Conservation and Environmental Education

Conference:

2017 Conference: San Juan, Puerto Rico (Virtual Conference)

Achieving conservation goals through education, communication, social marketing, and ecotourism strategies, including public participation in scientific research (PPSR) and placebased community action

Sessions appropriate to this strand address such topics as:

  • Strategies for building capacity for education within the broader practice of conservation
  • Increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the conservation movement
  • Current research and case studies on behavior change as it relates to conservation education
  • Successful tools, approaches, and educator preparation for bringing PPSR (citizen science) into the classroom or community improvement projects
  • Successful collaborations between conservation educators and practitioners in all settings, from rural to suburban to urban, as well as wild spaces, public lands, and beyond
  • Education strategies for addressing specific issues such as climate change, energy, water, biodiversity, and food systems

Sessions

NOAA-21st Century Community Learning Center Watershed STEM Education Partnership Grants

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.

Partnering to Expand Your Reach

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.

The Phenomena Are Happening Right Outside!

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.

WikiWatershed.org Toolkit of Resources for Studying Your Watershed

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.