Diversity, equity, and inclusion

The consequences of climate change are already visible in communities across the globe, and despite the rapidly increasing impacts, widespread social and governmental changes have not occurred. While the majority of decision-makers are members of socially dominant groups in the United States (e.g., white, middle-to-upper class, male), climate change most affects often-underrepresented groups, such as youth and low-income communities of color. Research indicates that storytelling can help link young people's experiences at home, in school, and in their community.

In a globalized world, we are more socially, economically, and politically linked than ever. Climate change, habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, and other complex environmental problems are global issues. Preparing children for success in the modern world hinges on global awareness and deep learning about other people and places. Through reviewing academic literature, this study investigated what elementary school children know and how they feel about other countries, cultures, and peoples. It also explored how children develop global understanding and the implications for teachers.

Underrepresentation of minorities in conservation and natural resource (CNR) career paths impacts the diversity of thought and experience driving conservation work. Often, minorities face barriers to participation in CNR careers, which include limited belief in personal potential to succeed, limited exposure to CNR careers, and lack of economic resources.

Many Canadian educators recognize the importance of developing curricula through the lens of decolonization, which involves dismantling colonial institutions and restoring rights of and respect for Indigenous peoples. However, Indigenous issues can be very contentious, and educators who discuss these issues with their students may face challenges, such as resistance from students, tension with other teachers, and pushback from administrators. Given these challenges, many teachers are hesitant to broach or engage in deep dialogue about these subjects with their students.

Environmental education (EE) is a broad field, and environmental educators can have a variety of roles, backgrounds, levels of professional training, goals, and so on. Efforts to professionalize and support the EE field have increased in recent years. Professionalizing the EE field requires an understanding of the field's scope (the number of professionals working as environmental educators and their type of work) and composition of the field (gender, race, age, level of education, and whether educators are paid or unpaid).

Spending time in nature is beneficial for physical and mental health, as well as emotional well-being. Previous research suggests that students in the United States and the United Kingdom feel disconnected from nature as a result of decreased time spent outdoors. Often referred to as nature deficit disorder, this means that as children and adolescents spend less time outdoors, they are not receiving the benefits of being in nature.

In 2015, the United Nations formulated 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 associated targets that were intended to sustainably address the world's economic, environmental, and social challenges. Globally, the SDGs have largely been adopted as positive ideals, and they are expected to inform environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD). However, some EE and ESD scholars argue that SDGs should not be accepted as inherently positive and that critical thinking in the context of sustainable development is necessary in EE and ESD.

The increased presence of technology in our daily lives means that youth across the United States are spending less time learning in nature. As a result, federal agencies worked with partners to develop programs that promote EE curricula for youth. One such initiative is the Children's Forest—created by the U.S. Forest Service—that works with partners to develop EE programming for students in grades K-12. However, few studies have evaluated these collaborative programs so little is known about their efficacy.

Education literature has long established that authentic care from adult mentors is crucial for youth—particularly minoritized youth—to develop positive relationships with each other, their school, and their wider community. This study affirms those connections and applies them to the environmental sphere by exploring how the authentic care shown by an environmental science teacher encouraged his students to expand their care for the ecological renewal of their local neighborhood.

Including informal learning experiences, such as field trips, in the formal school curriculum is one way to more closely link classroom experiences with students' everyday lives. Such connections can increase students' scientific literacy, learning outcomes, and overall motivation. When 17 working to connect school with everyday life through field-trip experiences, educators can use certain methods, approaches, and techniques to enhance learning.