Workshops include AM coffee and tea, lunch, and an afternoon break (unless otherwise indicated)

All workshops are at Century II Convention Center and connecting Hyatt Regency Hotel.

All workshops are 8:30 am until 4 pm (unless otherwise noted).

Overcoming Barriers to Non-formal EE: How to Get into Schools                    $57

Best Practices for Advancing Environmental Education

Learn from other non-formal EE organizations’ best practices to develop a strategy for cracking the tough nut of how to work with formal school systems in this age of standards and accountability.

Led by: Jeanne Troy, Alice Ferguson Foundation, and Kathe Crowley Conn, NatureNet and the Aldo Leopold Nature Center; others to be announced

Schoolyard Native Habitats on the Prairie (depart at 7:30 am, return at 4:30 pm) $50

Conservation Education

Dyck Arboretum of the Plains, USFWS Schoolyard Habitat, and UW-Madison Earth Partnership for Schools -- along with area teachers and students -- will host schoolyard visits in Wichita and neighboring communities. Participate in prairie-related educational activities and discuss common qualities and best practices of outstanding projects.

Led by: Cheryl Bauer-Armstrong, Earth Partnership for Schools; Brad Guhr, Dyck Arboretum on the Plains; Rick Hall, Earth Partnership for Schools; Karen Kelly Mullin, MAEOE; Carolyn Kolstad, USFWS; and Libby McCann, Antioch University New England

Music and Arts – Build It and They Will Come, Part 2                            $50

Art, Culture, and Environmental Education

Spend a creative day and take home two delightful treasures. Learn an ancient paper marbling technique to create a journal in which to reflect on your conference experiences. While the paper’s drying, a gifted music teacher will teach you to build a dulcimer from inexpensive materials. While the dulcimer’s being tuned, you’ll be guided in writing poetry for personal reflection and song lyrics. Practice simple tunes to perform for participants entering the opening session. You’re a star!

Led by: Ira and Charlotte Erwin, Working Artist Studio; John Shortt; Joe Lombardi, Hendrix College

Urban Environments: Professional Development to Engage Youth in Experiential Learning Using Garden Mosaics                                                                                                $147

Art, Culture, and Environmental Education

Professional development training will be provided to educators/teachers in the use of the nationally and internationally award winning Garden Mosaics program during a full day workshop.  This discussion and presentation will be led by experts who have developed the national program, have conducted national training workshops, and have also implemented Garden Mosaics in New York City for over a decade. 

Participants will learn through demonstrations and hands-on methods how to use this national program model and curricular resources (Educator's manual, science pages, interactive DVD, etc.) working with students/youth in community garden and neighborhood settings.  Integrated with science education are intergenerational and cultural learning as well as opportunities for action service activities.  Multiple online databases (widely accessibly) provide an opportunity for program participants to post experiences and to contribute toward 'citizen science'.
 
Participants will learn how to:
*Plan for and implement Garden Mosaics i-m science Investigations and Action Projects, post on national online databases
*Conduct experiential science learning activities
*Engage people in citizen science
*Identify and connect with community resources (gardens, adult gardeners) to support education
*Integrate multiple social and life sciences including environmental, geography, anthropology, horticultural and sustainability

Participants will gain information on downloading web-based materials as well as purchasing color, illustrated GM Activity Kits and other materials.  See program website for more information and examples www.gardenmosaics.org

Led by: Emily Gunter Gayton, Cornell University Cooperative Extension-NYC

Poetry's Vital Role in Environmental Education                                     $92

