In 2022, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education adopted new environmental literacy and sustainability standards. This is surely important — that all students in Pennsylvania learn about how to protect the environment and live sustainably — but how do we get them to take that education to heart?
All the nature lovers out there know there is more to understanding the world than naming its parts and knowing how they all work together. There is the smell and feel of it all too, plus the sights and sounds that lift the topics off the page or screen and into the real world. There is the sense of wonder at it all, and that wonder can be a powerful motivator to learn and understand.
In this issue, we take a look at an environmental center devoted to building more than just knowledge. We also talk to a teacher about how to connect kids to the natural world, even when they’ve only got the ordinary urban landscape to work with.
We also explore schools themselves as sites of environmental action, both as polluted spaces in need of remediation and as hubs for action to generate renewable energy.
We hope you come away from this issue ready to help learners of all ages connect with their world, and to make sure their world takes care of them.
