School yards and nature trails: ecology education outside the university

Ecologists, conservation biologists and other natural historians increasingly recognize the need to become involved in public education. An ecologically literate public may be the ‘last best hope’ for a sustainable biosphere. Partnerships between ecologists and educators may be the best hope, though not the last, for moving towards an ecologically literate public. What are some practical schemes for such partnerships? We present a model for ecology education that has shown promise in several South American settings and describe its application in two quite different contexts in southern Argentina. We hope that our colleagues will ponder, criticize, modify, improve and apply the model in settings other than those we present here.