Learn more about becoming a Certified Phenology Leader in your community! Join us for a discussion of the Nature’s Notebook Local Phenology Leader Certification Program, bringing educators together with new audiences, natural resource managers, practitioners, and other leaders across the US who are teaching about climate change through citizen science.

Forest school programs are becoming increasingly popular around the world. Here in Canada, new programs are initiated every year across the country; there are currently almost 50 programs listed on the Forest School Canada website and over 160 certified Forest School Practitioners. Very little research has been conducted on this educational approach. Through this doctoral research study, I aim to answer the following research question: "What environmental learning is occurring in Canadian forest schools and how does this learning relate to the ecological, cultural, and historical contexts of those places?". Guided by a common worlds conceptual framework, I will collect data such as an ecological inventory, program documents, interviews and child-led tours from three forest school sites within Canada. This research will contribute to the growing conversation about child-nature relations and the utilization of natural spaces in childcare provision.

Mobile and field technologies can enhance outdoor education for digital natives. Presenters will discuss hardware and software considerations of selecting technologies to engage today’s youth in the outdoors. Case study examples will include the Water Quality mobile app and Digital Observation Technology Skills (DOTS) kits.

Over the past year, organizations have been applying the results from two surveys of EE related organizations in Wisconsin to inform their programming decisions. This includes a look at participation trends, economic impact, program evaluations, inclusion, accessibility, use of technology, land management, and professional development needs.

Come explore a resource-linked climate change concept map to learn more about causes, impacts, and solutions. Navigate to your areas of inquiry: vetted K–16 activities, effective instructional methods, science and engineering practices. Consider how a weather/climate strand map can support your work. Advise further development. Receive links to both maps!

As part of NAAEE’s eeWORKS, we conducted a systematic literature review on climate change education. We will briefly describe common themes and examples of effective climate change education and help you apply these findings to your programs. Come ready to discuss your climate change program ideas!

In Greece, a network of small, locally adaptable Environmental Education Centers survived the economic crisis and has been commended for innovative practices (CEDEFOP, 2012). This presentation discusses the institutional, structural and pedagogical characteristics that contributed to this result.

The purpose of this study is to understand the performance and differences in knowledge, attitude, and behavior with respect to climate change, global warming, energy conservation, and carbon emission reduction in environmental educators who have been certified by Taiwan EPA since June 5, 2011, when the Environmental Education Act came into force.

The NOAA Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program is implementing a national evaluation system designed to inform seven diverse regional programs, serving approximately 3,600 educators and 48,000 students annually. Learn about how evaluation results are used to monitor and adjust program activities and support grantees in implementing best practices.

This workshop brings liberating creativities to life, introducing EE practitioners and researchers to arts-based educational research and program design. Together we explore justice and empathy, surface and value diversity through multiple ways of knowing, and engage with arts-informed ways of researching. We introduce arts-based approaches by sharing affirmations, theories, resources, approaches, examples, and practices to support your discovery. The four motivations for this work involve building inclusion and multiple ways of knowing, developing a critical lens, leveraging creativity to build capacity for handling complexity (from the Tbilisi Declaration), and creating brave spaces for research and program design. Theories explored include environmental justice, feminist materialism, Gaian lens, and intersectionality and brave spaces, as well as the approaches of just sustainability arts, socially conscious/engaged art, STEAM, and art as a spiritual practice.

Director Sylvie Rokab will share clips of the film Love Thy Nature - narrated by Liam Neeson - which takes viewers on a cinematic journey through the beauty of our relationship with nature. She will discuss how her team and partners are igniting a nature-connecting movement in schools and beyond.

Environmental education can be a powerful tool for promoting skills and interest in STEM in an after school setting. This session was intended as an interactive opportunity to share examples of successful projects from a pilot after school EE grant program, as well as discuss how STEM-focused funding sources may be leveraged to support environmental education activities. Contact information for the presenters is provided for anyone who would like more information about the planned session discussion topics.

After years of ineffective recruitment of Hispanic youth at an ecology summer camp in rural Florida, a partnership with an employer started a customized camp for the children of the employees. Learn the story of why the partnership worked and what we’ve learned after three summers.

As we realize our deepening ecological crisis is a spiritual problem requiring a shift in our relationship to the earth, spiritual retreat centers are uniquely positioned to engage in this work. This session profiles how three Canadian environmental adult educators working at three different spiritual retreat centres are engaged in this important work in environmental adult education.

Teachers cite a number of barriers to teaching students outdoors, which can be mitigated through effective professional development in place-based environmental education. Gain insights into one successful program in which teachers integrate watershed-focused outdoor experiences into their curriculum, fostering opportunities to connect children with nature while meeting learning objectives.

Gray infrastructure is hard and angular. Green infrastructure is soft and rounded. Your students can transform gray into green, while learning myriad environmental concepts, life-long civic skills, and the practice of science and engineering. A bonus: improved water quality on your campus.

Exciting ecological research happening across the Americas provides meaningful resources for learners to more fully understand their local environment in relevant ways. Utilizing the Long Term Ecological Research Program’s network resources, and the Next Generation Science Standards EQuIP rubric, we will demonstrate the effectiveness of ecological phenomena to naturally provoke higher-level thinking.

The Wikiwatershed.org community toolkit features STEM resources to promote systems thinking, data collection, and interactive technologies, including online Model My Watershed GIS modeling, EnviroDIY stream sensors, a micro site runoff simulation, Monitor My Watershed, international Leaf Pack Network, the Water Quality mobile app, scientific data gathering processes, and watershed curricula.

The Wildlife Immersion and Leadership Development (W.I.L.D.) Program provides paid employment for culturally- and economically-diverse teens from under-supported communities in Jacksonville, Florida. Hear from the staff of this award-winning program to find ways to create nature connection, leadership development, and opportunities to promote diversity in EE in your own community.