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Equity in a Time of Socio-Environmental Justice
Equity in a Time of Socio-Environmental Justice by Max Jimenez Environmental Literacy, Policy This article was republished with permission and originally appeared in California Classroom Science (CCS), an e-newsletter produced by the California Science Teachers...
“We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate, and lack. We should not long to return, my friends....
Special Issue: Justice, Equity and Diversity in Environmental Education
Guest Editor: R. Justin Hougham, Ph.D. Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Advisor: Derek Hoshiko, Community Organizer and Educator on Climate Change and Environmental Equity e are excited to bring our readers this special edition of CLEARING...
Using Stations to Increase Student Independence: Overview and Lesson Plan
by Allison Breeze s an educator, I believe that learning happens when students are applying their knowledge in practice. To this end, I am always looking for activities that engage students in hands-on ways with whatever topic they are learning about. Exploration and...
Maybe the problem wasn’t WHAT we were learning but WHERE we were learning?
At-risk students are exposed to their local environment to gain an appreciation for their community, developing environmental awareness built on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors applied through actions. Lindsay Casper and Brant G. Miller University of Idaho...
Exploring the Classroom Beyond: A Beginner’s Guide to Implementing Place-based Educatiom
by Lucy Clothier eing a new teacher in this contemporary era of education can feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. The demands placed upon teachers are extensive, often lacking clear pathways to achieving these substantial goals. Within the...
Finding Dragons
by Erin Banks Rusby rerinted from the Idaho Press n the summer of 2023, a group of high school students and adults converged over their shared interest in science and dragonflies. Known as the Finding Dragons program, the effort aimed to provide hands-on, publishable...
Leaning into Content with Lesson Sequencing
by Zachary Zimmerman Bainbridge Island, WA s an outdoor educator, I often get sucked into the false binary that lessons are either fun or informative, that content must be sweetened with games, stories, and activities like applesauce for children’s medicine. But...
Bird by Bird We Come to Know the Earth
by Emma Belanger As someone who comes from a low-income background and grew up in a semi-urban environment, birds were one of the first aspects of the more-than-human world that I felt truly connected to without having to obtain expensive gear, resources, or and a way...
Asking Questions
Key Considerations for Asking Questions as a Field-Based Science Instruction By Amos Pomp Introduction We do not ask [questions] in a vacuum; what we ask, how, and when are all related. – Bang et al., 2018 How can field-based science instructors be intentional with...
ADHD in the Outdoors
Five 5th-grade students sit or stand facing a sunny pond surrounded by lush greenery, working on a writing task or exploring quietly. Photographed by Greyson Lee Background Music and Birdsong: ADHD in the Outdoors by Greyson Lee After several hours of watching my dad...
River Newe: Creating New Narratives
River Newe: Creating New Narratives On Historic Landscapes In this article we present our work that directly addresses Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) for our tribal youth of the Shoshone-Bannock people. We have reimagined what JEDI means for us...
The Judgment of the Barnacles
There’s a song in the sea for those who listen, and messages in the sand for those with far reaching eyes. By Dr. Gloria Snively and Doug Wonnacott The morning silently creeps in upon the gray, green waves. Smooth flat rocks that tumbled together for a thousand...
Ear to the Ground: Interviews with PNW Environmental Educators
Robert Steelquist, Coastal Explorer, Environmental Educator (2021) Jane Tesner Kleiner (2021) Greening the Schoolgrounds Gary Dorr (Standing Red Bear) (2018) Reclaiming a Culture through the Traditional Canoe Monica Nissen (2015) 2015 Environmental Educator of the...
Mind the Gap: How Environmental Education Can Step Forward to Address the STEM Achievement Gap
Environmental Education is a broad field encompassing nature centers, school forests, outdoor education facilities, state and national parks among others. This diversity of organization type allows for wide engagement by the public and holds great potential for...
Inside the Spring 2019 Issue
Inside the Spring 2019 issue https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/15269 https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/16855 https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/14324 https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/14370
Justice and Equity in Environmental Education – Special Issue Winter 2022
CLEARING Special Focus Issue: Justice, Equity and Diversity in Environmental Education Guest Editor: R. Justin Hougham, Ph.D. Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Advisor: Derek Hoshiko, Community Organizer and Educator on Climate Change and...