Art, Culture, and Environmental Education

As winner of the 2007 Creekwalker Prize for Poetry (http://www.creekwalker.com/poetry/DianaWoodcock.html), I propose—in an effort to offer a participatory and creative style—a session on poetry, inviting participants to bring to the conference poetry of their own or of their favorite environmental poets. 
   Poetry always has been a vehicle for social, political and religious commentary.  I believe, as Walt Whitman wrote in Leaves of Grass, that ". . . the visions of poets (are) the most solid announcements of any."  Poetry continues to serve this purpose today, as Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project so well illustrates (www.favoritepoem.org).
   I plan to discuss the role of poetry as it applies to the specific environmental issues being highlighted in the 37th Annual Conference of the NAAEE.  Poetry of Wendell Berry, Gary Snyder, Mary Oliver, Thich Nhat Hanh, Hildergard de Bingen, Pablo Neruda and Walt Whitman, to name a few, will be presented for discussion and inspiration.
   Two questions sparking discussion will be:  How does poetry for children prepare the young to join the environmental movement?  and Why has it been suggested that the poets rather than the scientists should write the textbooks?

Led by: Diana Woodcock, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar

Service-Learning 101:Getting Started Designing and Implementing Environmental Service-Learning                                                                                                           $82

Best Practices for Advancing Environmental Education

Environmental service-learning projects is an effective tool for engaging young people as active citizens and providing them with the skills and knowledge to improve the environment in their communities now.  Service-learning is a method by which young people learn and develop citizenship skills through active participation in organized experiences that meet actual community needs, provide collaboration between the school and community, and allow students to use newly acquired academic skills and knowledge in real life situations.  These experiences are designed to be curriculum-based, foster civic responsibilty and make meaningful contributions to the school and community. Using  several programmatic  examples - Earth Force's Community Action and Problem Solving, Project Learning Tree's Greenworks and the Dunn Foundation's ViewFinders program - we will explore the skills and materials needed to help young people design and develop service-learning projects focusing on environmental and community character issues. We will explore the best practices of environmental service-learning and discuss how service-learning programs can meet both state frameworks and the NAAEE Guidelines for Excellence. This workshop will begin the training process to help educators work with their students and to help staff of non-profit and other environmental organizations to work with their local schools to create community action projects focusing on creating sustainable solutions to local environmental or community character issues. Examples of successful programs will be presented along with strategies for developing community service-learning projects which are curriculum based and sustainable for schools, non-profit organizations and communities.

Led by: Sandra Ryack-Bell, WATERMARKS Education Consulting Services, and

Evelyn Christian, Earth Force

Service-Learning 102: Advanced Service-Learning for Environmental Educators  $77

Best Practices for Advancing Environmental Education

There is quite a bit of good environmental service-learning going on around the country. Young people from coast to coast are restoring riparian buffers, eradicating invasive species, and revitalizing brownfields. And in so doing they're making important connections between what they learn and how they live. These are all important successes and we should all be proud of what has been accomplished.

Yet we could be doing so much more.

Service-learning (environmental service-learning in particular) has the potential to be a vehicle for more systemic changes. To make the most out of service-learning, we must more purposefully pursue civic goals. We must help young people find ways not only to provide direct service (restoration, eradication, etc) but also to get to the root cause of a problem—to effect long-term changes in policies and human behaviors that affect the environment.

Though this approach to service-learning is certainly more challenging—and that's why this workshop is presented as an advanced session for experienced practitioners—it can and should be done. So join us as we explore how to use service-learning as a tool to engage young people as catalysts for environmental and civic change. Participants will:
*Learn about programs that have effectively infused civic action into environmental service-learning
*Share their own experiences, revealing practical tips and strategies
*Receive printed materials with practical guidance for environmental educators in various settings

Led by: Jerry Pharr

One-Day Introduction to Education for Sustainability (EfS)                                           $47

Best Practices for Advancing Environmental Education

In this workshop, we will create a learning community that engages participants in activities that combine systems thinking, sustainable economics, and the science of sustainability. This workshop is designed to increase participants' awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the core concepts, content, and habits of mind that characterize living and working toward a sustainable future.  Activities included are:

1. Introduction and "The Fish Game" Simulation
This hands-on simulation engages participants in an interactive, replicable, interdisciplinary classroom activity that combines systems thinking tools, ecological systems, and economics for a deeper understanding of our role in moving toward a more sustainable future.

