"We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations, the important thing is not to achieve but to strive."
~ Aldo Leopold

“The goal of environmental education is to develop a world population that is aware of, and concerned about, the environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations, and commitment to work individually and collectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones.”
~United Nations Environmental, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 1975.

Why Environmental History?

Helping the next generation of adults to develop a strong environmental ethic and smart decision-making skills is a continuing challenge to K-12 educators in the United States. While environmental education has been well instituted in science classrooms, little information for social studies classrooms existed before the If Trees Could Talk curriculum. Future decision-makers need a knowledge of and connection to the environment that surrounds them, as well as an understanding of what policies and issues brought us to the current place in time. If Trees Could Talk allows teachers to fulfill a need, and helps students develop critical thinking skills in environmental issues within a social context. Incorporating environmental history into the social studies classrooms may help produce better informed and more productive citizens in the future.

Can Environmental Education promote student well-being and academic success? What research is out there? What proven benefits exist about the use of environmental education? With an emphasis on standards and test scores, is there time for environmental education or should educators make time for environmental education? This web page provides you with the tools you need to determine if environmental education is right for your classroom and your purposes. There are numerous studies that link higher test score results to student participation in environmental education. There are also numerous studies linking students' over all well-being to participation in outdoor play and environmental education. Environmental education has been linked to increased student retention, impulse control and concentration. Below are opportunities to learn about additional benefits of environmental education.

Environmental Education:

Fully 95% of adult Americans (including 95% of parents) believe that environmental education should be taught in our K-12 schools. More information on these National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF) and Roper Report survey findings at Environmental Literacy in America. September 2005.

Setting the Standard, Measuring Results, Celebrating Successes – A Report to Congress on the Status of Environmental Education in the United States. Submitted by the National Environmental Education Advisory Council; March, 2005. The report details the standards established, the results measured, and the successes achieved since the passage of the National Environmental Education Act of 1990.

Report Card on the Status of Environmental Education in Washington State Environmental education’s ability to improve students’ standardized test scores
received top marks. "This report card summarizes the detailed findings of Environmental Education in Washington: Status Report 2004, which was compiled by the Governor’s Council on Environmental Education (GCEE)."

National Environmental Education Week's (a project of the National Environmental Education Foundation) list of Benefits of Environmental Education.

Kansas Association for Environmental Education's list of "Support for EE in Schools." This is a list of several national professional education organizations that support environmental education as an important part of children's school experiences.

August 2001 InfoBrief from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development; "Moving into the Educational Mainstream" by Michele Archie.

What Works in Geography Education. National Geographic Education Foundation, 2005. The studies presented in this document "serve as examples of the many effective and promising practices in geography education," including examples of environmental education successes.

Environment/Place-Based Education:

"Place-based or environment-based education uses the environment as an integrating context (EIC™) across disciplines. It is characterized by exploration of the local community and natural surroundings, hands-on experiences of environmental discovery and problem-solving, interdisciplinary curricula, team teaching, and learning that accommodates students’ individual skills and abilities. Research shows that this approach delivers many benefits to students." Dr. Louise Chawla. Read more in her Student Gains from Place-Based Education Fact Sheet.

Environment-Based Education: Improving Attitudes and Academics for Adolescents, Edward H. Falco's 2004 "environment as an integrating context" (EIC™) research findings. Environmental Education gaining renewed respect and value in the South Carolina public school system.

Place-Based Education & Academic Achievements, Michael Duffin, & PEER Associates, Inc. prepared this document for the Place-based Education Evaluation Collaborative (PEEC) in 2005. The document was designed to show that Place-based Education increases students' environmental literacy, as well as provides numerous other benefits.

Bay School Project; Year Three Summative Evaluation. Prepared for Chesapeake Bay Foundation by Clare Von Secker in February 2004. Conclusions and analysis of data collected from students and teachers at five Bay Schools.

Farm-based environmental studies as a component of middle school curriculum: benefits and challenges of integration. Study findings of the use of farming as an Environmental Education tool. November 2004

Environment-Based Education: Creating High Performance Schools and Students The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF) commissioned the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) to prepare this report, written by Joanne Lozar Glenn, 2000.

State Education and Environment Roundtable (SEER); California Student Assessment Project: Phase Two The Effects of Environment-based Education on Student Achievement. 2005.

SEER; California Student Assessment Project: Phase One; The Effects of Environment-based Education on Student Achievement. 2000.

Closing the Achievement Gap:Using the Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning. Gerald A. Lieberman, Ph.D., Linda L. Hoody, M.A. (1998). A report on a study of student performance in 40 schools implementing EIC™, and in partnership with 12 State Departments of Education. Data from 40 school site visits, four different teacher surveys, and more than 400 student and 250 teacher and administrator interviews.

Summary of Project Outcomes from EE and SSS Schools' Final Report Data. Kathy Shea Abrams, Florida Office of Environmental Education (1999). Report on the results of work from 13 Florida schools that implemented the EIC Model™. The schools reported higher scores on state reading, writing, and mathematics assessment tests.

Outdoor Play:

Children and Nature 2008. "A report on the movement to reconnect children to the natural world."

"Access to nature contributes to the health and well-being of young people, and helps to form a foundation for the development of responsible environmental behavior. The planning and development professions can play a key role in ensuring that young people have access to nature in their everyday lives." ~ Dr. Louise Chawla. The Benefits of Nature for Children's Health Fact Sheet created by Louise Chawla, lists numerous studies that identify some of the benefits that children can gain.

Building for Life Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection. Stephen R. Kellert, Chapter 3, Nature and Childhood Development; Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2005.

Resurrecting Free Play in Young Children Looking Beyond Fitness and Fatness to Attention, Affiliation, and Affect. Hillary L. Burdette, MD, MS; Robert C. Whitaker, MD, MPH. January 2005, American Medical Association.

Nature and the Life Course: Pathways from Childhood Nature Experiences
to Adult Environmentalism. Nancy M. Wells & Kristi S. Lekies. This paper examines connections between childhood involvement with the natural environment and adult environmentalism from a life course perspective.

HometownAnnapolis.com article: Politicians promote outdoor learning; Pamela Wood, April 2008.

Tennessee Brings Outdoors In With Environmental Education, brief article on environmental education efforts in Tennessee. April 2008.

New York Times article: Connecting to Nature (and Not by Google); Gail Braccidiferro,April 2006.

Every Student Learns Outside™ success stories: Mabelvale Middle School
Little Rock, AR and Oil City Elementary Magnet School, Oil City, LA. 2006.