Due to the many uncertainties caused by school closings and other public health measures, the Massachusetts Envirothon program decided to replace the 2020 Envirothon competition scheduled for May 14th with an experiment in online team presentations.

In place of the usual five-part competition, the Massachusetts Envirothon offered teams a single real life challenge.  Teams were invited to submit an online audio-visual presentation – a message to their communities.

Five teams submitted videos.  They are posted with selected comments below.

A media release tells the story of this experiment.

The following information for teams was assembled for the Mass Envirothon program by Will Snyder, UMass Extension/4-H, with extensive input from members of the Massachusetts Envirothon Steering Committee and Council:

• Invitation to teams, Background issue framing, and Topic suggestions from Envirothon Committee and Council members (PDF)
• Climate Change & Pandemic Perspectives for 2020 Mass Envirothon Teams
• Basic Requirements for Team Submissions
• Technical Specifications for Team Submission
• Zoom Drop-In Meetings for the 2020 Massachusetts Envirothon
• Letter to teams re: contacting public officials
• Invitation to be a reviewer for 2020 team presentations
• 2020 Massachusetts Envirothon review questions
• Participating Reviewers

 

Videos with selected comments

The full story of this learning experience is told not only in the videos that the teams created, but also in the comments from the reviewers.  A representative sample of these review comments are included with each video.

• Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
• Brockton High School/Wildlands Trust
• Lexington High School
• Newton North High School
• Quabbin Regional High School