• Thursday, October 17, 2019 3:24 PM | Anonymous member

    In celebration of Children’s Health Month, EPA releases America’s Children and the Environment report and booklet 

    WASHINGTON (October 16, 2019) — Protecting children’s health by minimizing environmental impacts on children is a high priority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA researchers are working to stay ahead of emerging children’s environmental health challenges by providing data and information on the environment and children’s health. In collaboration with partners, EPA researchers are leading interdisciplinary, novel research that holistically considers the complex interactions that link the environment to children’s health and well-being. In celebration of Children’s Health Month, EPA is releasing the updated 2019 America’s Children and the Environment Indicators Report and a corresponding booklet that highlights a selection of the indicators that were updated in 2019 with newly available data.

    “In conjunction with Children’s Health Month, EPA is releasing its first major update of America’s Children and the Environment since 2013,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “This booklet provides the latest data for EPA and the public on the progress we’ve made to protect our nation’s children, such as reducing the median concentration of lead in the blood of children between the ages of 1 and 5 years by 95 percent from 1976 to 2016.”

    Background

    The 2019 America’s Children and the Environment Indicators Report presents data on children and environmental health, bringing together information from a variety of sources to provide national children’s environmental health indicators.

    Environmental contaminants can affect children differently than adults, both because children may be more highly exposed to contaminants and because they are often more vulnerable to the effects of contaminants. This report is motivated by EPA’s belief that the public should be made aware of trends in children’s environmental health.

    The purpose of America’s Children and the Environment is to compile – and make available to a broad audience – information that can help identify areas that warrant additional attention, potential issues of concern, and persistent problems. EPA hopes that the development and presentation of these indicators will motivate continuing research, additional data collection and, when appropriate, necessary interventions.

    To view the America’s Children and the Environment October 2019 booklet: https://www.epa.gov/americaschildrenenvironment/americas-children-and-environment-october-2019.

    To view the full set of America’s Children and the Environment indicators: https://www.epa.gov/americaschildrenenvironment.

    To learn more about on children’s environmental health research: https://www.epa.gov/children/childrens-environmental-health-research.

    To learn more about what EPA is doing to protect children’s health: https://www.epa.gov/children.


  • Wednesday, August 28, 2019 3:37 PM | Anonymous member

    Broward County Parks & Recreation STEAM in Parks

    Experiential Social Media and Program Efficacy

    Ms. Attiyya Atkins and Dr. John Pipoly


    Over the last year, Broward County Parks and Recreation has worked to increase visibility, diversity, equity and inclusion in its STEAM programs throughout its Parks. With 17 regional and 8 neighborhood parks, 22 natural areas and 4 nature centers, parks' environmental educators have hosted over 90 programs to schools, tour groups, hobbyists, volunteers, home-schooled children, seniors and special populations. From Nature Tots, preparing toddlers for pre-school from 2 to 5 years old, to senior citizen veterans working to set up areas for reflection, solace, and learning about our environment, STEAM is meant to reach everyone.

    Experiential Social Media

    Our agency is considering taking these STEAM initiatives to the next level with the unique addition of experiential social media, or the live transmission of learning activities on YouTube and Facebook Live. Our agency’s recommendation is to use these mediums to coordinate and share learning experiences among similar classrooms spanning different schools within the same district. The idea would be to create a short series of experiential science lessons in the living laboratories and classrooms found in our parks, which are available for broadcast.

    To illustrate, imagine four 7th grade classrooms in different parts of the county that have agreed to participate in a Living Laboratory Virtual Experience. The four teachers each choose a park to visit for a hands-on lesson with their students. While in the park, the class will learn about their environment, animals, and human systems, as instructed by a park environmental educator. This lesson will be simultaneously broadcasted on Facebook Live, YouTube or another video streaming service, to the three other schools that agreed to partake in the Living Laboratory Virtual Experience. The benefit of this is three-fold, the teachers in the school can receive environmental education within their district without leaving their classroom, the teachers in the field can incorporate highly effective experiential learning into their curricula to appropriately engage students, and park agencies can spread environmental education lessons to a wider audience.

