Conference Strands

Arts, Culture & Spirituality

Strand Leader:  Laurie Coventry-Payne, Florida Gulf Coast University (lcoventr ”at” fgcu.edu)

Strand Description: The arts are material representations of ideas and emotions; culture represents all that is good and excellent in a people; and spirituality refers to an incorporeal refinement of insight and understanding.  This strand seeks to explore how arts, culture and spirituality, broadly defined and inclusive of disciplines such as archaeology, architecture, the visual and performing arts, as well as religion and spirituality, can deepen an understanding and appreciation of the natural environment;   mitigate mankind’s impact on the environment;  promote community awareness and involvement in environmental issues;  deepen an understanding of what it means to live sustainability; and ultimately enhance the quality of our civilizations and that of the biotic community of which we are a part. 

This Strand’s focus includes an interest in:

• Deepening  our understanding of what we mean by art, culture, and/or spirituality as applied to environmental education
• Exploring ways to integrate art, culture and/or spirituality into the broader curriculum of environmental education 
• Encouraging and  supporting innovative and creative programs that use art, culture, and/or spirituality as a means to enhane environmental awareness, environmental literacy, environmental sensitivity, and environmental responsibility
• Developing assessment strategies, and supporting research, that provides educators with a measure from which to inform and refine programs that integrate of art, culture, and/or spirituality into the broader curriculum of environmental education
• Providing a forum for the sharing of information among environmental educators that integrate art, culture and/or spirituality into their curriculum
• Inviting participation by administrators, policy makers, and community leaders in environmental programs that integrate art, culture, and/or spirituality into their curriculum
• Tapping into the inherent potential of art, cultural, and spiritual communities to motivate large groups of people to action by aligning the ideals and principles of environmental education to their own
• Addressing opposition to the use of art, culture, and/or spirituality in environmental education critically and effectively through sound argumentation
• Elevating man’s understanding of the natural world and our place within the community of life by advancing the proposition that adherence to the axiomatic principles used by nature to prosper itself has the potential to enrich and prosper the political, economic, and social systems of man
• Excellence in environmental education through art, culture, and/or spirituality 

Conservation Education

Strand Leader: Sandy Perchetti, US Fish & Wildlife Service (sandy_perchetti “at” fws.gov)

Strand Description: Environmental literacy is often built by sustaining meaningful experiences with the outdoors and natural spaces.  Environmental quality is enhanced by a citizenry that is committed to community planning and public involvement. Innovative environmental education, communication, and social marketing engage both students and adults in working with businesses and governments to ensure a community reflects the conservation ethic of its residents who maintain the natural resources of our world.  Presentations, posters, and other elements of the Conservation Education Strand address these concepts and bring together the many ways organizations, agencies, businesses and communities can work together to achieve conservation goals through innovative education strategies.

This Strand’s focus includes an interest in:

• A broadly inclusive definition of conservation that includes preservation of biodiversity, natural resource management, watershed restoration, land conservation and preservation, and related fields.
• Innovative practices in the field of Conservation Education, including environmental communication and social marketing
• Educational programs that assist the process of reaching conservation goals
• Current research and case studies on behavioral change as related to Conservation Education
• Community-based approaches to Conservation and Education strategies
• Strategies for building capacity for education within the broader practice of Conservation
• Efforts that build bridges between conservation educators and conservation practitioners

Energy Education and Green Technology

Strand Leader: Terri Tuers, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) (tat “at” nyserda.org)

Strand Description: This strand will focus on how environmental education can be integrated into energy education and how using green technology can impact education. Environmental and energy literacy are fundamental to training our next generation. Whether students are preparing to work in the energy field, or training for a public policy, architecture, journalism, or construction career, environmental and energy literacy is critical to their training.  This strand will explore creative ways to integrate physical and life sciences as we build an environmental and energy literate society. Attendees will learn how environmental education is being utilized in energy policy initiatives, power generation citing decisions, and as elements of social marketing campaigns. Attendees will also learn about green technologies and green job training.

