Community Calendar

Join the Arkansas Environmental Education Association for an interactive, virtual workshop.  

Description: 

We invite classroom teachers, non-formal educators, curriculum developers, and program administrators to join us for an interactive, virtual workshop exploring the characteristics of high-quality environmental education materials. The guidebook Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence comprises a set of recommendations for developing and selecting environmental education instructional materials. 

These guidelines

• aim to help producers of activity guides, lesson plans, and other instructional materials create high-quality products
• provide educators with a tool to evaluate the wide array of available environmental education materials.
• draw on our best thinking honed by scholars and practitioners across a variety of fields and settings, including formal and nonformal education, curriculum development, instructional design, early childhood education, and adult education

This is the first time for the Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence workshop to be offered in Arkansas. It will be facilitated by Tara Poelzing, who recently served as the Virginia Association for Environmental Education’s Director of Professional Learning. With more than 25 years of experience in both formal and nonformal settings and across age groups, Tara adds this background to her extensive experience with the Guidelines for Excellence to build dynamic workshops that meet attendees’ needs. rs.

Facilitator:

This is the first time for the Environmental Educator Knowledge & Skills: Guidelines for Excellence workshop to be offered in Arkansas. It will be facilitated by Tara Poelzing, who recently served as the Virginia Association for Environmental Education’s Director of Professional Learning. With more than 25 years of experience in both formal and nonformal settings and across age groups, Tara adds this background to her extensive experience with the Guidelines for Excellence to build dynamic workshops that meet attendees’ needs.

Audience:

This workshop is open to all educators and administrators. It is specially helpful to those who are developing curriculum or vetting materials already in place. It is designed for those working with PreK through adult learners.

Background:

The National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education, initiated by the North American Association for Environmental Education in 1993, developed a series of guidelines that set the standards for high-quality environmental education. Each of the six publications was developed by a diverse team of professionals, and each has gone through a substantive review by thousands of professionals prior to its publication.

Environmental Educator Knowledge and Skills: Guidelines for Excellence, published in 2025, represents a major revision of Professional Development of Environmental Educators: Guidelines for Excellence which was first published in 2000 and revised in 2019.

The guidelines deliver a set of balanced, scientifically accurate, and comprehensive environmental education programs and materials. Quality environmental education programs help develop an environmentally literate citizenry that can compete in our global economy; has the skills, knowledge, and inclinations to make well-informed choices; and exercises the rights and responsibilities of members of a community.

Date & Time: 

Tuesday, September 15, 6:00 – 8:00 pm 
Thursday, September 17, 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Professional Development:

Participants will be eligible for four hours of professional development.

Location: 

This workshop will be held over Zoom. After payment is received, login information will be sent with a confirmation. For participants who are unable to attend both sessions, we can record the main discussion of the workshop, however, this workshop might include breakout rooms for discussion that will not be recorded. Attending the workshop live is preferable.

Cost:

AEEA members: $15
General public: $20

Attendees will receive a physical copy of Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence.

Questions:

Contact Sophia Stephenson at director@arkansasee.org or 501.773.1107 for questions.

Registration:

Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Payment must be received by Monday, September 14th at noon.To register for this workshop, see Professional Development Opportunities on AEEA’s website.

Join PLT & LR Zoo staff to learn about some of our planet’s most diverse and abundant species from the INSECT WORLD. Explore activities relating to forest health, biodiversity, camouflage, and how insects can be both beneficial and bothersome. Participants will each receive PLT’s K-8 Explore Your Environment Activity Guide (a $45 value), 6 hours of ADE-approved PD, admission into the Zoo to experience the interactive Bugtopia exhibit, plus a visit from one of the zoo’s animal ambassadors.

Saturday, September 19
9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Little Rock Zoo
1 Zoo Drive, Little Rock, AR 72205
8300 Wells Lake Road
Fort Smith, AR 72916

Cost: $20 per person payable at workshop via cash or credit card – includes admission to the Zoo.

Cost: $20 per person payable at workshop via cash or credit card – includes admission to the Zoo.

Register by emailing: rbeadel@arkforests.org. Please include the name & location of the workshop.

Join the Arkansas Environmental Education Association for an interactive, in-person workshop.  

Description: 

An interactive workshop, Strength in Connection: The Power of EE Networks, explores how formal and informal networks can serve as structural links between environmental education (EE) and community resilience. Participants will examine how reciprocal relationships and co-created learning can build networks with the power to amplify impact. Designed for highly participatory engagement, workshop attendees will explore how environmental education can fortify community resilience through knowledge, skill-building, and empowerment. 

We invite non-formal educators, program administrators, conservation groups, community-builders, and classroom teachers to join us for this interactive, in-person workshop exploring the power of environmental education. 

Workshop Overview:

• The workshop begins by grounding participants in shared definitions of environmental education, community resilience, and a basic introduction to social network theory, emphasizing EE as a collaborative and action oriented process rather than a one-way transfer of knowledge. Participants will examine how EE networks already appear in their own lives and communities.
• Participants will examine how EE contributes to community resilience and engage in an exercise that models the interconnections of networks and demonstrates how local knowledge, participation, trust, and collaborative involvement can benefit EE design and delivery. 
• Building on the appreciation of stakeholder engaged EE design, participants will explore how formal and informal networks can serve as links between EE and community resilience by unifying EE initiatives to amplify knowledge exchange, create feedback loops, generate community benefits, and sustain long-term impact. 
• Participants will leave the workshop with practical strategies for intentional collaboration and strong networked action to expand reach, strengthen partnerships, and scale impact. 

Learning Objectives:

• Share a definition of environmental education
• Understand how EE networks can improve learning outcomes, resource sharing, and professional growth
• Have tools and strategies for effective networking
• Recognize the value of EE networks in resilient communities

Date & Time: 

Friday, November 13, 2026  

9:00 – 10:00 am Screening of In Our Nature. Enjoy a one-hour documentary on the power of Environmental Education and communities. Coffee and light snacks will be provided. The documentary and snacks are open to all, but pre-registration is required. Watch a trailer here. 

10:30 am – 3:00 pm Interactive workshop, Strength in Connection: The Power of EE Networks. Participating in the workshop requires registration and payment.

Professional Development:

Participants will be eligible for five hours of professional development.

Location: 

Arkansas Game & Fish Commission Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center
602 President Clinton Ave
Little Rock, AR 72201 

Cost:

AEEA members: $22
General public: $30

Food & Drink:

Snacks and drinks will be provided. Workshop attendees should bring a sack lunch. 

Questions:

Contact Sophia Stephenson at director@arkansasee.org or 501.773.1107 for questions.

Registration:

Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Payment must be received by Monday, July 20th.To register for this workshop, see Professional Development Opportunities on AEEA’s website.