Lunch & Learn: Outdoor Field Experiences: Shifting to Student-Led Place + Problem-based Learning

Interested in connecting the dots between outdoor learning, environmental literacy, and social studies? Want to gain a better understanding of what meaningful watershed educational experiences might look like on school grounds? Hoping to connect with others who are doing work in this space, too? If so, join us for this three part virtual lunch and learn series to explore these topics, and more!

This is a three part series organized by the DC Environmental Education Consortium, with support from the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education and Earth Force.

We will kick off this series by diving into student-led problem finding in the schoolyard. This is a foundational orientation shift in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE) from far off outdoor experiences, to experiences that take place locally, in and around their schools and reflect their lived experience. Sarah Jennings, former District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) educator and now program manager at Earth Force, will help orient people to this pedagogical approach, alongside MWEE ambassador and trainer, Adrienne Farfalla, environmental protection specialist with the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE). Prior to the session, participants are encouraged to complete the MWEE 101 training.

Recommended audience: anyone who works directly with students or plans student programming.

Register here.

About the organizers: 

• The Environmental Education Networking Committee of the DC Environmental Education Consortium (DCEEC) taps the District’s environmental education expertise to enrich the DCEEC community with professional development opportunities, such as Lunch and Learns, listening sessions, field outings, and trainings.
• A collaboration between its environmental literacy and school garden programs, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) hosts Outdoor Learning Gatherings for educators seeking resources and inspiration to engage students in activities that benefit from being outdoors and in nature.   
• A leader in environmental action civics, Earth Force received a NOAA Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training grant to embed environmental literacy in social studies through the integration of an MWEE into the forthcoming sixth grade DC Public Schools (DCPS) social studies curriculum.