    It is ideal for all four participating classrooms to have some artifacts to examine, touch and interpret, whether in the field or receiving a virtual lesson. All four classes would also conduct a pre- and post- survey to monitor their knowledge on each instruction.

    When the fourth class is finished with their live instruction, a review of all the principles taught should be conducted. With the assistance of social media, the classrooms can remain in contact with each other to compare their environmental projects, activities, and initiatives. In this way, experiential social media can engage each participating class, provide resources for underserved populations, and increase science and resilience dialogue among our youth, who will become the stewards of our natural heritage tomorrow.

    STEAM Program Efficiency

    In addition to our experiential social media plans, Broward County Parks and Recreation continues to introduce new populations to environmental education through STEAM. Recently, we conducted a STEAM walk through Reverend Samuel Delevoe Park with the students enrolled in the park’s free summer camp. Reverend Samuel Delevoe Park is in an underserved part in Fort Lauderdale, and this was the first time any of these students had a STEAM class outdoors, away from a formal classroom setting.

    Our methodology included taking out two groups of 20 students each, showing them the wonders of nature in their own backyard, including details on various plants, their historic uses, spiders, reptiles, and birds, the encroaching mangrove, and pond habitats. We used the opportunity to talk about mangroves moving up canals due to sea level rise, altered flowering and fruit times, unusual animal migration and mating times, and other phenomena associated with climate change that surrounded them. They also learned about some key organisms such as the Golden Orb Weaver, Carolina Willows, Red Bay trees and its introduced invasive pest, as well as Red, Black and White Mangroves. A post event survey revealed that every student, without exception, commented on the Weaver Spider, the Willows, and the importance of plants to their environment.

    Our results suggest that youth of all backgrounds absorb much more information through a field experience, whether virtual or in person. Students who participate in our STEAM in Parks program are anxious to share what they have learned with their families, friends, and neighbors. With the addition of experiential social media, we believe that learning can be greatly enhanced. We suggest that environmental education can make great leaps through this medium and put environmental education right on our students’ smartphones. By reaching them in this manner, we are instilling positive attitudes toward the environment and giving us hope for our next generations


  • Wednesday, August 28, 2019 3:26 PM | Anonymous member

    Outdoor Experiential Learning in Broward County Parks

    Check out these examples that show Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in EE programs:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATNnmNakUOo  with Awesome Olsen Middle School at Anne Kolb Nature Center, and another visit by them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr96YRHfDWg


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htEf--3t25Q  with FPL and volunteers from middle and high school-aged students working their community service hours, restoring Gopher Tortoise Habitat at Deerfield Island Park.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnxdq04_lLY from a motivated patron, showing the features of Fern Forest Nature Center, and how kid-friendly it is


  • Monday, August 05, 2019 3:40 PM | Anonymous member

    Dream in Green is a South Florida based non-profit whose mission is to inspire and empower individuals, particularly K-12 students, to respond to climate change and other environmental challenges facing local and global communities. The Green Schools challenge was developed in 2006 to address that mission by utilizing K-12 schools as living laboratories to foster the next generation of environmental stewards.


    The Green Schools Challenge aims to engage students, teachers and administrators in hands-on educational activities that teach them about the links between resources, sustainability and their communities. Students are encouraged to think creatively and design initiatives that foster an environmentally sustainable future and promote the ‘green’ message to the entire school, their homes and throughout their community.


    We develop and provide 3 free curriculum designed specifically for each elementary, middle and high schools. Our topics focus on energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction, alternative transportation, green living (building & careers) and food security. The Green Schools Challenge is designed as a competition so each activity the students complete will gain them points which we highlight winners at an awards ceremony at the end of the year.


    Dream in Green offers professional development trainings for teachers to help implement the program. We partner with the STEM office at Miami-Dade County Public School District (MDCPS) to align our activities with the District’s pacing guides and we provide which benchmarks they fall under. Participation in our program will also count towards a school’s efforts to apply for STEM designation through MDCPS.


