Rising to the top
of a highly competitive process, Maine Audubon, Maine TREE
Foundation, Appalachian Mountain Club (on behalf of the Maine Outdoor
Coalition), and Schoodic Education and Research Center each
received $5,000 grants to increase community awareness and knowledge
about the environment. These programs will contribute to increasing
the environmental knowledge and skills of students, teachers, and
families in the state of Maine.
Made possible by a $150,000 grant from
the US Environmental Protection Agency, the New
England Environmental Education Alliance (www.neeea.org),
in partnership with the Maine Environmental Education Association,
received close to 100 proposals for educational programs that
focus on learning about the environment. Nineteen projects throughout
6 New England states were funded. Acknowledging the importance of an
environmentally literate citizenry, the EPA states, “environmental
challenges require a population that is diverse, informed, and
environmentally literate, willing and able to translate their
knowledge and skills into decisions and actions that protect the
environment in their communities.”
Maine Audubon
(Falmouth) was selected for their project: “Principles
& Practice for Effective Environmental Literacy Experiences”.
A working group of educators and other stakeholders will be convened
for the purpose of establishing research-based principles and
practices for effective environmental literacy experiences, which
will then be shared with classroom and non-formal educators
throughout the state.
The Maine TREE Foundation (Augusta)
plans to partner with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and
Wildlife using Project WILD, the Lake Auburn Watershed Protection
Commission using Project WET, and National Project Learning Tree on
their project “Woods, Water and Wildlife: Collaboration to
Create a Statewide Model for Sustained Environmental Education”.
This project is designed to deliver professional development for ten
teams of teachers interested in using the outdoors as a learning
environment. Kits containing supplies for conducting student led
field studies will be provided to participating schools.
In the project “Maine Outdoor
Coalition: Building a Strategic Network”, the Appalachian
Mountain Club (Portland) plans to assist the advancement of the
Maine Outdoor Coalition from its current status as a group of loosely
associated non-profits and businesses committed to supporting
Mainer’s connection to the great outdoors, into a strategic network
by defining leadership and common goals.
The Schoodic Education and Research
Center, or SERC, (Winter Harbor) will implement “ACORN –
Advancing Capacity of Regional Networks: Planting the Seed for a New
England EE Research and Evaluation Institute”. This effort will
build capacity for collaborative evaluation through a regional needs
assessment, the results of which will be used to design and host a
regional meeting of New England environmental education practitioners
to share findings and best practices.
Together, the environmental education
projects funded in New England will develop and test new educational
techniques and approaches that address critical environmental
resources and issues while advancing Maine’s core science standards
and helping the public make informed decisions that affect
environmental quality in Maine.
