Professional Development – Environmental Literacy
Interact |
![]() “Our mission is to ensure that every child in every community experiences nature directly and develops a personal connection with our environment. These outdoor experiences build a sense of stewardship so that our children learn the principles associated with being responsible guardians of Maryland’s natural resources.” In 2012, the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) held a three day Environmental Literacy Summit at Rocky Gap Resort to help school systems work on aligning their programs with the new Environmental Literacy Standards. All 24 local school systems attended this summit along with environmental education providers from over 60 different programs. This summit allowed the school systems and the environmental education providers to work together to build or strengthen their environmental education programs. The summit had several follow ups around the state that school systems and environmental education providers also attended to continue the work started at the summit. There is currently two of these meetings each school year. MSDE has also developed an Environmental Education Toolkit and an Environmental Literacy Curriculum for use by school systems in their environmental programs. |