National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education

1. NationalProject forExcellence in EnvironmentalEducation

2. Presenters Bora Simmons National Project for Excellence in EE YashBhagwanji Florida Atlantic University Pilar Tucker Faith Lutheran School

3. Quick Tour of Adobe Connect

4. Primary Sponsors: U.S. EPA • Office of Environmental Education EECapacity • EPA funded national EE training program housed in Cornell University’s Civic Ecology Lab

5. Other Partners • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service • U.S. Forest Service • National Environmental Education Foundation • State EE Associations – such as LEEF • Organizational partners – such as Project Learning Tree, Arbor Day Foundation, Project WILD, Keep America Beautiful, Project WET

6. Tell us a bit about yourself…

7. Promoting excellence in environmental education

8. Our Collective Wisdom • Developed Guidelines through a public participatory process • Engaging educators in a deep discussion about quality environmental education practice • Building EE as a profession

9. Guidelines for Excellence Publications

10. Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence

11. How familiar are you with the Early Childhood EE Programs: Guidelines for Excellence?

12. Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence • Recommendations for developing & implementing high quality early childhood EE programs • Birth to 8 year olds, focus on ages 3 to 6 • Developed through a broad-based comment process

13. Six Key Characteristic • Guidelines • Indicators • Indicators • Boxes with Examples • References

15. Program Philosophy, Purpose, & Development 1.1 Focus on nature & the environment 1.2 Focus on education of young children 1.3 Culturally appropriate goals, objectives, & practices

16. Program Philosophy, Purpose, & Development 1.4 Environmental literacy 1.5 Health & safety 1.6 Evaluation & assessment 1.7 Partnerships 1.8 Interpersonal & intergenerational relationships

17. Developmentally Appropriate Practices 2.1 Research & theory 2.2 Authentic experiences 2.3 Child-centered/ directed & inquiry-based 2.4 The whole child

18. Play and Exploration 3.1 Natural world & natural materials 3.2 Play & the role of adults

19. Curriculum Framework for Environmental Learning 4.1 Social & emotional growth 4.2 Curiosity & questioning 4.3 Development of environmental understandings

20. Curriculum Framework for Environmental Learning 4.4 Skills for understanding the environment 4.5 A personal sense of responsibility & caring 4.6 Physical health & development

21. Places and Spaces 5.1 Spaces & places to enhance development 5.2 Natural components 5.3 Comfortable for both children & adults

22. Places and Spaces 5.4 Maintenance & usability 5.5 Health, safety, & risk 5.6 Environmental sustainability

23. Educator Preparation 6.1 Foundations of early childhood EE 6.2 Professional responsibilities of the educator 6.3 Environmental literacy

24. Educator Preparation 6.4 Planning & implementing EE 6.5 Fostering learning 6.6 Assessment & evaluation

25. A Formative Evaluation Tool for Program Improvement

26. Have you ever used the Early Childhood EE Rating Scale?

27. A Team Approach for Continuous Improvement • Designed for all “center-based” programs serving young children • Public and private child development centers • Nature preschools • Environmental education centers • Builds upon the six key characteristics of ECEE guidelines for excellence • A rating is determined for each indicator through consensus; priorities are determined for improvement • Team identification, development, and maintenance

28. Rating Scale and Descriptors

29. Program Profile and Action Plan Forms • Program profile – provides a process for determining the average score for each key characteristic; identification of strengths, areas needing improvement, and determination of priorities • Program action plan – provides a process for identifying concrete outcomes, action steps, responsibilities, resources/supports needed, and timelines

33. Validity and Reliability • 48 subject matter experts contributed suggestions and recommendations for improvement during the validation phase • 12 centers (child development , nature-based preschool, public and private), 2 family day care centers, and 3 environmental education centers served as reliability study sites • Internal consistency ranged between .80 and .86 for all six key characteristics for exact agreements • Internal consistency ranged between .85 and .91 for all six key characteristics for within-1 agreements

34. Faith Lutheran School

35. Faith Lutheran’s Action Plan • rewrite school philosophy • Provide field trip experiences in • environmental education • professional development for staff on environmental education • Purchase books and materials for nature exploration • provide experiences relevant to children’s environment through learning themes

36. Nature walk collections for classroom posters Photographs of the natural environment from a child’s point of view Provided natural items to investigate and experience

37. Want to learn more? eelinked.net/n/guidelines

39. www.naaee.net/publications

40. Get Involved:Community EE Guidelines For more information: Akiima Price akiima@apriceconsulting.com

41. Questions?

42. Join us at the NAAEE Conference