Fall 2018 EE Resources
https://clearingmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/F18Resources.pdf
Thoughts of an Outdoor Education “Elder”
by Daniel Kreisberg During college I was a waterfront director at a sleepaway camp and absolutely loved it. When my post college job search led me to residential outdoor education centers I was thrilled. It was summer camp all year round and it allowed me to follow my...
Bringing Nature Back to the Schoolyard
by Jane Tesner Kleiner, RLA Imagine walking out the back door of your school, surrounded by the songs of spring time birds, the soft scents of flowers in bloom, the wind billowing through nearby trees, and (if you are lucky) the croaking of Pacific tree...
Learning in an authentic, meaningful, interdisciplinary environment
A Year in the Watershed There is no doubt that if you want to get students truly excited about what they are learning, ask them to tackle a real-world question or problem — ask them to solve something that is relevant to their lives. by Jean M. Wallace It is no...
Making Outdoor Education More Accessible
Effective Practices For Night Hike By: Grace Werner The mainstream outdoor industry, as it exists today, is a blanket of whiteness that ignores sacred stories, crucial histories, and traditional knowledge of black and brown people (Brown, 2019). This truth is...
Land Acknowledgement Resource Cards
A New Tool: Land Acknowledgment Resource Cards (LARC) by Grace Crowley-Thomas Throughout Canada, New Zealand, and parts of the United States, educators and leaders are engaging in a practice called “land acknowledgment.” Generally, this is a practice that is meant to...
Ear to the Ground: Jane Tesner Kleiner
Jane Tesner Kleiner is a Registered Landscape Architect (RLA), ecologist and environmental educator with over 25 years of experience in design, project management and program coordination. She loves working with schools and communitiy partners to create spaces and...
Zoos and Aquariums to the Rescue
by Jon Biemer Zoos and aquariums help heal our planet. In addition to wonderful experiential and educational activities, many zoos and aquariums have committed themselves to species rescue and recovery. I am a student of strategies that can create a healthier...
Advice for White Environmentalists and Nature Educators
by Sprinavasa Brown I often hear White educators ask “What should I do?” expressing an earnest desire to move beyond talking about equity and inclusion to wanting action steps toward meaningful change. I will offer you my advice as a fellow educator. It is both a...
EE Activities K-12
EE Activities F17EE Activities F17 K-12 Environmental Education Activities Here are some ideas, separated into grade levels and subject areas, that you can use to instill environmental learning when you are looking for something to fill a gap in your activity plan....
Ear to the Ground: Robert Steelquist
Robert Steelquist: Coastal Explorer Robert Steelquist is a native Pacific Northwest writer, photographer, naturalist, and environmental educator with a 40-year career introducing learners to the nature of the Northwest. He has led hundreds on nature walks, backpacking...
Food Waste and Climate Change
PEI Offers Food Waste and Climate Change Storyline Workshop for Teachers Despite being one of the wealthiest countries in the world, the United States is also one of the most wasteful. America holds the dubious distinction of throwing away more food than every other...
Confronting a World of Wounds:
Aldo Leopold famously wrote,"One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds." As environmental educators, we must ask ourselves what we are giving our students that equips them to deal with this harsh reality. by Nick...
Integration Can Help You Teach More Science and Environmental Education
Integration Can Help You Teach More Science and Environmental Education by Jim McDonald Central Michigan University The demands on classroom teachers to address a variety of different subjects during the day means that some things just get left out of the curriculum....
Trees as Storytellers
he thought of talking trees conjures up images of the fantastical. Tolkien’s ents patrol the forest, Baum’s forest of fighting trees throws apples at Dorothy, and Marvel’s Groot guards the galaxy. Or, perhaps, we think of those who speak for the trees that cannot...
Digital Environmental Literacy: Student Generated Data and Inquiry
How do we train educators to successfully interface technologies with the outdoor experiences that they provide their students? by R. Justin Hougham, Marc Nutter, Megan Gilbertson, Quinn Bukouricz University of Wisconsin - Extension Technology in education (ed tech)...
