Climate, COVID-19, and Education: Building a Nation of Problem Solvers

In this month's essay in the National Council for Science and the Environment, Judy Braus, Executive Director, North American Association for Environmental Education, explores the parallels and intersections of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change and highlights the importance of environmental education in addressing both challenges.

Judy Braus writes, “Environmental education teaches us about earth systems, about human engagement with our environment, about the use and equitable allocation of natural resources, about civic engagement and critical thinking, and about social justice. At its core, environmental education is about creating a nation of problem solvers for the future. As a society, we need to ensure that we’re regenerating and reimagining the expertise we’ll need in the future. Environmental education also restores hope and provides uplifting experiences in nature, in classrooms, and in communities that help heal our hearts and heads and inspire us to tackle tough challenges.” She goes on to talk more about the need to come together around Climate Change work, as we continue to battle our current COVID-19 pandemic. Read more on the National Council for Science and the Environment website.

New Guide Aims to Help Advocates Make the Case for Outdoor Learning

To help educators make the case for using outdoor classrooms and spaces in COVID-19-era reopening plans, NAAEE has teamed up with the National Wildlife Federation to compile helpful source information and policy advocacy tips that can be used by parents, teachers, civic organizations, and others. The purpose of this guide is to help energize a large-scale nationwide force of advocates to encourage school officials and educators to apply some portion of their current and future Federal reopening funds and other public funding resources being made available to the effective use of outdoor classrooms.

To read more click here…

Port Townsend School Implementing Outdoor Classroom

Think of what you see and hear in the woods. Bird song. Spiderwebs. Branches framing the sky.

This particular forest is in Port Townsend. It’s an old-growth plot called the Quimper Lost Wilderness. Many of the trees here are more than 170 years old. 

It’s also the site of a local private school’s new outdoor classroom. No desks, no smartboards. Instead, the school will bring in local botanists, poets and historians to teach students about the land’s first people and its role as a habitat for plants and animals. Says Emily Gohn, the school’s head: Class is in session, rain or shine. 

To read more click here…