FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Physical education teachers across the nation are lessening the emphasis on competitive sports in which only a few students participate fully and instead moving toward noncompetitive recreational activities that involve all students. This concept also introduces children to various recreational activities they can enjoy for life. At the same time, the public is more focused than ever before on going green – adopting sustainable practices to protect the environment.

The Outdoor Connection Center at the University of Arkansas combined these two trends and developed a professional development opportunity for educators interested in teaching children about minimal impact living, camping and other forms of recreation. The Leave No Trace workshop Aug. 7 will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building, Room 103, on the University of Arkansas campus.

Teachers who complete the course will receive six hours of professional development credit through the Arkansas Department of Education, but anyone who is interested in the Leave No Trace program is welcome to register for the course. Cost and online registration are available at http://imrs.uark.edu/7111.htm. Other local opportunities exist through Leave No Trace http://lnt.org/01_community/AR.php

Leave No Trace is an international educational organization dedicated to responsible enjoyment and active stewardship of the outdoors. Jennifer Hazelrigs, director of the Outdoor Connection Center, serves as the Arkansas state advocate for the organization and will conduct the workshop. The College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas operates the Outdoor Connection Center as part of the intramural and recreational sports department.

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics espouses seven basic principles: plan ahead and prepare, travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize campfire impact, respect wildlife and be considerate of other visitors.

Last year, the Outdoor Connection Center offered a five-day course for certification in Leave No Trace that included an educational canoe trip on the Buffalo National River. This year, the center decided to focus on teachers by offering the compact, yet comprehensive workshop designed specifically for school teachers.

“There’s a need for professional development for teachers, and there’s a huge trend toward nontraditional and noncompetitive activities that provide opportunities for lifelong participation,” Hazelrigs explained. “Instead of playing kickball during P.E. and someone being the last person picked for the team, children are taking part in outdoor recreation. Outdoor recreational activities provide personal challenges (mentally and physically) and encourage creative thinking and reflection, environmental awareness and stewardship. Children are learning about camping and living skills that leave a minimal impact, whether they’re on the Scull Creek Trail in Fayetteville or at the Grand Canyon.”

Leave No Trace is encouraging more involvement in K-12 settings, she said.

“These teachers will be prepared to teach their students about minimal-impact practices,” Hazelrigs said. “With its emphasis on environmental sustainability, this workshop is a nice blend of meeting the teachers’ needs and of educating people, especially the next generation, on ways they can be active for a lifetime while preserving the environment.”

In the early part of her nine years with intramural and recreational sports at the university, Hazelrigs said, college students who visited the Outdoor Connection Center had no experience with a climbing wall. Now, more students tell her they’ve used one at their primary and secondary schools.

She has also assisted teachers who received grants for climbing walls at their schools but needed information about how to build them, maintain them and handle risk management issues.

“There are so many opportunities for kids that are not competitive,” Hazelrigs said. “You don’t necessarily compete with others but you challenge yourself. We all get to the top or we all traverse to the other side, but we’re working on personal goals. You tell yourself, ‘Next time I’ll do it better; next time I’ll do it faster.’ This kind of physical education is becoming a bigger part of the culture, and it’s exciting to see it starting with younger kids.”

The Leave No Trace curriculum serves physical educators, health teachers and science teachers. The morning session will consist of lecture style presentations of how to navigate the interactive Leave No Trace Web site, history of the nonprofit organization, programs offered through Leave No Trace, and how schools can partner with Leave No Trace. The afternoon session will be a series of activities to directly implement into the classroom, scholarship information, grant opportunities and membership benefits.