Premier’s EnergyAustralia Environmental Education
Scholarship
Environmental, science and earth
education—
What is happening in the United States?
Stephen Wright
Gibberagong Environmental Education Centre
Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, Bobbin Head
Sponsored by
Objectives of the study trip
The three objectives of the study trip were:
 to understand the difference between science education, sustainability
education, earth education and environmental education (EE) in the United
States;

to examine whether these four curriculum strands are supporting each other
or whether they are heading in different directions? What will this mean for
Australian environmental educators?; and

to find and record practical examples of how US EE centres are supporting
EE Curricula within their education systems.
The recipient of the award is a current practising teacher in the field of EE and the study
tour was a chance to examine EE across the United States as well as look at how EE was
being infused into other discipline areas, particularly science. Also, it was a chance to
look at other environmental areas that have emerged over the last few years in Australia,
namely sustainability education and earth education. The study tour was also an
opportunity to visit and meet teachers from other EE centres, both within the national
parks system and within other organisational structures.
The study tour was organised around themes:

Science education (week 1)—California;

Sustainability education (week 2)—New York City;

Earth education (week 3)—Pennsylvania and Upstate New York;

EE centres and national parks (week 4)—Florida; and

North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE)
Conference
(week 5)—Mississippi.
These themes overlapped on numerous occasions, and indeed during the last week at the
NAAEE Conference, all themes were reviewed as the conference was organised around
many of the same themes and conference participants were practictioners in these fields.
Science education (week 1)—California
Visits were made to:

Crissy Field National Park EE Center;

Golden Gate National Park/Alcatraz;

Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge;

Yosemite National Park, incorporating the Yosemite Institute EE Center; and

California Science Teachers Association Conference in San Jose.
Crissy Field
Crissy Field is an EE centre in the heart of the tourist area of San Francisco near Golden
Gate Bridge. It is part of the national parks system of United States, which has some 376
various units of national parks within the United States. These units are areas such as
national parks, preserves, reserves, memorials, monuments, historic sites and military
parks. Crissy Center is described as a community EE centre connecting urban issues with
the mission of the National Park Service.
This centre immediately highlighted some differences between EE centres in the United
States and Australia.
In the centres that were visited nearly all were established as partnerships between two or
more groups. At Crissy Field the partnership was between the Golden Gate Conservancy
and the National Parks Service. The conversancy is a nonprofit membership organisation
created to preserve the Golden Gate national parks.
In general it appeared that these nonprofit groups throughout the United States began
during the 1960s and 1970s during the first wave of environmentalism that was brought
to the attention of the American public through books such as Rachel Carson’s Silent
Spring. A typical scenario is that land was firstly bought because of its heritage ecological
value and then community nature awareness activities were started, including visits by
school groups. Many of these partnerships now include universities, federal, state and
local government agencies, and school districts.
Across the United States in the EE sector, there exists a culture of volunteering. At most
of the centres and national parks visited there were volunteers. At Crissy Field
approximately
90 volunteers had been trained by the specialist rangers. The volunteers conducted many
lessons, but only under the supervision of the ranger in charge. Training of these people
has become extremely professional and indeed there are qualifications that can be
obtained through universities to become a ‘master naturalist’.
Crissy Center was started with approximately US$34 million that was donated by various
corporate and private donors. US law allows tax benefits for such donations. With funds
of this magnitude, the the centre was able to renovate an old historic building using
sustainable building materials and provide some outstanding venues. The types of venues
available include a media lab, resource library, arts workshop, urban ecology lab,
gathering room and kitchen. Ongoing monetary support to the centre also comes from a
café and bookshop.
Golden Gate National Park
The tourist attraction of Alcatraz is also part of the national park system and the boat
company that visits or travels past the island is licensed by the national park system. It
must comply with appropriate environmental standards in areas such as commentary and
recycling.
Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge
The Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge is part of the national wildlife
refuge system, with over 500 refuges across the United States. The EE centre was K–6
and the key features were:

a purpose-built facility with a huge array of resources (such as a 315-page teacher
resource book that was into its 5th edition);

a large number of staff, including university interns;

compulsory pre-field trip training for all teachers and parents who were going to
be group instructors; and

parents who were acting as chaperones were given special leave by their local
Silicon Valley companies to be part of the school excursion at the time of my
visit.
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park attracts some 3.5 million visitors to the park each year. School
students use the park mainly for overnight stays in tent cabin-type accommodation. The
park has developed a number of partnerships with private companies for visitor services,
and for students it has developed a relationship with a non-profit group called the
Yosemite Institute. This group relies on donors and also has campuses in three other
national parks.
Some interesting features of Yosemite include:

