Summit Highlights Houstons Burgeoning Green Schools Movement

(Vocus) January 22, 2010

The third annual Environmental Education Summit will bring together Houston-area educators for a comprehensive exploration of innovative tools and techniques for expanding childrens understanding of the natural world. The Summit will be held in Houston on Saturday, January 23rd, from 8 am to 4 pm, at the University of Houston Downtown. Organizers are expecting the highest turnout evermore than 300 people have registered so far.

There is a groundswell of interest in greening our schools and getting kids back in touch with nature, said Kevin Coyle, Vice-President of Education at the National Wildlife Federation. Were excited to learn what Houstons educators are doing and to introduce these teachers to national experts on using the outdoors as a laboratory for exploring math, science and other subjects.

Coyle will be introducing the National Wildlife Federations new Eco-Schools USA program to conference participants. Eco-Schools USA is a comprehensive program that weaves sustainability through every element of a school, its campus and curriculum. Eco-Schools USA is designed to improve students academic performance, especially in science and math, while decreasing a school’s energy and water use. The program also works to foster a greater sense of environmental stewardship among youth.

Three schools in the Houston area have already registered with Eco-Schools USA, even though the program was just launched in the United States late last year.

The first Eco-Schools program was started in 1994 by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) with support by the European Commission. It was identified by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) as a model initiative for Education for Sustainable Development in 2003. The Eco-Schools program has been implemented on 30,000 campuses in 47 countries.

Becoming certified as an Eco-School is a real commitment and were delighted that several campuses in Houston have already signed up for the challenge, said Coyle.

Robin Moore, Director of the Natural Learning Initiative at North Carolina State University, will open the conference. Moore is a nationally recognized expert in the design of play and learning environments and has extensively researched ways to bring nature into the lives of urban and suburban children.

This is an exciting time for the field of environmental education, said Coyle. People are beginning to realize that getting children re-connected with nature doesnt just benefit kids emotionally, it also has tangible academic and intellectual benefits.

Over the past decade, a series of peer-reviewed studies have examined hands-on environment-based education to determine how it affects student behavior, motivation to learn, and actual academic achievement. The findings show that environment-based education:

Summit Highlights Houstons Burgeoning Green Schools Movement