Skills/competencies

Environmental educators can make significant changes regarding sustainability education and meeting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Teachers in the United States are subject to a system that has not yet prioritized education for sustainable development (ESD), which ultimately hinders students from learning valuable information that helps build sustainable futures. The researchers in this study looked at four school-wide sustainability programs.

One goal of environmental education is to expose students to career opportunities in the environmental sector. Environmental education programs can attempt to increase student interest in environmental jobs, but the focus typically leans toward science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) careers even though the environmental field includes various other career types such as law, business, and social advocacy. A student's vision of environmental jobs may therefore be limited, and research suggests this is true especially among students of color.

Due to the political polarization of climate change, training teachers on climate change principles and solutions can be difficult. Environmental education may see greater outcomes from educating children in K-12 settings; however, many K-12 teachers feel ill-prepared to teach about climate change and sustainability. Professional development may help teachers feel more confident, but systematic barriers exist the can prevent teachers seeking professional development. No research has studied how these barriers apply to climate change professional development (CCPD).

A proven method to increase student engagement and promote learning objectives is to take students out of the traditional classroom setting, and on field trips. Field trips are well suited for environmental education (EE) because educators can bring students into natural settings where there are many direct links between the theory and content taught in EE classrooms and hands-on learning can occur. However, studies have shown educators lack confidence to organize or lead field trips.

Due to the increasing severity and urgency of environmental issues, environmental education (EE) is not only focused on providing environmental literacy, but also tangible skills that can be applied to environmental challenges. The ability for students to use Geospatial Information System (GIS) technology is a valuable skill that can be applied in an environmental context along with other subjects.

When teaching environmental education and developing sustainably oriented students, an environmental communication teaching approach can effectively instill collaboration and problem-solving skills in students and communities. Complex environmental issues like climate change, water resources, and poverty require partnership and problem-solving in the decision-making process. Research has proven that communication training improves interdisciplinary thinking during collaboration and can lead to applying said interdisciplinarity in community and policy decisions.

Attention to education for sustainable development (ESD) in formal educational settings has been increasingly emphasized over the decades. Sustainable development (SD) is composed of three factors: economy, society, and the environment. The economic aspect refers to the awareness of financial limits and growth. Society refers to the democracy-based system, giving participants a voice to express their opinions. Lastly, the environment focuses on the awareness of natural resources and environmental issues.

Despite the increasing awareness that climate change poses a serious threat to human and planetary wellbeing, local communities may have limited ability to mitigate or adapt. Educational programs are essential to improve communities' preparedness for the consequences of climate change and reduce the severity of damage. In the US, Cooperative Extensions Masters Volunteering (CEMV) programs have been effective in combating other environmental challenges in the past.

One aim of geography education is to provide context to the challenges that people face around the world. These global issues include climate change, hunger, and poverty. However, these issues are not linear, with simple cause and effect pathways. Instead, there is a complex system of relationships across space and time that contribute to these problems on all scales. For example, human activities like deforestation can affect the environment at local, regional, and/or global scales which affects the social and natural systems at all levels.

Environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD) aim to create a healthier relationship between humans and the natural world. EE tends to prioritize environmental literacy and pro-environmental behaviors to protect earth from human activities, while ESD considers social and economic factors to be of equal importance and strives to find a balance between environmental and human needs.