a residential field science program, which is a two to five day residential academic
field studies program;

a small student/instructor ratio of 1 to 12. Each school must also supply one
chaperone/teacher per 12 students; and

programs are evaluated annually.
California Science Teachers Conference—San Jose
Bringing Us Together was the theme of the California Science Teachers’ Conference which
saw 2000 teachers gather over four days to attend a wide variety of sessions. Many
teachers wished to discuss the issue of standards and, in particular, the testing procedures
for science classes starting in 2007. These procedures have been passed as a federal law
and each state will have to adopt them. However, along with these topical issues,
participants were there for professional development and to gain the tools needed for the
challenges of teaching science. Although EE was never mentioned as a topic by the
speakers, many of the sessions contained EE messages.
The major keynote speaker was David Suzuki, who had as his theme “Reconnecting our
Shattered World”. He said, ‘Whether we like it or not, our bodies respond to changes in
the natural world. The more we try to deny who we are, the less connected we will feel
and the more damage we will do to the planet.’
David Suzuki is a powerful speaker who gave an EE message without ever mentioning
EE or sustainability education. His message was based on how we must look at the
basics of traditional subjects such as economics. Economic models must include an
environmental component in the equation and not just treated as an ‘externality’. He
received a standing ovation, as did the closing speaker at the conference, another
environmental educator, Jean-Michel Cousteau. Cousteau gave a personal realisation
from his father, namely that ‘people protect what they love’. He expanded that idea to
indicate that students must be introduced to nature in a caring, thoughtful way so that
they will learn to love the environment and therefore protect it.
Environmental studies were also well represented in the presentations and workshops
that were presented at the conference. Sessions attended included:

exploring water and aquatic macro-invertebrates;

K–2 energy concepts;

school yard habitats;

tide pools in your classroom;

adaptations of no-eyed, big-eyed and smiley face spiders of Hawaii; and

managing and motivating students (in an age of accountability). This session was
held late on a Saturday afternoon and it was standing room only.
Sustainability education (week 2)—New York City
Visits were made to:

the Sustainability Education Center;

the High School for Environmental Studies;

the Natural History Museum; and

Ellis island and the Statue of Liberty National Parks historical monument sites.
The Sustainability Education Center
The Sustainability Education Center (SEC) was created in 1995 in response to the
growing need for educational materials and professional development focused on
sustainability. SEC founder Jamie Cloud said that the SEC grew out of the American
Forum for Global Education, and it has been instrumental in producing many
educational programs that are based on sustainability. Her personal journey towards
sustainability has come from global education and futures education, and she believes
many educationists in these field are now seeing that sustainability encompasses all
similar fields.
Some of the programs produced by the centre include:

Business and Entrepreneurship Education for the 21st Century. This program is
a full-year introduction to sustainable entrepreneurship and business developed
for the New York City Department of Education; and

Changing Consumption Patterns, Grades 9–12. The consumption unit can be
used to help students gain a thorough understanding of sustainability, and it
provides an exploration of consumption as an international sustainability issue
and as a facet of the students' own lives.
Of course, the question that arises when visiting and attending courses run by the
Sustainability Education center is: What is sustainability and how do you educate for it?
This question has puzzled many people both in Australia and in the United States, and
during a workshop into sustainability no definition was even given. Instead, the
participants were guided through activities to illustrate that a meaningful definition isn’t
possible. It is better to be able to do, rather than be told.
Tell me, I’ll forge;.show me, I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.
- Chinese Proverb
The UN has, however, declared 2005–2014 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development, and has provided a brief guideline on what education for sustainable
education (ESD) should be:
ESD is a dynamic concept that encompasses a new vision of education that seeks
to empower people of all ages to assume responsibility for creating and enjoying a
sustainable future. The overall aim of ESD is to empower citizens to act for
positive environmental and social change, implying a participatory and actionoriented approach.
—Education for Sustainable Development Information Brief, UNESCO
One of the activities that was undertaken at the SEC involved participants role-playing in
a typical economic model of supply and demand by being part of a fish industry. Each
person is allowed to play the fish game within various parameters, depending on the
many factors such as supply, personalities, cultural differences and so on. During the
game the students are introduced to renewable resources, sustainable yields and the
concept of the ‘commons’. Also personality traits emerge as the rules of the game change
with impending environmental disasters and problems. The game is fun and enlightening
for all, and with the follow-up sessions that bring it all together, it gives the participants
an ideal starting point for learning about sustainability.
How ESD differs from EE was a question posed to a number of educators. According
to the SEC:
EE is important but it is only looking at the natural sciences. It is a pessimistic
reaction to problems that exist in the world. Alternatively ESD is an optimistic,
hopeful education that tries to look at the origin of environmental issues by tracing
problems to the triple bottom line, i.e., society, economy and the environment.
High School for Environmental Studies
This 1200-student high school in the middle of New York City is unique. It was started
in the early 1990s as a specialist ‘theme’ school. Students apply to the school to be
selected from the city’s five boroughs. These students know that they must participate in
the environmental philosophy of the school by participating in excursions, special
planting and clean-up days and by being part of the in-school recycling and
environmental programs. Competition is keen for the places; there were 6000
applications for the 400 available places. The curriculum has a traditional core of
subjects, but EE is infused into all parts of the curriculum. Emphasis is also placed on
employment prospects, and students are directed to internships, particularly in the
environmental field.
Earth education (week 3)—
Pennsylvania and Upstate New York
Visits were made to:

Adirondacks Nature Center and Museum, New York;

Niagara Falls Education Center, New York;

McKeever Environmental Learning Center, Pennsylvania; and

Carnegie Natural History Museum and Science Center, Pittsburgh
Adirondacks Nature Center
This park in upstate New York is a combination of state parks with private dwellings. It
has a rich history of outdoor education and recreation and, being within a day’s drive of
New York City, has thousands of visitors every year. The museum and nature centre are
outstanding buildings with extraordinary resources and displays reflecting, again, the
generosity of businesses and private benefactors.
Niagara Falls Education Center
The visitor centre at Niagara Falls used recreation activities to infuse an EE message.
Outside the centre was a climbing wall that had an exact copy of the local geology on the
rock face, while inside an ingenious audiovisual display took students down an imaginary
lift hundreds of metres under the ground to explore the geology of the area
McKeever Environmental Learning Center
This centre is administered by Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and specialises in
earth education. The program that was observed (Earthkeepers) was a three-day camp
where the students were completely immersed in learning and living EE. Earth education
has three keys to learning—the head, the heart and the hands. In educational jargon we
can translate them to knowledge, attitudes and skills. The students who attended the
camp certainly went away with all three components and were keen to implement new
environmental habits into their own lives, which is also a major objective of the program.
The centre also has a trainee teacher program which provides a unique experience for
students who are studing for a degree in teaching. The trainees stay at the centre for five
to six weeks. They learn the program during a pupil-free week, then teach the program
over the following weeks.
Carnegie Natural History Museum and Science Museum
These attractions were in stark contrast to each other. The Carnegie Natural History
Museum was a typical museum, complete with lots of dead things in glass cabinets.
However, the new exhibits that had been created gave visitors a chance to experience
something of the animals’ surroundings. An African exhibit, for example, had a floor of
the same texture as a riverbank so visitors could walk on it and then look inside the
cabinet.
The Science Museum by contrast was designed for families and students to interact with
the exhibits, similar in principle to Questacon in Canberra and the Powerhouse Museum
in Sydney.
Environmental education (week 4)—Southern Florida
Visits were made to:

Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge;

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center;

Pine Jog EE Center; and

Everglades National Park.
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is situated between the Everglades and an urban
area to the north. Human intervention through canals and irrigation channels has
restricted the natural north-to-south flow of the water and the centre is an integral part
of a project to restore this flow.
Of interest at this centre and all the centres visited in southern Florida, was the number
of volunteers. Some worked one day a week. Also of interest was the quality of the
visitor facilities, including the excellent boardwalks and interpretative signs.
Pine Jog EE Center
This urban centre (150 acres surrounded by houses) was one that brought home some
similarities in EE programs between Australia and the United States. The centre’s EE
programs had been developed over the years based on the work of such American EE
educators such as Bill Stapp, Steve van Matre and Joseph Cornell. These people were
also part of the history of environmental education in Australia, and it was refreshing to
see similar hands-on activities.
The centre’s Director of Education, Susan Toth, demonstrated a program utilising a
mythical character, LOETT. It is known widely among EE educators that the most
effective programs are the ones that involve the teachers and the students before the
class comes on the field trip. This program proved to be so effective that when the
students alighted from the bus they asked ‘Where is LOETT?’ In Australia many centres
have similar programs that have evolved from similar beginnings.
The centre has a close relationship with a university and a non-profit trust, which
supplies the funds through generous benefactors. University students can stay at this
centre for one to two years while completing their masters degrees.
North American Association for Environmental
Education (NAAEE) (week 5)—Biloxi, Mississippi
Visits were made to:

the Biloxi Aquarium; and

the NAAEE conference.
The NAAEE conference was the culmination of the study trip and proved to be a
gathering point for many of the ideas that had been collected and recorded throughout
the rest of the trip. Indeed, the conference was organised along a number of strands
which represented where EE is going in the United States. These strands also serve to
highlight where Australian EE educators might move to in the future.
Strand 1—Developing the EE profession
In the United States there appears to be a greater commitment by universities towards
EE. This was evident in the number of EE centres that had relationships with
universities. Also there are an increasing number of opportunities for professional
development in EE.
Strand 2—What research has to say to environmental educators
This strand highlighted the relevance of research for EE practitioners. To move forward
environmental educators must know about program evaluation and how to define
experiences in environmental attitudes and behaviours.
Strand 3—Cultural diversity in EE programs
It is in this area that the United States has led the field in successful programs that
incorporate diverse cultures across a wide variety of settings - urban, suburban and rural.
Some EE groups have been able to go beyond the borders of current memberships to
incorporate a wider group. The Golden State Environmental Education Consortium in
California, for example, sought out partners from communities and businesses not
represented in current environmental education settings, providing an opportunity to
develop a more inclusive approach to environmental education.
Strand 4—Sustainability education
With the coming Decade of ESD, environmental educators in Australia must try to
understand sustainability and come to terms with what it means.
The United States and other countries (such as Taiwan) that were represented at the
NAAEE conference presented many examples of sustainable schools projects that were
excellent showcases of what can be achieved. With the current trial of NSW and
Victorian sustainable schools projects now complete, it would be appropriate to have
further training in this area.
Strand 5—Watersheds and forestry
In this area, both Australia and the United States are faced with similar issues of
watershed and biodiversity problems.
Strand 6—Open microphone
It is in this strand that the US EE movement becomes quite overwhelming. There are so
many EE programs and groups that they cannot be summarised into any logical order.
With 270 million people this is not surprising, but it reflects on the Americans’
enthusiasm and hope for the future.
Visions for the future were expressed by many at the conference, but most succinctly by
the keynote speakers, Charles Hopkins and the inspiring David Orr.
Conclusion
The original question posed before this trip was: Where are these disciplines going and
do they support each other? The trip gave me a chance to see for myself the various
disciplines in practice and talk to educators about how they operate.
Overall, it appears that there is a common goal among educators that students and
indeed everyone should be educated to become more connected with the natural world.
Every teacher, keynote speaker and environmental educator expressed the need for
students and teachers to become involved with their own environment and take action to
make a change.
It was noticed that science educators held tightly onto their subject and, although they
did not mention environmental education, the number of environmental education
sessions and the messages given by David Suzuki and others proved that EE has been
infused into Science.
It was emphasised by many EE educators that there should not be any mergers or name
changes between environmental education and sustainability education. Many EE centres
had thought about the change but decided that there would be no purpose in changing
the name. One centre decided against the change as ‘sustainability’ was considered to be
to too controversial a word.
Earth education was seen as a viable offshoot of environmental education. The centre
that was visited was extremely successful in achieving its aims and, although the
programs are not widespread in the United States, many of the principles of earth
education have been adopted into many environmental education centres. The programs
require a lot of resources, a large committed staff and also appropriate outdoor locations
where students can stay for the three to five day programs.
This trip gave me an overwhelming endorsement that environmental education is alive
and well in the United States It is a growing and expanding field and, although there is a
vast range of programs, there is a unity of purpose that was demonstrated during the
NAAEE conference. In the United States, environmental education and education for
sustainability are both separate disciplines, but the consensus among all is that they are
complementary. Both are needed now more than ever.
It is proposed to send this report to all environmental education centres in NSW and
make it available to all interested via a website. This website will also list contacts and
resources that have been collected.
In February 2005, the web site will be available
at:http://members.optusnet.com.au/sbccps, or by contacting me at,
steve_wright15@optusnet.com.au.
Acknowledgments
My sincere thanks must go to all sponsors and administrators who have had the
forethought to contribute and be part of this scheme. It has been a magnificent
opportunity and it has given me a greater appreciation of environmental education in the
United States and indeed in the rest of the world.