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The goal of Teach ME Outside is to support and work in partnership with Maine communities to ensure that all Maine youth have access to powerful, hands-on environmental learning opportunities. Building on the results of the 2019 and 2022 Census of Community-Based Outdoor and Environmental Learning, this initiative focuses on reducing barriers and sharing creative community-designed solutions to increase schools and organizations’ ability to implement community-based environmental learning. This collaborative effort also increases opportunities for professional learning, data sharing, policy development, networking, and partnership support.
Specific initiatives include:
· Convening listening sessions across Maine to hear feedback directly from educators about how to address barriers and support community-based environmental learning in their diverse settings in both the short and long-term
· Engaging in outreach to expand and deepen the network of educators and organizations connecting youth to their environment and communities
· Connecting educators with community partners and resources to advance CBEL
· Developing open-source professional learning opportunities for educators to advance community-based environmental learning across the State
· Developing an Evaluation Collaborative to support evaluation of CBEL projects and track field-wide impact over time
· Building long term systems-level support for community-based environmental learning in Maine
When educators and communities design and implement community-based environmental learning programs there are broad and lasting benefits for youth. In addition to achieving the ultimate goal of a more environmentally literate, engaged population, community-based environmental learning has been shown to have the following positive impacts:
A recent landscape analysis in 2022 recognizes that Maine provides a wealth of community-based environmental learning initiatives for youth, both in and outside of school. But, many of these initiatives work in isolation from other similar programs, lack resources or training, and do not measure the impact of the educational experiences they offer. In addition, there are areas of the state that are underrepresented in CBEL. Findings from the Census include:
· Schools are investing in infrastructure to support outdoor and environmental learning. Administrators report that the most common supports at their school include access to outdoor gear and the development of outdoor spaces.
· The most significant barriers to outdoor and environmental learning remain funding for projects, time for educators to develop and deliver them, and availability of outdoor equipment. Funding continued to be the most significant barrier identified in the 2019 and 2022 data.
· The most pressing professional development need identified was support for Wabanaki history and culture in programs. Other high-priority professional development topics included gardens and local food systems, teaching and learning outdoors, and climate education.
· Partnerships remain essential to outdoor and environmental learning programs, with 75% of respondents stating they had at least one partner with whom they worked.
Teach ME Outside supports an ambitious vision for community-based environmental learning across the state where all Maine students are given the opportunity to become environmentally literate, civically engaged, and understand how their health is connected to that of the natural world.
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