Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence
Published in November 1996 (revised 2004, 2009) by NAAEE, Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence provides a set of recommendations for developing and selecting environmental education materials. These guidelines aim to help developers of activity guides, lesson plans, and other instructional materials produce high quality products, and to provide educators with a tool to evaluate the wide array of available environmental education materials. Developed through a process of critique and consensus, the Guidelines are grounded in a common understanding of effective environmental education. Over 1,000 practitioners and scholars in the field (e.g., classroom teachers, education administrators, environmental scientists, curriculum developers) participated in the review and development of this document. A companion publication, Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence - The Workbook is also available on line to help educators apply The Materials Guidelines (The Workbook is also available in PDF).Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence points out six key characteristics of high quality environmental education materials. For each of these characteristics, there are listed some guidelines for environmental education materials to follow. Finally, each guideline in accompanied by several indicators listed under the heading "What to Look For." These indicators suggest ways of gauging whether the materials being evaluated or developed follow the guidelines. The Guidelines for Excellence offer a way of judging the relative merit of different materials, a standard to aim for in developing new materials, and a set of ideas about what well-rounded environmental education curriculum might look like.
Table of Contents
Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence| Introduction | 1 |
| How to Use the Guidelines | 3 |
| Key Characteristic #1: Fairness and Accuracy | 5 |
| Key Characteristic #2: Depth | 7 |
| Key Characteristic #3: Emphasis on Skills Building | 9 |
| Key Characteristic #4: Action Orientation | 12 |
| Key Characteristic #5: Instructional Soundness | 14 |
| Key Characteristic #6: Usability | 20 |
| Glossary of Key Terms | 22 |
| Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence - Complete Package Spanish Version | 1-22 |
The EE Collection - Volume 1
The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators
Volume 1
The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators (updated 2004) is designed to help educators find curricula, multimedia resources, and other educational materials that can enhance teaching environmental education in a variety of settings. It is hoped that this resource guide will assist educators as they plan, develop, and implement creative and effective environmental education programs.Curriculum guides and other educational materials included in The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators were evaluated by teams of classrooms teachers, content experts, and environmental educators. The materials were evaluated using the Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence developed by the North American Association for Environmental Education.
The write-ups of the materials included in this document were designed to point out the variety of factors an educator may wish to consider when deciding which materials are most appropriate for a particular group of students and how those materials might be used most effectively.
Table of Contents
The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators, Volume 1The synergy between the various parts of the primary Reviews - the summary of reviewer comments, the subjects, the brief description of the materials, and the reviewers' quotes - creates the richness and integrity of these reviews. It is strongly recommended that educators read both pages of each review in order to take in the full flavor of the materials. The "Reviews in Brief" do not contain a substantial teacher's guide and are therefore presented in a shorter format. These resources were reviewed using the same rigorous guidelines as the longer reviews. Click on the resource titles to see a brief description of each curriculum or resource and the review summary [PDF]
The EE Collection - Volume 2
The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators
Volume 2
The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators (updated 2004) is designed to help educators find curricula, multimedia resources, and other educational materials that can enhance teaching environmental education in a variety of settings. It is hoped that this resource guide will assist educators as they plan, develop, and implement creative and effective environmental education programsCurriculum guides and other educational materials included in The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators were evaluated by teams of classrooms teachers, content experts, and environmental educators. The materials were evaluated using the Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence developed by the North American Association for Environmental Education.
The write-ups of the materials included in this document were designed to point out the variety of factors an educators may wish to consider when deciding which materials are most appropriate for a particular group of students and how those materials might be used most effectively.
