Developing A Place-Based Supplement To An Environmental Education Activity Guide For Classroom Teachers

Research has shown that significant and early on life experiences in nature establish and build upon one’s ecological identity, their relationship with the natural world, environmental literacy, and their overall understanding of the how the natural world works. Place-based environmental education gives students the opportunity to learn about the plants, animals, and environment right outside their doors, creating a sense of place within their communities and immediate environments. Given the numerous health, mental, and academic benefits of environmental education, teachers, school administrators, and parents, are resoundingly supportive of its implementation into schools. Yet there are many barriers to its success and teachers oftentimes struggle to integrate it in a meaningful way, if at all. For this capstone project, I developed a supplement to an existing PreK-8 environmental education activity guide to help Minnesota teachers create place-based learning opportunities for their students