Initiatives promoting environmental adult education (EAE) through professional development (PD) ensures educators have the knowledge and skills to inform their audience about environmental literacy and stewardship. However, no research has focused on reflective experiences of an EAE PD from educator participants at least five years after participation. Analysis using the contextual lenses of EAE, outdoor experiential learning, and transformative learning theories led to five emergent themes: (a) becoming a more effective educator; (b) increasing awareness of conservation importance; (c) experiencing positive emotional effects; (d) augmenting behaviors that impact the environment; and (e) having positive experiences at the EAE PD location. These findings may ignite new means for approaching curriculum specific content with heightened attention on the value of conserving natural resources.

Explore the effectiveness of a week-long, immersion-based, outdoor education program by looking at the impacts on diverse sixth grade students from a public school. Results show changes in students’ attitudes towards the outdoors, learning science, and sustainability before and after participating in the program.

Games that model ecosystems provide an enjoyable way for students to become more comfortable thinking at the systems level, a necessary skill for understanding environmental problems and solutions. Attendees will receive a list of ecosystem games, details for several games, and suggestions for adapting them to other systems

At the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County, we are proving that industry and nature can coexist! During this presentation, participants will learn why the SWA Greenway Trail System was created and how we connect place-based environmental education with solid waste management and the importance of conserving natural resources.

From Lonesome George to rangers in Africa, storytelling is commonly used to connect audiences of all ages to conservation. This session will focus on how to launch a successful conservation writing contest that allows people to use their voices to speak up for voiceless species around the world.

Aquatic macroinvertebrate keys tend to be rather generic. I’ve created a template to make watershed-specific identification posters and pollution indices. Come get your copy and we’ll go step-by-step through creation of a tool for the critters in your watershed.

Do you have a school or community garden that you want to use to get students interested in writing and curious about the natural world? Learn about tools and techniques for how to use nature journaling to engage students in describing what they notice in the world around them.