Moving Ahead: The 2023 Teacher Institute
This spring, educators from schools in Los Angeles County and Orange County came together for the 2023 CEEF Teacher Institute (TI), Best Practices of Environmental Education and Stewardship.
The CEEF TI consisted of four virtual synchronous sessions over the months of February to April. Over these four sessions, educators were provided resources and information from local utility companies for real-world concepts in water and energy conservation, as well as learner-centered pedagogy and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science practices taught by a pedagogy expert and stewardship coach.
The program required teachers to design a 5-E environment-based lesson plan, facilitate a student- driven Stewardship Project, and complete their Project WET certification. The lesson plans were student-centered and focused on experiential, standards-based, science learning. Upon completion of the program, educators were given a $575 teacher stipend, as well as the opportunity to purchase up to three Continuing Education Units from UC Davis.
The Stewardship Project enabled educators to engage their students with hands-on experience in environmental stewardship. The projects were student-led, and topics ranged from water and energy to social justice, climate change, and technology. This year the projects consisted of community organizing, beach cleanups, habitat restoration, and community cleanups. On the final day of the Institute, the teacher-participants presented highlights of their students’ accomplishments on their Stewardship Project to their fellow educators. After completing the Institute, one of the CEEF TI participants wrote “I, in general, just learned how to grow my own skills better, how to teach students what’s around them and how they could be active agents of change.”
The Institute consisted of 18 teachers who taught a variety of subjects In grades four through 12, thereby directly impacting over 1,300 students. An even greater impact was made after all the teacher-participants gave faculty presentations at their campuses which resulted in 260 educators and over 23,000 students learning about the benefits of environmental stewardship (about the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden).
The CEEF Board of Directors extends its gratitude to all the CEEF TI educators for their dedicated participation in the CEEF 2023 Teacher Institute for taking the vital steps in moving the next generation forward in environmental stewardship. A special thank you to the CEEF 2023 TI sponsors, the water and energy expert speakers, Project WET and Project Learning Tree Institute facilitators, the TI Director, Maria Laws, and the environmental stewardship coach, Jan Robertson.