2. Quality of Life Indicators
In this interactive session participants will be aligning goals and outcomes with congruent indicators and analyzing the extent to which current metrics are sufficient for the future we want for our children.  Participants will likely see the similarity between developing outcomes and indicators for sustainability, and developing the outcomes and indicators of successful curriculum using a "backwards design" approach.

3. "Diminishing Resources" Activity
This session will make use of critical systems thinking tools in order to create a framework for effectively solving problems.

4. Ecological Literacy
What are the natural "laws" of our planet? How can we use them as inspiration for sustainable behavior?  In this interactive session we will explore the "non negotiable" conditions necessary to live well within the means of nature.

5. Education for Sustainability Framework
This session will introduce the EfS framework, including the core content and habits of mind of EfS.

Led by: Melinda Salazar, the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education

Celebrating Conservation: Planning Special Events and Festivals for Conservation $100

Conservation Education

A natural resource-themed festival or celebration is an educational, interactive, and fun public event that will increase awareness and appreciation of locally important natural resources, and can become a critical strategy in an overall Conservation Education program. From bio-blitzes and hosting a "Parade of the Species," to Wildlife and Birding Festivals, Energy Fairs, and Watershed, Water Conservation or River Celebrations, natural resource-themed celebrations are excellent vehicles to bring messages of conservation to our communities, engage citizens as partners in accomplishing our conservation objectives, and open new opportunities for broad-reaching collaborations.

NAAEE's Conservation Education Commission and the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education's Statewide Water Celebrations Committee are teaming up with other conservation education leaders from around the country to offer a day of networking, training, and inspiration for natural resource-themed celebrations of all kinds. This hands-on workshop will provide field-tested tools for planning festival logistics and curriculum, explore a variety of successful "model" festivals, introduce national curriculum and planning resources, and facilitate an opportunity to network with celebration organizers from across the nation.

Whether you are a seasoned festival organizer, or just considering starting a new event, this workshop will provide new resources and inspire innovative ideas to help you serve the unique conservation education needs of your agency, organization, and community.

Led by: Aaron Morehouse, Catalina Island Conservancy

Learning with Nature: Environmental Education Ideas for Early Childhood **note half day 1:00 – 4:30 **                                                                                                           $57

Early Childhood Education

This interactive workshop is based on years of research and field-testing by Dimensions Educational Research Foundation.  The workshop emphasizes the need for children to have consistent time outdoors with an interested, caring adult. The group discusses some of the common barriers to preschool and elementary children's ability to create positive connections with the natural world and what parents and educators can do to counteract them. Discover engaging and practical hands-on ideas that can be infused throughout all areas of the curriculum to support the nature child connection. This workshop will also provide a multitude of resource ideas to help you incorporate nature into both outdoor and indoor classrooms. Through fun and engaging hands-on experiences, you will gain techniques for using outdoor classrooms as an integral part of preschool and elementary children's daily learning. Discover how well-designed outdoor spaces facilitate children's overall development in traditional academic areas, strengthen specific skills, and aid social-emotional growth. Explore a variety of motivating strategies for facilitating and assessing student learning in outdoor classrooms, and reaching a variety of interests and needs.

Led by: Susan Wirth, Arbor Day Foundation, and Julie Rose, Dimensions Educational Research Foundation

A Walk-About in Wichita                                                                               $30

Environmental Justice, Environmental Health, and Climate Change

Explore the linkages between climate change, environmental health, and environmental justice through an experience that integrates theory, reflection, and application in an urban blight tour of Wichita, Kansas, with local health, education, and organizing groups.

This daylong workshop will assist participants in understanding the linkages among climate change, environmental health, and environmental justice.  The workshop will include theoretical and practical components.  Participants will gain a better understanding of how to integrate these issues with their own programs.  The workshop will be divided into 3 components.  They are:

1.  8 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.  Field trip through an environmental justice project in Wichita with an environmental education component (field trip will include lunch)

2.  1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.  Discussion Roundtables for Environmental Justice, Climate Equity, Environmental Health, and Service Learning (with facilitators for each topic).