    Every school enrolled in the Green Schools Challenge will be eligible to apply for grants of up to $400 to support green initiatives at their school. These grants ask students and teachers to conceptualize a project, develop a proposal and budget and evaluate the effectiveness of their idea.


    By participating in the Green Schools Challenge:

    - Schools will reduce utility costs by becoming more energy and resources efficient.

    - Students will be exposed to environmental literacy.

    - Teachers will learn how to integrate environmental education into ongoing instruction.

    Schools can enroll in the program by filling out an online form (https://forms.gle/d6DMBdR7XDZx7Q1Z6) or visiting our website (www.dreamingreen.org). Please contact the Program Manager, Alexandra, at alexandra@dreamingreen.org for any additional questions or information.


  • Sunday, August 04, 2019 3:43 PM | Anonymous member

    From Vicki Crisp:

    The Florida team returned from the ee360 Leadership Clinic in Asilomar, California this summer with some completed plans and new ideas. Although our primary goal in attending was to learn more about securing stable funding in order to hire an executive director, we discovered that we had some work to do first with our strategic planning and in developing a healthy board culture. We also added new wording to the LEEF strategic plan to address diversity, equity, and inclusion.


    LEEF’s board will have a retreat in mid-August and all of our takeaways from the Leadership Clinic will be shared at that time. Our California team is enthusiastic about leading the way to meaningful change and improvement when we begin working with the LEEF board.


  • Tuesday, July 23, 2019 3:46 PM | Anonymous member

    As an environmental educator, Arbordale supports your mission to educate young children about the world around them. Whether you use books in story time events, classroom (formal or informal), in a library or book nook, or whether you have suggested reading lists, they have some great books to help.


    Here are some Digital Review Copies (DRCs) so that you may read the books to assess how each book meets your needs. The links may be forwarded to other environmental educators and will work until the end of August.

    Day in the Salt Marsh, A

    Read DRC

    If A Dolphin Were A Fish

    Read DRC

    Moonlight Crab Count

    Read DRC

    Ocean Hide and Seek

    Read DRC

    Octavia and Her Purple Ink Cloud

    Read DRC

    Sharks and Dolphins: A Compare and Contrast Book

    Read DRC

    Turtle Summer sea turtle nesting

    Read DRC


    Contact tara@arbordalepublishing.comfor the complete of list and links to all DRC copies for this special, or for more titles, visit their catalog on their website: https://www.arbordalepublishing.com/bookhome.php .


    Arbordale offers a wholesale discount to gift shops. For locations without gift shops that carry our books, Arbordale books are available wherever you normally buy your books (online or at brick and mortar stores). However, we are offering a one-time special to environmental educators:

    All hardcover books are $10 (about a 45% discount) on orders called into 843 971 6722 or emailed to orders@arbordalepublishing.com. We will even give free shipping on orders of 10 books or more. Orders must be received by the close of business on August 15. We just need the title of the book you would like, the shipping address, your name & contact information and a credit card.


  • Saturday, June 08, 2019 3:49 PM | Anonymous member

    Did you know LEEF is now sponsoring Project WET workshops in Florida? Contact us to find out more- leef.florida@gmail.com.


    In the meantime, Dig into an early childhood activity with the latest episode of Water Education TV:

    What Do All Living Things Need to Grow?



    Water Education TV is a free resource for educators, demonstrating Project WET activities to help you incorporate more hands-on water education into your curriculum. We feature a variety of activities from our interactive student activity booklets as well as our guides for educators.


    https://youtu.be/nTH6JRVCtNM


  • Wednesday, May 22, 2019 3:53 PM | Anonymous member

    by Dawn Miller-Walker (May 2019)

    A couple of competitions recently held in Florida were the Florida Envirothon at the end of April and the P3 Eco-Challenge awards ceremony in May. We know there are many more environmental competitions throughout Florida - so let us here at LEEF know so we can advertise as well announce winners!