Reclaiming Spaces
Providing opportunities for students of color to explore the outdoors and science careers Text and photos by Sprinavasa Brown recall the high school science teacher who doubted my capacity to succeed in advanced biology, the pre-med advisers who pointed my...
Earth Connections: Science Through the Seasons
Science Through the Seasons by Shea Scribner Oxbow Farm and Conservation Center Carnation WA igns of the shifting seasonal cycle are all around us. Children are especially keen to notice and appreciate the changing colors of leaves, frantic activities of squirrels,...
Empowering Female Voices
Brave with Braids Empowering young female voices By Jennifer Allen uthor Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s words have been echoing in my head recently; “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller, we say to girls, ‘You can have ambition, but not...
Teacher Favorite Activity Ideas
Favorite EE Activity Ideas from PNW Educators Practical and proven environmental education activities for all grade levels and subject areas, shared by members of the EE community. What is your favorite? Nature Journal Kristen Clapper Bergsman My favorite EE...
K-12 Activities: Monitoring Biological Diversity
K-12 Activity Ideas: Monitoring Biological Diversity by Roxine Hameister Developing a biodiversity monitoring project at your school can help students develop many skills in an integrated manner. Here are some simple ideas that you can use to get your students...
Poetry and Science Education
Poetry as a Tool for Science Communication by Whitney Chandler Funding for the arts is continuing to be reduced year after year. The importance of serving our children’s right brain has been pushed aside to afford them lessons in math and science. However,...
Advice for white environmentalists and nature educators
by Sprinavasa Brown I often hear White educators ask “What should I do?” expressing an earnest desire to move beyond talking about equity and inclusion to wanting action steps toward meaningful change. I will offer you my advice as a fellow educator. It is both a...
Violence, environmental violence, and pro-environmental action
Violence, environmental violence, and pro-environmental action Richard Kool Royal Roads University hile there are many tasks on the plate of any educator, there are two that, to me at least, really seem essential and that are often overlooked; these tasks are for the...
An Educator’s Guide to Stewardship
An Educator's Guide to Stewardship by Breanna Caruso Click on the title to view PDF version of article.
Why Environmental Educators Shouldn’t Give Up Hope
Photo by Jim Martin Why Environmental Educators Shouldn’t Give Up Hope by Jacob Rodenburg I’m trying hard not to get discouraged. Being an environmental educator in today’s world feels like you are asked to stop a rushing river armed only with a teaspoon. There are so...
Embracing the Unfamiliar Through Adventurous Eating with an Equity Lens
Embracing the Unfamiliar Through Adventurous Eating with an Equity Lens By Caroline Bargo Adventure Awaits As I began exploring the IslandWood campus in August it became abundantly clear that the garden would be one of my favorite places here on the 255-acres...
Perspectives: Educating as if Survival Matters
Educating as if Survival Matters Nancy M Trautmann Michael P Gilmore BioScience, Volume 68, Issue 5, 1 May 2018, Pages 324–326, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy026 Published: 22 March 2018 ver the past 40 years, environmental educators throughout the world have...
Climate Change
A Chance to Make a Difference: Tackling Climate Change in a Middle School Classroom by Angela Duke Northwest Expedition Academy Hayden, Idaho n the days of selfies and social media mania, it is often a difficult job getting middle schoolers to look up instead...
Immersive Storytelling
Immersive Storytelling: A Reminder to Read to Your Students Outside By Hannah Levy Sitting amongst towering cedars as the sun treated us to the last bits of golden hour, our final field study day was coming to a close. We had a hard week, for many of my students, this...
Climate Scientists
On a sunny fall day in Oregon students are outdoors learning about the new citizen science observation site in their schoolyard. With a mix of 4th and 5th grade exuberance and the seriousness of adults they are taking on the mission of gathering basic data for a...
Exploring Culture and Environment – Pt 1
Canoes and other forms of human powered watercraft have been utilized by human beings all around the world since time immemorial. For this reason, the study of canoes can serve as a gateway to analyze, compare and learn from the world’s cultures and the...
Exploring Culture and Environment – Pt 2
This article is a story of how fourth-grade students in Moscow, Idaho studied the confluence of cultures throughout Idaho’s history by building a canoe, hand-carving paddles, and actively participating in the resurgence of the traditional canoe throughout the Pacific...
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