Forest Essence
Forest Essence Foundation is an educational 501 c3 charitable foundation created to advance the knowledge of environmental consequences of our everyday living. Our mission is to distribute "Forest Savvy," our educational teaching aid, to middle school science teachers as a tool and teacher's aide to facilitate the teaching of the environment segment of the science course.
Little known facts:
- Slightly less than 100,000 acres are destroyed each year by forestation plus the loss due to pestilence, drought, and forest fires. These losses of forest are not sustainable. Mankind must learn to live sustainably with Nature.
- The board feet of lumber consumed of more than 12 billion board feet is not sustainable. The remaining world's forests will soon be only 10% of the original forest.
Consumers currently do not have a realistic concern for conservation of the remaining forest. Therefore our youth must be made aware of this global crisis. With education a change in paradigm will occur .
Forest Savvy addresses this need in providing an educational teaching aid to middle school science teachers to introduce ecology to the sixth, seventh and eighth grades to change the minds of our next generation of mankind to live in a sustainable way with Nature. This takes the form of a 21st century learning modality. Forest Savvy is an educational interactive game for individual or classroom use which provides environmental literacy and learning and innovation skills.
Our objectives are:
- Develop and distribute Forest Savvy game to the middle school science teachers for inclusion in their environmental segment of classroom studies in order to meet the core teaching aid requirements.
- Foster donations to support the distribution costs for Forest Savvy for the entire United States and internationally.
- Encourage the use of alternative products to reduce our dependency on wood products. Wood veneer and reconstituted wood as well as plastics and other alternative products will extend the life of our remaining forests.
- Encourage alternatives to forest ecosystem destruction by clear cutting, mining and other production methods by raising consumer awareness and changing their buying habits.
- Encourage the world societies to promote sustainable living models instead of the conquest consciousness of the last several millenniums.
There are many organizations interest in promoting conservation, but we believe this cannot be accomplished without education to the next generation of mankind, to change the consciousness of earth's future humanity.
Teaching Aid
This beautiful, full color, Forest Savvy classroom boardgame is a download for SMART Board or Promethean boards, to be played with the entire class while covering the Unit on Forests. If a teacher does not have the "technology" required: You can still download the files and print off the Questions Booklet and Teacher's Manual. These are professionally written creative thinking lesson plans, designed to be serious yet fun, and will be worth using with your class. You could keep score some other way.
Board
Hedin E. Daubenspeck
Executive DirectorHedin E. Daubenspeck is a certified public accountant (CPA) operating a public accounting practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma and holds a BBA degree from the University of Oklahoma. As co-founder of the Foundation, he has contributed to the financing, formation and development of the Foundation and its programs. Being raised on a farm and later working in a plywood manufacturing company spurred his interest in wood veneer and preservation of the earth's forests. Hedin's hobby is philosophy, which incites a conscious view of the earth's future.
Dr. Jamie McCracken
Game CreatorDr Jamie McCracken specializes in creativity and learning. She is the co-inventor of games designed to make learning fun. Her research shows that when students are given an opportunity to think for themselves, in a relaxed and playful atmosphere, more true learning occurs. Brain research by neurosurgeon Dr. Judy Willis, has shown that when learning is perceived as "fun" by an individual, the information goes into long-term storage in the brain, for better memory and recall.
Information that is given in a lecture or other “non-fun” way does not go to long-term storage in the brain. Simply put, if we want students to learn about the importance of saving the forests, we need to put the information into a format that is perceived, by these students, as "fun".
To meet this need, Dr. McCracken created the classroom board game Forest Savvy, complete with questions and activities. It will inspire students to not only learn about, but to get involved and actually do something to make a difference, to help save earth's endangered forests and their habitats.
Dr. Karen J. Dawson
SecretaryDr. Karen J. Dawson is retired as a counselor educator from Tulsa Public Schools after 36 years. Her doctorate is from Oklahoma State University. Her experience includes health, recreation and physical education in addition to counseling. She is a National Board Certified Counselor and a Masters level Psychologist. Dr. Dawson has years of experience with diversity and disabilities sensitivity related to healing and healthy life planning. Previous experience includes 7 years on the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Education Association.
Donate
DonateForest Essence Foundation is a 501 C3 public charity and your donations are tax deductible.
Contact Us
Tulsa, OK 74145