AEEA’s vision for Arkansas includes environmental education as an integrated aspect of our education system, our communities, and our lives. We are exploring ways to make this vision a reality, and your input can help us achieve this vision. Through a series of community dialogues, we will explore the question:

How can we support and advance environmental education and outdoor learning in Arkansas?

The facilitated discussions will provide feedback to guide the development of a new strategic plan for AEEA as well as foster opportunities for collaboration among the diverse stakeholders in environmental education and outdoor learning in Arkansas. By incorporating the voices of our members and the larger conservation, outdoor, and environmental education community, we can develop a strong future for environmental education and outdoor learning in Arkansas!

Who:

• People passionate about our natural world and sharing it with others
• Educators, including classroom teachers, educators focusing on conservation and the outdoors, place-based education, and STEM subjects
• School administrators
• Conservation organizations
• Government employees
• Outdoor industry professionals

What:

Facilitated conversation with a diverse group of stakeholders from around Arkansas.  The community dialogues will be held virtually and breakout rooms will be used to promote input from all.  This is a participatory event and will not be recorded.  

Where:

The comfort of your office or home.  We will meet virtually using Zoom.  

When:

We will hold three community dialogues.  We have scheduled multiple dates to provide more opportunities to attend.  Each date will have the same agenda.  Please choose the date and time that works best for you. Registration will close 24 hours prior to each event.

Environmental education (EE) is a hands-on, interdisciplinary learning process about the natural world and our relationship with it.  EE is relevant to learners’ everyday lives, helps students gain knowledge and skills across the curriculum, and develops critical thinking and problem solving skills.  EE also includes regular outdoor learning, which can improve physical and mental health. Engagement in high-quality EE fosters healthing, thriving individuals and communities. 

For more information on the benefits of environmental education, please visit the North American Association for Environmental Education’s research database of articles on the benefits of environmental education at naaee.org/eeresearch. For an article on the benefits of environmental education, see Environmental Knowledge is Just the Tip of the Iceberg.

For 25 years AEEA has been committed to providing resources, support, and opportunities for collaboration and networking to classroom teachers and non-formal educators across the many diverse regions of the state of Arkansas. AEEA is the only statewide network of environmental educators, hosting an annual conference, professional development workshops, and networking events and sharing resources through a member newsletter. AEEA is the Arkansas Host Institution for Project WET and is proud to serve as the Arkansas affiliate of the North America Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE).

Vicki Pozzebon will be the Host Facilitator. She brings years of experience designing community convenings for conversations that matter and create lasting impact. Vicki has facilitation training in the Art of Hosting and World Café, and Transformational Leadership methods. Vicki is a local economy and business development consultant, and designer and facilitator of the Emerging Leaders Network at Santa Fe Community Foundation and the Native Entrepreneur in Residence Community of Practice at NM Community Capital. She has worked with dozens of social enterprises and local economy systems leaders for over 12 years. Vicki is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Reconnect-Today, Partnership for Responsible Business, and an Advisory Member of the Design Corps of Santa Fe.