Table of Contents
The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators, Volume 2The synergy between the various parts of the primary Reviews - the summary of reviewer comments, the subjects, the brief description of the materials, and the reviewers' quotes creates the richness and integrity of these reviews. It is strongly recommended that educators read both pages of each review in order to take in the full flavor of the materials. The "Reviews in Brief" do not contain a substantial teacher's guide and are therefore presented in a shorter format. These resources were reviewed using the same rigorous guidelines as the longer reviews. Click on the resource titles to see a brief description of each curriculum or resource and the review summary [PDF]
The EE Collection - Volume 3
The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators
Volume 3
The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators (updated 2004) is designed to help educators find curricula, multimedia resources, and other educational materials that can enhance teaching environmental education in a variety of settings. It is hoped that this resource guide will assist educators as they plan, develop, and implement creative and effective environmental education programs. Curriculum guides and other educational materials included in The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for Educators were evaluated by teams of classrooms teachers, content experts, and environmental educators. The materials were evaluated using the Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence developed by the North American Association for Environmental Education. The write-ups of the materials included in this document were designed to point out the variety of factors an educators may wish to consider when deciding which materials are most appropriate for a particular group of students and how those materials might be used most effectively.Table of Contents
The Environmental Education Collection: A Review of Resources for EducatorsThe synergy between the various parts of the primary Reviews -- the summary of reviewer comments, the subjects, the brief description of the materials, and the reviewers' quotes - creates the richness and integrity of these reviews. It is strongly recommended that educators read both pages of each review in order to take in the full flavor of the materials. The "Reviews in Brief" do not contain a substantial teacher's guide and are therefore presented in a shorter format. These resources were reviewed using the same rigorous guidelines as the longer reviews. Click on the resource titles to see a brief description of each curriculum or resource and the review summary [PDF].
The Biodiversity Collection
The Biodiversity Collection is designed to help educators find outstanding curricula, multimedia resources, and other educational materials that can enhance biodiversity teaching in a variety of settings. The Biodiversity Collection was produced by World Wildlife Fund in association with the North American Association for Environmental Education with support from Eastman Kodak Company and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.The Curriculum materials included in The Biodiversity Collection: Resources for Educators were reviewed and evaluated by teams of classrooms teachers, content experts, and environmental educators.? The materials were evaluated using the Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence developed by the North American Association for Environmental Education.
The resources reviewed in this guide provide dozens of ideas for developing lesson plans, units, and courses that focus on biodiversity. These are some of the best resources available today for developing exemplary environmental education programs. The Biodiversity Collection is a part of a series of environmental education resource guides designed to help educators find exemplary teaching materials. Other guides include The Environmental Education Collection: Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3, which are compendia of general environmental education resources on a variety of topics.
Table of Contents The Biodiversity Collection: Resources for Educators
The collecton consists of two major parts. The first part highlights 47 of the best supplementary curricula evaluated by reviewers focusing on some aspect of biodiversity. The second part includes an annotated bibliography that features general background information, children's books and magazines, multimedia resources, web sites, and a variety of other resources focused on biodiversity issues. Although these materials were also reviewed, the review was not as extensive and the goal was to include a variety of high-quality supplementary materials that would enhance a biodiversity unit or program.
Click on the resource titles to see a brief description of each curriculum or resource and the review summary [PDF]
The Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of Environmental Educators
The Guidelines are recommendations about the basic knowledge and abilities educators need to provide high-quality environmental education. The guidelines are designed to apply:- Within the context of pre-service teacher education programs and environmental education courses offered to students with varied backgrounds such as environmental studies, geography, liberal studies, or natural resources;
- To the professional development of educators who will work in both formal and nonformal educational settings, offering programs at the pre-kindergarten through 12th grade levels; and
- To full-time environmental educators as well as for those for whom environmental education is just one of their responsibilities.
Environmental educators work in a variety of settings, at a variety of jobs. They teach in public and private classrooms, and lead activities for children and adults at nonformal educational institutions such as nature centers, zoos, museums, and parks. They teach at universities in education, environmental studies, geography, natural resource, and science programs. They develop curriculum materials and administer national, state, and local programs. Regardless of the setting, Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of Environmental Educators outlines the experiences and learning that will help them deliver instruction that effectively fosters environmental literacy.
This document presents an ambitious overview of the abilities and knowledge of a well-prepared environmental educator. The guidelines, organized into six themes, provide a mechanism for gauging the quality of pre-service and in-service preparation programs and the abilities of environmental educators working in the field. Instead of offering fixed rules, these guidelines suggest a broad vision—a goal to work toward and a guide for professional and programmatic development.