This Strand’s focus includes an interest in:

• “Green” technologies – what are they? How much more do they cost? And how can they be integrated in environmental education programs?
• “Green” workforce development – what’s the buzz about and how students can prepare for this workforce.
• Creating a learning laboratory using clean energy and green technologies in building or campus design.
• Environmental education as a catalyst for moving students into clean energy careers.
• Challenges that both environmental and energy education communities face and how they can be resolved.
• Models for student-faculty-staff cooperation in improving energy efficiency at school.
• Energy consumption and energy systems used differ between industrialized and third-world counties.
• Research  helpful to community college programs in green job training

Innovative Programs and Practices

Strand Leader: Herb Broda, Ashland University (hbroda “at” ashland.edu)

Strand Description: A program or practice is considered innovative in the context of this strand if it is unique or relatively new to your geographic area, the population you usually serve, or the type of program you typically offer. We are looking for sessions that showcase groups or organizations that have moved beyond the usual or expected.  This strand focuses on the “new”. Have you or your organization tried a new approach to an old idea, or have you pioneered a new program, approach or innovation? Have you initiated programs that illustrate the power of partnerships?  Even if the concept has been tried elsewhere, if it is new to your area, or encompasses an innovative twist to an existing practice we welcome your proposal.  For example, an agency or business  that is embarking for the first time on a partnership program that incorporates a novel twist might chose to submit a proposal to this strand. Proposal developers can come from all constituencies: formal, non-formal or free-choice education.

This Strand’s focus includes an interest in:

• Innovative programs or practices that fit any age level-- from early childhood through adulthood
• Ways to put a new spin on established procedures, practices and approaches
• Programs or practices that go beyond what would be traditionally expected of the organization or group, or show a new way to approach the traditional 

Network and Leadership Development

Strand Leader: Sue McGuire, Professional Services for Nonprofits (smcguire “at” bresnan.net)

Strand Description: Many national, state/provincial, and local organizations provide the infrastructure for environmental education. They are crucial for promoting, supporting, and advancing high quality EE programs. Yet these organizations are also challenged with sustaining themselves through fundraising, board/staff development, and membership development. This strand is for those interested in examining strategic approaches to building the capacity of organizations, providing effective leadership both within and outside the EE community, and promoting advocacy for environmental education at local, state/provincial and national levels.

This Strand’s focus includes an interest in:

• Sharing and learning from the experiences of organizations that have implemented tools from the EE capacity-building toolbox: leadership clinics, environmental education summits, the “wheel” of comprehensive EE programs, and organizational assessment tools.
• Developing organizational best practices through capacity-building tools such as strategic plans, business plans, fundraising and communication plans, computer software, web-based tools, and other approaches.
• Learning how NAAEE’s quality assurance initiatives such as the National Project for Excellence, Environmental Educator Certification, and Resource Review can be implemented at the state/provincial and organizational levels.
• Discussing approaches for both traditional and non-traditional advocacy for EE, including coalitions with non-EE organizations.
• Addressing leadership questions such as nurturing new leaders, retaining current leaders, and increasing leadership skills.
• Allowing participants an informal arena for discussions and thoughtful analysis on how the application of some of these tools might work in their region.
• Developing tools to increase organizational strength through planning, fundraising, board and staff development, partnerships, volunteer recruitment and management, membership, and public relations.
• Exploring innovative and sustainable approaches to “green” office, property, and facilities management.

Place-based Education

Strand Leader: Scott Feille, REAL School Gardens, Fort Worth, TX (sfeille “at” realschoolgardens.org)

Strand Description: Place-based education is an approach to teaching and learning that connects learners to community and place.  Educators who adopt this approach investigate local culture, natural features and resource issues, economic challenges and opportunities, and community governance.  Students are often given the opportunity to participate in work that is valuable for the community at the same time that community members are given the opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise with students.  An example of such place-based education might be the implementation of school gardening and habitat restoration projects.  When place-based education is well implemented, the boundary between schools and communities becomes permeable, and students and community members benefit from the partnerships they forge.

This Strand’s focus includes an interest in:

• practitioners overcoming challenges to place-based education
• current research about place-based education
• inspiring stories from learners involved with place-based education
• examples of place-based educational approaches that focus on culture
• cultivating and working over the long-term with community partners
• finding resources to support place-based education initiatives

Socio-ecological Justice & Community Engagement

Strand Leader: Marcia McKenzie, University of Saskatchewan (marcia.mckenzie “at” usask.ca)

Strand Description: The Socio-ecological Justice and Community Engagement strand explores the intricate connections among human social and cultural systems and environment and place in a local/global web. Considering environmental issues as embedded within orientations to culture, and as inseparably interwoven with a range of social and global justice concerns, this strand welcomes proposals that examine various facets of cultural and ecological loss and sustainability in relation to education and educational research. In contexts of climate change and global injustice, local food movements, mass migration, shifting orientations to communication and technology, environmental justice, and a range of other factors mediating cultures and places around the globe, this strand investigates how communities, new social movements, and various educational contexts and pedagogies are engaging with socio-ecological learning and change.

