Dear Colleagues,

ChangeScale and the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) have partnered with researchers at Stanford University to create this ninth volume of the Environmental Education Research Bulletin. Talented environmental educators everywhere are conducting fantastic programs that build on effective practice, from collaborating with communities to using hands-on strategies to make critical links between enhancing environmental awareness, building skills, and supporting informed action. Yet, many of these committed professionals don’t have time to keep up on the latest research studies, which may provide insight into how to improve the effectiveness of their work. We hope these Research Bulletins can help bridge the research-and-practice gap by summarizing recently reported research and help practitioners use the results to enhance their programs.

This issue includes synopses of peer-reviewed journal articles that are particularly relevant for frontline environmental education practitioners. We reviewed issues (published between January and June 2015) of a number of environmental education-related journals, including: Journal of Environmental Education, Environmental Education Research, Applied Environmental Education and Communication, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, International Journal of Science Education, Science Education, Visitor Studies, and Journal of Environmental Psychology.

We want these bulletins to be as useful to you as possible, so please send us any ideas or feedback that you have, as well as additional topics you’d like us to cover or journals you’d like us to monitor. We would also like to know if there is an alternative format that may be helpful. You can send suggestions to: eeresearchbulletins@changescale.org.

We also encourage you to check out the research blog on eePRO, NAAEE’s professional development community. The community has a section devoted to research and evaluation; you can join here: https://naaee.org/eepro/groups/research-and-evaluation. You may also be interested in the NSF-funded Relating Research to Practice effort of CILS and the Exploratorium, available here: http://relatingresearchtopractice.org.

Thanks for all you do, and we look forward to hearing from you!

Elizabeth C. Babcock, Ph.D.
ChangeScale Chair
Chief Public Engagement Officer & Roberts-Wilson Dean of Education
California Academy of Sciences

Judy Braus
Executive Director
North American Association for Environmental Education

Nicole M. Ardoin, Ph.D.
Project Lead
Associate Professor, Stanford University
ChangeScale Research Council Chair

Kirk Anne Taylor
Director, ChangeScale