Youth Ecology Education Through Restoration

Youth Ecology Education through Restoration (YEER)

YEER engages middle school science students as restoration ecologists to restore land in their own schoolyard or community, with the expert guidance of WNPS chapter members and supported by a high-quality classroom science curriculum taught by their classroom teacher.

Partner with a middle school in your community to restore land as a part of the United Nations Decade on Restoration!

Students today are craving an education that acknowledges the huge environmental problems their generation faces. They also want to be taken seriously as change-makers in the world. Teachers and students need expert partners to solve local environmental problems like biodiversity loss in an ecosystem. As a Steward you have expertise in ecosystem restoration. Would you like to be that vital expert partner for a student restoration project in your community?

Program Overview

During a 4-5 week standards aligned curriculum taught by their classroom teacher, students take on the role of restoration ecologists to answer a driving question: How can we increase the biodiversity of our schoolyard? [or other land in their community]. Through investigations, modelling, readings, and other hands-on activities, students figure out that native plant communities form the foundation of complex food webs. They create Ecosystem Restoration Proposals for their restoration site with the goal of increasing biodiversity. With the expert guidance of a YEER Steward, they implement their proposals. By integrating field restoration work with science learning in the classroom, YEER is an ambitious and unique program.

WNPS is celebrating the 2025-26 School YEER with infograms of success!

In 2025-2026, WNPS served nine schools across Washington through the YEER program. Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program in partnership with State of Washington Department of Natural Resources, Urban and Community Forestry Program.

Please enjoy the complete YEER Two Year Program Pilot Report to celebrate the success with us, and learn more about this program.  

Meet The Program Developer: ACT Now Science

Janneke Petersen, Principle from Act Now Science, has parterned with WNPS to bring this robust program and community collaboration to Washington middle schools. 

Learn more about the program through this video, 7 minutes of sharing the experience. 
YEER, Youth Ecology Education through Restoration.

Participant Quotes:                                        

"The kids were excited and all had their plants pressed into their notebooks.
They could not wait to get their plot and get started." Teacher, Paterson Junior High                    

"The program has definitely sparked a level of interest that we have not seen before when teaching ecosystems. They are super engaged by the restoration project." Teacher,
Rose Hill Middle School

"I am so grateful to be part of the YEER program. It allows me to be taking positive environmental action now. But it also addresses the future by involving young people in a project that
shows them the power of their actions." WNPS Native Plant Steward

"Can we plant more plants for the rest of the day instead of going to our other classes?” Student

"Wait, you can get paid to do this work? Seriously? I'm gonna be a restoration ecologist when I grow up." Student

YEER has four parts:

1. Understanding a local ecosystem.

During a 3 week, NGSS aligned unit, students find out that the United Nations recently launched a Decade on Restoration with the goal of preventing mass extinction and combating climate change. The UN is calling on everyone to play a part. Students ponder a driving question: how can we, as student restoration ecologists, restore an ecosystem in our community to increase biodiversity? Students find out that The Washington Native Plant Society has tasked their class with restoring a piece of land in their community. A field trip to a nearby reference (healthy) ecosystem, led by the YEER Coordinator introduces students to the plants, animals and fungi who live there. Students take photographs of these organisms, which they use to create a reference ecosystem model back in the classroom. Classroom lessons help students add to their ecosystem model. Investigations in photosynthesis, cellular respiration, food chains and food webs, and the effects of resource availability on populations of organisms, help students understand how matter cycles and energy flows through the ecosystem. They figure out that native plant communities are the foundation of the ecosystem: native plants support a complex and interconnected web of life. They discover how a locally prevalent invasive species affects the web of life.

2. Designing a plan to restore the ecosystem.

Students apply their understanding of the reference ecosystem to develop a restoration plan for a degraded ecosystem in their community. They use the Engineering Design Process to define the problem (loss of biodiversity due to an invasive species or development) and develop a solution (a plan to increase biodiversity in the ecosystem).

3. Presenting their restoration plan.

At the end of the unit, students present their Ecosystem Restoration Plans to the Steward and the landowner of the restoration site.                                                                                                                         

4. Implementing their Restoration Plan as a part of the UN Decade on Restoration.

In partnership with the Steward and the landowner, students implement their restoration plans. Teachers commit to a minimum of three restoration workdays, led by the Steward, over the remaining school year.

Learning Outcomes of Unit:

Focal Science and Engineering Practices: Asking Questions and Defining Problems, Developing and Using Models, Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Engaging in Argument from Evidence, Obtaining, Evaluating and Communicating Information

Focal Crosscutting Concepts:  Energy and Matter, Systems and System Models, Stability and Change, Scale Proportion and Quantity, Cause and  Effect                                                                                                       

Focal Disciplinary Core Ideas

Building Toward NGSS Performance Expectations:

• MS-LS1-6. Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for the role of photosynthesis in the cycling of matter and flow of energy into and out of organisms.
• MS-LS1-7. Develop a model to describe how food is rearranged through chemical reactions forming new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as this matter moves through an organism. 
• MS-LS2-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
• MS-LS2-3. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem. 
• MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
• MS-LS2-5. Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem service

The YEER Program Coordinators - 2024-2025

• Janneke Petersen, Western Washington: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Mikki Symonds, Eastern Washington: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
• Tina Miller, YEER Advisory Committee Chair, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Cynthia Updegrave, YEER Program Manager, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Resource Files