3.  2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Connecting the Dots:  Synthesis of Climate Change, Environmental Health, and Environmental Justice (panel discussion).

Led by: David Ruble, Virginia DEQ

Corporate Lands for Learning (CLL): Business and Industry Partners for Effective Site-Based Education Programs                                                                                              $71

Conservation Education 

Explore opportunities that allow students to apply classroom concepts to the real world and our place in the ecosystem. The Wildlife Habitat Council’s (WHC) Corporate Lands for Learning (CLL) program fosters a clear understanding of the interdependence of ecology, economics, social structures and political process in both urban and rural areas. Explore opportunities to develop effective partnerships with industry to establish site-based education programs, allowing students to apply classroom concepts to the real world and encouraging a deeper understanding of our place in the local and regional ecosystem. WHC member corporations who have established highly successful CLL programs will present how and why they support these initiatives—and you’ll learn how they developed appropriate curricula for each unique learning opportunity in their respective wildlife habitats. The program includes a field trip to a local CLL program site; please wear appropriate walking shoes and dress for inclement weather. Take a field trip to Occidental Petroleum/Glen Spring’s Holdings’ Prairie Wetlands Conservation Area. Please wear appropriate walking shoes and dress for inclement weather.

Led by: Fred Delisle, BASF; Donald Fay, Essex County School District; John Hambrose, Alliance Landfill; Tracy Bryant, CEMEX; Greg Davies, Occidental Chemicals; Thelma Redick, Wildlife Habitat Council; and Debbie Figueras-Cano, Waste Management

Be the Best! What EE Resource Reviews Can Do for You                                           $50

Best Practices for Advancing Environmental Education

Learn to use the Guidelines for Excellence to assess EE resources. Then choose an option: bring your resource and start an online self-review (computers and guidance provided, submission fees waived), or train and join the national team of peer reviewers so you can provide valuable feedback to others.

Led by: Lori Mann, NAAEE Resource Reviews Advisory Council

No Child Left Inside – Is Your State Ready?                                                   $50

Best Practices for Advancing Environmental Education

A major component of No Child Left Inside (NCLI) involves the development of state environmental literacy plans. Learn how your state can prepare for NCLI and how you can use the National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education standards as a foundation for your state’s environmental literacy plan.

Led by: Bora Simmons, National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education, and Anita Kraemer, eeEvaluations

Affiliates' Workshop                                                                         $50

Best Practices for Advancing Environmental Education

This workshop is for leaders of state, provincial, and regional EE associations. The focus will be on capacity building. We will consider Affiliates’ strategic plans, development plans, and other types of plans to build stronger organizations and a stronger Affiliate Network.
Led by: Affiliate Network Steering Committee

Environmental Magic: Tricks for Improving the Environment...just like MAGIC!  $125

Art, Culture, and Environmental Education

In 1994, two professional magicians created the Environmental Magic Kit, winning EPA recognition for enhancing awareness of air quality, water quality, and waste management. It's "Magic with a Message" and you can learn it!

Led by: Kent Cummins, Magic Hotline, and Chris Walden, Walden Magic Productions

Special Thursday Workshop 8:30 am – 11:30 am and 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm  
NCATE/NAAEE Teacher Preparation Standards Training 

Best Practices for Advancing Environmental Education

Critical information university teacher preparation programs need to meet the national EE standards adopted by NCATE/NAAEE. Session will include in-depth review of the new standards, strategies for incorporating them into curriculum, sample assessments, hands-on activities, and exemplary models.

Led by NAAEE Pre-Service Advisory Council members and Robin Marion of NCATE

Cost: $75 (includes coffee and snacks) in addition to one-day Thursday registration or full conference registration (either of which includes lunch)