Environmental Education Resource Guide

This is a guide by Online PhD Programs

Earth is an extraordinary place to live. For her myriad life forms she provides just the right environment in which they can grow. The planet's human inhabitants are beginning to understand that when they negatively impact the natural environment, it has a detrimental effect on people and their communities. A lot of planning and hard work must be done to maintain and protect the perfect balance of nature. Environmental education plays an important role in this because it offers the information and tools that can help students, teachers, professionals and the interested public prepare for this vital work. By learning about the environment and how the planet's systems function, each person can, in ways large and small, positively impact the world around them.

General Environmental Education

  • National Park Service: Lots of learning materials about protecting America's natural resources from the National Park Service. 
  • USGS: The U.S. Geological Survey studies the environment and natural resources of the United States and makes the information available online here.
  • Learning Landscapes: The Bureau of Land Management's website for environmental education.
  • Environmental History: Explanations of the meaning of environmental history, many (some are password protected) course materials are available, including podcasts of the course Berkeley course ESPM 160AC American Environmental and Culture taught by Professor Carolyn Merchant.
  • Legacy: Learning materials and more for students, teachers and the general public.
  • Environmental Literacy Council: All about the environment with lots of information.
  • Global Warming: A Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences website to learn the facts about global warming.
  • National Science Foundation: Earth and Environmental Science--an overview of NSF research.

Children's Resources

  • Environmental Kids Club: Educational and fun site from the Environmental Protection Agency. Very deep resources.  
  • Environmental Ed for Kids: Lots of resources here--kid friendly articles on Earth issues, nature notes and animals, including endangered species.
  • Children of the Earth United: Launched in 1999, website devoted to helping children (and adults) learn about environmental issues.
  • UN TUNZA: United Nations Environment Programmme, with links to Kid's Page and TUNZA, the UNEP Magazine for Youth (all issues are free and available online.)
  • Biomes & Ecosystems: Extensive information about environment, plants, animals and the vital systems of Earth.
  • Climate Kids: NASA's global climate change website for kids. Lots of cool information.
  • Conservation Central: Learning about conservation and habitats from the National Zoological Park at the Smithsonian.
  • Oceans & Coast: Especially for kids, long list of information and activities for ocean and coast environmental exploration.
  • Save the Earth: How to protect the planet and green tips from National Geographic Kids.

Environmental Education Activities and Games

  • Taking Care of the Planet: Visit the Greens, watch some video episodes, play some green games and explore lots of other interesting activities.
  • Envirofun: Along with Enviro-Term of the Day, site offers activities that make learning about the environment fun with captain Earthworm, Captain Redbird and Captain Bluegill.
  • Games & Activities: Lots of fun and learning at EcoKids website--check out games about wildlife, climate change and more.
  • It's Wild: Games, activities and stories, along with Get the Facts (great eSpecies fact sheets) from Kid's Planet.
  • OLogy: Biodiversity games and activities from the American Museum of Natural History.
  • The Green Squad: Activities about making school a healthier place, from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
  • Tox Town: Visit this imaginary area, with town, city, farm, port and border area to learn about toxic chemicals and the health concerns they cause.
  • Hog Busters: Attend Hog Busters Training Camp or play Hog and Seek to learn about defeating energy hogs.
  • The Know Zone: Games and activities about air and air pollution at this California Air Resources Board environmental learning site.
  • The Big Blue Bus: Fun and games for learning about the environment brought to the Internet by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
  • Nab the Aquatic Invader: The super sleuth challenge--learning about invasive aquatic species.  
  • Trees Are Treasures Too: When enter the Treetures website, they begin a learning adventure all about forests and their inhabitants.  

Lesson Plans

  • Rainforest Lessons: Kindergarten through eighth grade lesson plans with resources like slide shows from the Rainforest Alliance.
  • Electronic Naturalist: New environmental lesson plan every two weeks from the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History.
  • ARKive: Lesson plan modules for students of all ages, includes habitat, species and many other topics from ARKive Education.
  • CEE Curriculum Library: The Center for Environmental Education offers extensive resources for teaching about the environment. 
  • Project Learning Tree: Rich curriculum materials for PreK-12 teachers.
  • Xpeditions: Lesson plans on a multitude of environmental topics from National Geographic.
  • Nature & the Environment: Library of Congress teacher resources, including ready-to-use lesson plans.
  • Water Study: Lessons and lesson plans for high school and college study of water in the environment.
  • Lesson Directory: Environmental lesson plans available by scrolling down this lengthy page of bioscience lesson plans.
  • Climate Lessons: Extensive list of climate-related lesson plans and resources.

Organizations

  • NAAEE: North American Association for Environmental Education--Organization that promotes environmental education and those who teach about the environment.
  • Environmental Education Exchange: Non-profit organization on a mission to increase environmental literacy.
  • ASEH: Founded in 1997, the American Society for Environmental History, aims to promote teaching and scholarship in environmental history and foster a better understanding of the "history of human interaction with the rest of the natural world."
  • Natural Resources Defense Council: This environmental action group founded in 1970 is on a mission to safeguard the Earth.
  • Earth Force: An organization, established in 1994, that aims to engage young people and offer them a way to get involved and work on behalf of the environment.
  • Nature Explore: Collaborative organization supported by Dimensions Educational Research Foundation and the Arbor Day Foundation.
  • National Wildlife Federation: Organization devoted to inspiring Americans to protect wildlife and wild places.
  • National Environmental Education Foundation: Chartered by Congress in 1990, this organization's mission is to "advance environmental knowledge and action. Programs include National Environmental Education Week, Classroom Earth and National Public Lands Day.
  • Center for a Livable Future: Johns Hopkins University's CLF focuses on farming, eating and living for the future through educational outreach, community action and research.
  • EETAP: Environmental Education & Training Partnership strives to advance environmental educational reaching diverse audiences.
  • CWN Coalition: The Clean Water Network strives to work collaboratively to strengthen government policies that relate to clean water for all Americans and wetlands protection.