    The Florida Envirothon is a hands-on environmental problem-solving competition for high school-aged students. Participating teams complete training and testing in five natural resource categories including: aquatic ecology, forestry, soil & land use, wildlife and an annual changing current environmental issue. The Envirothon works in partnership with local conservation districts, forestry associations, educators, and cooperating natural resource agencies to organize and conduct competitions on the local, regional, state, and/or provincial level. Winning teams from each state and province advance to the North American Envirothon for an opportunity to compete for recognition, scholarships, and prizes. The Envirothon program is an effective educational tool, capable of supplementing environmental education both inside and outside the classroom. Teams work collaboratively to develop their knowledge of ecology and natural resource management and to practice their environmental problem-solving skills in preparation for Envirothon competitions.


    The 2019 Florida Envirothon winners were (county teams listed): 1st Overall: Volusia, 2nd Overall: Indian River, 3rd Overall Osceola, Aquatic Ecology: Hillsborough, Current Issue: Broward, Forestry: Lake, Soil & Land Use: Citrus, Wildlife: Manatee, and Oral Presentation: Duval.

    Broward County Public Schools P3 Eco-Challenge recognizes and rewards traditional and charter Broward County schools, teachers, students, non-instructional and custodial staff for their efforts to learn about and implement environmentally sustainable measures and green initiatives within their schools and communities. The Broward P3 Eco-Challenge initiative is a multi-divisional and organizational effort among the Applied Learning Department of the Office of Academics, Environmental Health & Safety Department, Information & Technology Department of BCPS, and our partners, Broward County Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division and the Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO). There are two types of P3 challenges:

    P3 School Challenge – For schools that demonstrate participation in or implementation of different sustainability metrics based on a rubric composed of 6 comprehensive categories (1st place winners listed after each category):


    Overall - Driftwood Middle School

    School Grounds Enhancement - Crystal Lake Middle School

    School Sustainability - Driftwood Middle School

    Curriculum Integration - McFatter Tech High School

    Community Involvement - South Plantation High School

    Administrative Support - Dania Elementary School

    Innovation/Special Projects - Beachside Montessori Village

    Environmental Stewardship Recognition – For Broward County teachers, students, non-instructional and custodial staff who show evidence of promoting civic responsibility, environmental stewardship, and education of environmental issues through awareness and involvement, professional development/affiliation, instructional soundness/creativity, and skill building. The 1st place winners listed after each category:

    Elementary School Student - Joseph Pino

    Middle School Student - Khushi Desai

    High School Student - Derod Deal

    Elementary School Educator - Joanne Ewart

    Middle School Educator - Carolyn San Angelo

    High School Educator - Dr. Jody Berman

    Non-instructional - Julia Chia

    Custodial - Verol Frith


  • Wednesday, May 15, 2019 3:56 PM | Anonymous member


    LEEF is collecting photos, articles, newsletters, conference programs, etc. to help document our many years serving Florida's EE community. If you have any items that will help complete our history, please email them to leef.florida@gmail.com .

  • Tuesday, May 07, 2019 3:57 PM | Anonymous member

    SciStarter posted a graphic-designed version of the month of May from their “Year in Citizen Science” Google Calendar. You can add to the Google Calendar whenever you wish, to any month in the year, by emailing Erica Chenoweth at EricaC@SciStarter.org. Each month, Erica will release a printable version of the calendar featuring some of the events from the Google Calendar.

    You can also copy events from their public Google Calendar to your own personal Google Calendar. Simply click the event you’re interested in and click “copy to my calendar.”

    If you have any questions or just want to chat about science, feel free to reach out to Erica! She’s in the CitSci Convos Facebook group hosted by SciStarter, so feel free to post in there, as well, if you want to talk about ways you’re organizing events to celebrate citizen science.


    Visit their blog for more information: https://blog.scistarter.com/2019/05/a-year-in-citizen-science-calendar-may/

    Find a Project


Founded in 1983, the League of Environmental Educators in Florida is the professional association for individuals and organizations dedicated to the cause of environmental education in Florida. We are the state affiliate for North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE), an organization that brings together those interested in the study and enjoyment of our natural world and one that has promoted excellence in environmental education throughout North America and the world for over four decades.  

The League of Environmental Educators in Florida is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

© 2021by the League of Environmental Educators in Florida.


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