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Title: Improving EE in teacher education: A statewide effort in Wisconsin
In Wisconsin, Ashmann and Franzen (2015) surveyed public and private teacher preparation programs. In some teacher education programs, a separate environmental education course is required for certification, or environmental education is included in a science teaching methods course while other programs integrate elements of environmental education across courses. Irrespective of the approach, the resources of time and space within the teacher preparation curriculum become a challenge (Mastrilli 2005; McDonald & Dominguez, 2010), just as it does for environmental education within the primary and secondary curriculum. Based on these findings, every teacher education program, even those that go beyond “typical,” could be doing more with respect to including environmental education in teacher preparation, and that the likely candidate(s) for why more is not being accomplished is the absence of a resource – material, human, or social. With funding from the National Science Foundation (DRL 1638420) we offered a 4-day, Environmental Education Workshop for faculty from public and private teacher preparation programs throughout Wisconsin. Our goal was to provide the time and space for faculty to come together around improving environmental education at each institution and to facilitate meaningful on-going interactions among institutions related to improving EE in our teacher preparation programs. Thereby, increasing available resources, such as improved curricula, networking for new ideas, and developing a common vision and set of norms. Outcomes from this workshop included changes to EE in individual courses, changes in emphasis on EE at the institutional level and on-going initiatives to network the efforts of those delivering environmental education through teacher preparation programs in Wisconsin. The 44 participating teacher educators created a total of 33 activities that will be shared broadly. Additionally, we were able to pull the group together in January and June 2018. We have also been gathering data from course syllabi and interviews about the impact of this process on the teacher educators. We will share insights from planning, conducting and follow-up activities related to our EE Workshop, as well as preliminary research findings. Our approach for addressing improvements in EE statewide can serve as a model for others considering similar efforts.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1638420
PAR ID:
10077196
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
47th Annual Conference of the North American Association for Environmental Education
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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