Basics of Environmental Education
Course Materials
This is an independent study and can be completed on your own time. It is a prerequisite for acceptance into the EE Certification program, and also must be completed before for taking the Methods of Teaching Environmental Education workshop, which is also a required course for North Carolina Environmental Education Certification. The Basics of Environmental Education consists of a group of readings with corresponding reflection questions, a self-assessment activity, and two online learning modules from the North American Association for Environmental Education. This workshop provides 10 hours of EE Certification credit.
Participants are encouraged to complete the readings and activities in the sequential order for full understanding. Your completed answers to the discussion questions should be between 40-200 words, depending on the depth of the question. Do not submit answers to the discussion questions until all are completed.:
Basics of EE Independent Study Questions
Your answers should be sent as an attachment to EEcertificationNC@lists.deq.nc.gov.The subject line should be your full name and Basics of EE. Example: John Doe – Basics of EE. The Basics of EE counts as 10 hours in Criteria I; an EE Form is not necessary. You will be notified when your response has been accepted.
Articles and Activities for the Basics of Environmental Education
The readings and activities needed for the Basics are linked within the Basics of Independent Study Questions document and we have also included them here for your convenience, along with the corresponding item number.
2.) What is EE?
4.) The History of EE
5.) Captive and Noncaptive Audiences - A Story about How I Arrived at the Idea and What I Mean by It (Appendix 4 from Making a Difference on Purpose, Sam H. Ham)
6.) A Sense of Wonder for Young Minds David Orr
7.) Beyond Ecophobia David Sobel
8.) Two Hats John Hug
9.) Should Action Be a Goal? No J. Kwong
Should Action Be a Goal? Yes Rick Wilke
Self-Assessment (hard copy)
11. Review the EE Organization and Agency Information document. Our Partners page can provide more details if desired.
(Optional) Watch Meaning Making as the Endgame of Interpretation Sam H. Ham