Want to know how school districts, nonformal educators and community partners can collaborate to support teachers and schools? Learn how the Wake Green Schools Partnership is increasing environmental literacy and sustainability by supporting teachers with professional development, networking and peer support opportunities. Come join our discussion to develop ideas for partnering to advance EE and sustainability in your own school community!
Come and celebrate the joy of successful community collaborations that immerse students in nature and culture! Learn how environmental education partners across western North Carolina work with New Kituwah Academy, Cherokee language immersion school, to create outdoor experiences that honor Cherokee language, history, culture and identity. Simple on campus activities to overnight camping adventures. Join us!
Science Across NC is a statewide collaborative that helps educators connect learners with outdoor, participatory science across the year. This session will introduce the network, show how schools and organizations can join, and feature the October NC Spider Search as a timely way to engage students in observation, biodiversity, and community science.
A new piedmont trail will combine accessible design with the opportunity to learn about the area’s rich cultural and natural history. Join Erin Hines, Environmental Educator for Gaston Co. Dept. of Natural Resources, and Ashton Lamb, Trail Development Manager for Carolina Thread Trail, to learn how local partnerships made this project possible. We will cover how the trail was planned for a variety of mobility levels as well as how the community was engaged in the planning process for interpretive signage, led by 2nd Nature TREC.
Discover how one educator’s NCEE certification project morphed into an ongoing field trip experience for 5th grade students at Waxhaw Elementary and a new environmental education course at Wingate University. Participants will gain insights into how strategic partnerships between public school educators, natural resource professionals, and universities can connect students at all levels and create long lasting and impactful programs.
This session will dive into the challenges and opportunities of translating classroom lesson plans to informal contexts. Using the Ready, Set, Resilience curriculum as a case study, we will discuss the successes and obstacles we’ve encountered so far as we reconfigure standards-aligned content to meet the needs of a broader audience in informal EE settings. In particular, we will focus on the role of collaboration with educators and researchers.
