Increased pressure from state testing has created barriers to gaining district wide support and participation for in-class environmental education programming. This session explores the key factors we have uncovered in cultivating strong school-based partnerships that allow for measured effectiveness for in-school environmental education programs.

Experts predict a gap in STEM workers prepared to deal with complex environmental issues. It’s critical that informal learning centers increase capacity to work with schools. Riverbend’s Philadelphia Children Access Nature program is a catalyst for change, using a comprehensive supports and aquaponics in the classroom.

Experts predict a gap in STEM workers prepared to deal with complex environmental issues. It’s critical that informal learning centers increase capacity to work with schools. Riverbend’s Philadelphia Children Access Nature program is a catalyst for change, using a comprehensive supports and aquaponics in the classroom.

Practicing pre-K–8 teachers visited Springs Eternal: Water, Hope, Change, an art exhibit as part of a comprehensive professional development project focused on integrating EE across the curriculum. We will share the ways in which the teachers reacted and planned to shift their teaching as a result of this visit.

For 20 years, School of the Wild has provided weeklong wildlife experiences for students in the Iowa City Community School District. Join our panel to hear how we went from an exploratory pilot to a districtwide program serving all students. Let our team’s experience help you grow your programs.

Explore simple ways for your school to work together to decrease landfill waste, energy waste, and water waste. From young learners to middle schoolers, your school can work together through guided inquiry activities and integrated curriculum extensions to create a more sustainable school using many tools you already have.     

This session discusses “Science Strikes Back” (SSB), an annual, all-ages community science fair held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. SSB increases access to environmental education for diverse students in urban settings through place-based, community-oriented programming. The session will highlight SSB’s successes and suggestions for best practices in environmental education.

This poster session was about Digital Observation Technology Skills (DOTS) program, an environmental education approach that engages K-12 students across Wisconsin in water quality monitoring activities. The session highlighted successes and learning opportunities from year one of the project based on evaluation results and discussed their significance for best EE practice.

Calling all Urban Engineers: You are the director of this Anthropo(s)cene! Our citizens need your help designing their future. Your objective is to take ancient wisdom and combine it with cutting-edge ideas to create resilient and adaptable cities! Using tools like systems thinking, causal maps, story chips and hands-on models, your team will define the big ideas, design for a specific geography & climate, test the resiliency of your design and ultimately tell your city story. Our future depends on how we decide to shape it!

We’ll introduce the NSF-funded Comp Hydro project and demonstrate activities that develop hydrologic and computational knowledge as well as practice through NGSS-aligned instruction. Using the East Helena Superfund Site as a context, students become groundwater scientists, through connected experiences with phenomena, data, and modeling, then develop a plan for remediation of groundwater contamination.