The Fairchild Challenge
Encyclopedia
The Fairchild Challenge is an environmental education
outreach program of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
in Coral Gables, Florida
, USA.
The interdisciplinary nine-month program is offered free every academic year to public and private elementary schools throughout South Florida. middle schools and high schools, It is financed by numerous private and public sources, as well as by fundraising by the Fairchild Garden’s young professionals’ organization, Fairchild Palms. During the 2007-2008 school year, participants included 22,000 students from 56 middle schools, and 18,000 students from 46 high schools - a total of 40,000 students ages 11 through 18 and 1,800 teachers from more than 100 South Florida schools.
Many thousands more participate annually in satellite programs run by educators trained by The Fairchild Challenge personnel at museums, zoos and other institutions throughout the United States and abroad. The program makes special efforts to support the participation of disabled and economically disadvantaged students.
by conducting “satellite” training for dozens of museums, zoos, botanical gardens and other institutions throughout the U.S. (Chicago and Utah) and as far as Singapore and South Africa. These institutions provide their own customized Fairchild Challenge programs for their area schools based on the original South Florida model.
in new and creative ways. The NFCN, composed of leaders from the public and private sectors, selected the Fairchild Challenge from among 560 competing programs based on relevance, impact and sustainability. The endorsement also was given to 29 other organizations in 2008.
The endorsement by the NFCN was featured in the Environment section of The Miami Herald
on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009.
Environmental education
Environmental education refers to organized efforts to teach about how natural environments function and, particularly, how human beings can manage their behavior and ecosystems in order to live sustainably. The term is often used to imply education within the school system, from primary to...
outreach program of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is a botanic garden, with extensive collections of rare tropical plants including palms, cycads, flowering trees and vines. It is located in metropolitan Miami, just south of Coral Gables, Florida, United States, surrounded at the south and west by Matheson...
in Coral Gables, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, USA.
Mission
The Fairchild Challenge is designed to promote environmental awareness, scholarship and stewardship in students in grades pre-K through 12th, and by extension in their families, schools and communities, through a combination of hands-on research, creativity and a variety of competitive projects.Basic Facts
Launched in fall 2002, The Fairchild Challenge was developed by scientific and educational experts in botany and biology under the direction of Caroline Lewis.The interdisciplinary nine-month program is offered free every academic year to public and private elementary schools throughout South Florida. middle schools and high schools, It is financed by numerous private and public sources, as well as by fundraising by the Fairchild Garden’s young professionals’ organization, Fairchild Palms. During the 2007-2008 school year, participants included 22,000 students from 56 middle schools, and 18,000 students from 46 high schools - a total of 40,000 students ages 11 through 18 and 1,800 teachers from more than 100 South Florida schools.
Many thousands more participate annually in satellite programs run by educators trained by The Fairchild Challenge personnel at museums, zoos and other institutions throughout the United States and abroad. The program makes special efforts to support the participation of disabled and economically disadvantaged students.
The program
The Fairchild Challenge consists of three parallel programs for elementary, middle and high schools. Individual schools compete on up to a dozen projects aligned with Florida education standards. In addition to the sciences, the projects cover social studies, English, art, music and vocational classes. They include generating newsletters, oral histories, and opinion and research papers; creating artwork, postcards, political/environmental cartoons, posters and T-shirts; performing songs and skits on stage; creating and/or restoring gardens or designated habitats; conducting oral debates; preparing “green cuisine” meals; designing solar-powered devices; and undertaking ecological initiatives such as recycling, conducting waste and energy audits, and initiating tree plantings at home, at school and in their communities. Every project completed scores points, and top-scoring schools are recognized with Fairchild Challenge Awards at a ceremony at Fairchild Garden at the end of each school year.Impact
Since its founding in 2002, The Fairchild Challenge has spread beyond South FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
by conducting “satellite” training for dozens of museums, zoos, botanical gardens and other institutions throughout the U.S. (Chicago and Utah) and as far as Singapore and South Africa. These institutions provide their own customized Fairchild Challenge programs for their area schools based on the original South Florida model.
Recognition
In November, 2008, The Fairchild Challenge was endorsed by the Conservation Fund’s National Forum on Children and Nature (NFCN) as a worldwide model for connecting youth with the environmentEnvironment (biophysical)
The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...
in new and creative ways. The NFCN, composed of leaders from the public and private sectors, selected the Fairchild Challenge from among 560 competing programs based on relevance, impact and sustainability. The endorsement also was given to 29 other organizations in 2008.
The endorsement by the NFCN was featured in the Environment section of The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009.