primary school curriculum. The curriculum has been designed to meet U.S. National Science Education Standards. Have you got a teaching resource that you can't do without? Send us your most valuable tools or resources, and we'll include them in an upcoming issue of Education E-update. | | Housekeeping
To subscribe to Education E-update, use our online form. Note that for extra security, we use a "double opt-in" sign-up process. This means that once you fill out the subscription form, you will receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription. You must confirm your subscription in order to begin receiving Education E-update. To unsubscribe from Education E-update, simply reply to this email with "unlist" in the subject line. For information about how we protect your privacy, see our Privacy Policy. To reuse content from Education E-update in your own publication, send us an email. Feel free to forward this newsletter, however. | | | | May 2008 | | In the Spotlight This month, we shine the spotlight on 'One Planet-Ours!', a new exhibit at the United States Botanic Garden. If you would like to be "In the Spotlight", send us an email. This year the United States Botanic Garden's annual summer exhibition will focus on sustainability-not only how it applies to gardens and the landscape, but also how each of us and our communities can live for tomorrow, as well as for today. 'One Planet-Ours!' will showcase garden displays on the Conservatory Terrace and interpretive and sculptural displays in the National Garden and Bartholdi Park. 'One Planet-Ours!' will also feature government agencies, non-governmental organisations and individuals who are leading efforts toward sustainable lifestyles. Included are BGCI, the United Nations Environment Programme, US Department of Energy, American Horticultural Society, US Environmental Protection Agency, Longwood Gardens, National Wildlife Federation, and many more. Tying it all together will be 'Cool Globes,' an exhibit of more than 40 sculptures of whole-earth solutions to the problems of living unsustainably. The 'One Planet-Ours!' exhibition opens 24 May and will remain on display through 13 October. Special events throughout the summer are also planned. At special 'Family Days', for example, visiting families can listen to native stories about plant lore, help create a straw bale house, discover how to cook with sunshine, learn how to identify invasive plants, create a hand-held wind turbine, learn about sustainable garden design, and meet experts in the field of sustainability. Special guided tours of the exhibits will also take place throughout the summer. For more information about the 'One Planet-Ours!' exhibit or other education programmes at the United States Botanic Garden, visit the Garden's website. 
| | | | | | What We're Reading  Blessed Unrest, by Paul Hawken. From one of the foremost writers in the field of sustainability, Blessed Unrest examines the history of the sustainability and social justice movements. Hawken shows how these movements are uniting to become the most important social movement of our time. Click on the image to buy this book from BGCI's Amazon bookstore. | | | | | | Get Snapping! A new category, 'World Botanic Garden,' has been included in 2009's Garden Photographer of the Year competition. BGCI will receive 10 percent of the revenue raised through the entries to this category. Funds will be used for our work in environmental education in botanic gardens through training, workshops and conferences. | | | | | | Looking for Back Issues of Education E-update? Visit the E-update archives to read all past issues. | | | | | | Spread the News! Please forward this email to your education colleagues or to others who have an interest in plant-based conservation education. | | | | | | | | | Education E-update is a free e-newsletter published monthly by Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Botanic Gardens Conservation International
www.bgci.org
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