Connecting place, people and story, through the design of inclusive outdoor spaces for schools, communities, and parks. Designing with the 8 senses and the Autism Design Guidelines to allow for collaboration and connections with nature in an educationally intentional way. Discuss types of outdoor space that afford learning for all age groups, nimble spaces with inter-related programming. All of course from the perspective of a landscape architect.

Discover the forest and all that comes with the US Forest Service youth engagement efforts across the country. Participants will learn about the strategy for youth engagement, efforts to engage people of color and different socio-economic communities, and provide time to identify partner opportunities with the Forest Service.

The faces, experiences, and abilities of your visitors are changing. Are you stumped by how to create activities that are great for all learners? Join this session to discover and apply instructional strategies for English Learners and students receiving Special Education services to your teaching in the outdoor classroom.

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.

Gardens have a growing importance in urban areas nowadays. They serve as spaces for recreation, education, and reconnection with nature. It is important to examine the educational and environmental roles of these spaces considering their colonial history and potential to serve as conducive spaces for inclusion and transpersonal more-than-human relationships.

Columbia Gas recognizes the need to invite nature back—not only into schools with nature programs and outdoor classrooms, but also on managed landscapes. Their novel program promotes pollinator habitat in school gardens and across their network of gas pipelines, connecting people and nature in a variety of ways.

Participants will engage in shared stories and examples of playful inquiry with loose parts in an outdoor classroom and school garden. We'll share how our public school model allows for meaningful access to cross-curricular environmental learning that promotes a connection to place, social-emotional, and physical well-being in the K-7 sub/urban, and rural contexts. Slides can be accessed here: https://meganzeni.com/naaee-2019/

Social media is an important topic not only because of its impacts to the outdoors, but also because of the opportunity it presents to engage youth. Participate in discussions surrounding intentional social media use and receive curriculum to engage youth in Leave No Trace through this hyper-relevant and accessible medium.