This Strand’s focus includes an interest in:

• Practitioners engaging in interdisciplinary approaches to socio-ecological justice and community engagement
• Local and/or globally networked communities engaging across social power structures to address equity, ecological issues, and the connections between people and place
• Current research on socio-ecological pedagogies, including in relation to experience, embodiment, cultural responsiveness, place, art, technology, and other public spaces
• Environmental education approaches that focus on culture, identity, class, gender, and ‘race,’ and that integrate critical pedagogy and social justice concerns
• Relationships of transnational and Indigenous populations to places and socio-ecological justice practices
• Global, national, and regional educational policies and their role in contributing to or remediating cultural colonization and ecological loss
• Modes of collective engagement and socio-ecological activism such as community art projects, new media, cooperatives, community land trusts, intergenerational learning, local food movements, and youth culture
• Similarities and differences among pedagogies and policies which share a concern with socio-ecological justice and community engagement (e.g., variations of EE, ESD, EfS)

Teaching and Learning Sustainability

Strand Leaders: Anthony Kola-Olusanya, Queens University at Kingston (ak76 “at” queensu.ca) and Jonathan Milne, Nature Conservancy (jdmilne “at” tnc.org)

Strand Description: Sustainability is a paradigm for thinking about the world in which environmental, social, and economic concerns are balanced. Education has a prominent role in creating a more sustainable future. Although the education community does not carry the full responsibility for a more sustainable future, environmental educators and EE organizations need to envision their contributions to transform education to address sustainability. In practical terms, the EE community needs to define and describe an education that prepares children, adolescents, youth, and adults from all sectors of society to work and live in a rapidly changing world. Also, to shape that world to be one in which citizens, business, industry, and government practice environmental stewardship and leave smaller ecological footprints as well as striving for communities that are more socially tolerant, just, and equitable.

This Strand’s focus includes an interest in:

• The role of education in creating a more sustainable future
• Models of teaching and learning sustainability
• What the EE community must do to position itself to meet the challenge of educating for a more sustainable future

Urban & Rural Interface

Strand Leaders: Terry Ippolito, Environmental Protection Agency (ippolito.Teresa “at” epamail.epa.gov) and Susan Cox, USDA Forest Service (smcox “at” fs.fed.us)

Strand Description: This strand will focus on the similar challenges urban and rural communities face and interactions between them. These communities often have few resources and low socio-economic infrastructure. Over-crowded or under-populated classrooms, staffing shortages, and a limited availability of resources are common. Natural resources often connect rural with urban communities. Some examples are: the Great Lakes community that feeds the hydroelectric power supply of Niagara and Buffalo and the Catskill and Delaware watersheds, located in rural agricultural communities that supply unfiltered water to the largest city in the United States, New York City. Natural resource issues (such as wildlife, forest and water management practices) can also divide these communities.

This Strand’s focus includes an interest in:

• The challenges that face both these communities and how to overcome them.
• Environmental justice issues that impact the people in communities, ranging from the native peoples’ reservations to schools in the inner cities to rural agricultural areas.
• The challenges of a global economy on nature and its impact on local natural resources and the local economy.
• The challenges of differing social perspectives: when people with urban perspectives impact rural culture and character and people with rural perspectives impact urban culture and character.
• Cultivating long-term community connections that cross geographic and political boundaries.
• Natural resources plans that incorporate entire ecosystems rather than narrow community boarders.

Conference Threads

Threads are underlying topics/areas of interest that can be found throughout the various strands.

Business and Industry: Sessions appropriate for those interested in the roles of business and industry in environmental education

Diversity: Sessions appropriate for those interested in enhancing/promoting diversity in environmental education

Early Childhood: Sessions for those interested in developmentally-appropriate environmental education practice, instruction, and programs for preschool and primary aged children

International: Sessions have an international interest in environmental education
K-12 Formal Education: Sessions appropriate for classroom teachers and others who teach in formal educational settings

Research and Evaluation:  Sessions includes a research/evaluation component

Service-Learning: Sessions appropriate for those interested in learning about the value of and procedures for carefully infusing service-learning pedagogy into EE programs and instruction

Water: Sessions include a focus on water or aquatic ecology