Term

Spring 2022

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAED: NSEE

Facilitator(s)

Julia Reimer

Content Expert

Alexa Brandt

Abstract

on the social and emotional learning of students, most notably building self-esteem, confidence, and independence. At a time in which children spend less time outdoors, environmental education programs provide an unique opportunity for children to engage in nature and the outdoors and reap the social, emotional, and physical benefits. The professional development materials designed for this project utilizes four identified methods for incorporating social and emotional skill building into environmental education programs, in order to capitalize on the social and emotional learning in environmental education programs. Incorporating social and emotional skill building has been central to nature preschools and forest kindergartens, but its formal and intentional application into elementary and middle school programs has been limited. The project involved creating four professional development guides to allow environmental education programs to train their educators on how to incorporate social and emotional learning into curriculum, program structure, and teaching methods. The materials will primarily be utilized by environmental education centers that deliver residential or day programming to students in nature, away from the students’ school, however, the materials are also applicable to other types of environmental education programs such as nature centers, garden programs, school programs, and camps. The goal of the project is to help educators feel better prepared to incorporate social and emotional learning into programming in order to support the growth of student confidence, independence, and self-esteem in students.

Project Type

Professional Development

Keywords

Environmental Studies, Staff Development, Teachers/ Teaching

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Projects

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