The eePRO’s group discussion platform includes 14 special interest groups where NAAEE members and supporters can discuss key issues related to all pertaining to environmental education.

Several of the eePRO groups, including the K-12 Environmental Education (EE) group (formerly known as the GreenSchools group), met for some brown bag networking on Friday Oct. 12th during the NAAEE conference in Spokane, WA.

The K-12 EE eePRO group shared innovative examples of success models within their K-12 sphere of influence and discussed creative solutions to some challenges (also framed as opportunities!) Common threads among the attendees were a collective passion for their work, some even referred to it as a “calling”, along with optimism and a sincere belief in the transformative power of EE.

James McGirt, co-moderator of the K-12 EE eePRO group, explained that the success of each of the 14 eePRO groups depends on input from group members to maintain and elevate important EE discussion topics with experts, peers, budding environmentalists, and more. Co-moderator Tia Watkins of NAAEE demonstrated how the eePRO platform works and some of its key features.

Topics that the attendees of our brown bag session said they would like to see discussed on the eePRO platform include the following:

>How to get EE programs into the classroom
>How to secure “outside-the-box” funding
>How to connect EE and Civics
>How to integrate NGSS into interdisciplinary EE projects
>How to leverage NAAEE affiliate capacity
>Strategies to get students outside engaged in nature
>Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
>Forging sustainable and mutually beneficial community partnerships
>Intersection of Special Education and EE
>Over-prescribing of drugs to POC’s (People or Color) in K-12

We thank all of the attendees for their time, dedication and input and encourage every member of the K-12 EE eePRO group to actively engage and have their voices heard to keep the discussions active, positive, inclusive, and informative.

To learn more about the different group forums and areas of discussion, go to https://naaee.org/eepro/groups. 

Written by James Riley McGirt, NAAEE eePRO K-12 EE Co-Moderator & Project Learning Tree GreenSchools Program Manager