It is widely agreed that an environmentally literate and concerned citizenry is crucial to environmental quality and long-term sustainability—but how and where is environmental and sustainability literacy fostered? And where environmental education occurs, is it effective? This class will explore the history, philosophical underpinnings, and current trends in environmental and sustainability education for both youth and adults, in both formal sectors (schools and colleges) and non-formal ones. This class will provide a theoretical and practical introduction to the field of environmental education and interpretation. It will be useful to those of you who are interested in environmental teaching as a career, or to those whose environmental work might involve education or outreach components. There will be an all-day field trip on Saturday, July 12. Students should expect to pay a $15 entrance fee.

Faculty Biography:

Jean MacGregor, M.S., is a Senior Scholar at the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education at The Evergreen State College. She directs the Curriculum for the Bioregion Initiative, a faculty and curriculum development initiative, whose mission is to prepare undergraduates to live in a world where the complex issues of environmental quality, community health and wellbeing, environmental justice, and sustainability are paramount.  The Curriculum for the Bioregion initiative involves hundreds of faculty members at colleges and universities throughout Washington State. Prior to work at Evergreen, she helped develop the environmental studies program at Warren Wilson College near Asheville, North Carolina.  Earlier in her career, she developed and/or evaluated environmental education programs for both youth and adults at nature centers and science museums, and in various outdoor and wilderness learning settings.