NC's Environmental Education Website – Notice Something New?

You may notice something new about the North Carolina Environmental Education website. The Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs recently launched a “new look” for the website and although it has a new look, it still has the same great resources. 

  

The site which is set-up to serve as an online “hub” for environmental education programs, and facilities and resources receives approximately one million visits a year and provides a statewide calendar of events.

Behind the website’s success as an information clearinghouse is a unique partnership between eight southeastern states, Hawaii and Wisconsin to share information and provide environmental education resources. Some of the services provided through this partnership include a searchable directory of North Carolina's environmental education centers and organizations, a listing of grants and jobs, a statewide interactive calendar of events and a searchable resource database that links each resource to its provider.

The system also allows the participating states to share postings for grants, jobs, curriculum and other resources, greatly maximizing the capacity of each individual state’s educational outreach mission. Many of these shared services were provided free to the office through this collaborative grant.

Some examples of what you might be missing on the site:

A statewide listing of educational facilities such as parks, nature and science centers, museums, botanical gardens, arboretums, coastal reserves, educational state forests, the NC Aquariums and Zoo.

A statewide calendar of events and professional development opportunities for educators

New resources such as the Egret Curriculum, a place-based curriculum designed to increase knowledge of current watershed science and environmental issues related to the Tar-Pamlico watershed in North Carolina and that aligns all lessons with 5th grade core curriculum and essential standards.

A statewide listing of jobs and internships in the field of environmental education.

Opportunities for grants and contests.

A thriving online community of educators through a statewide listserv, Twitter and Facebook

An opportunity to meet North Carolina’s Certified Environmental Educators

So check out the updated site and join the state's community of environmental educators.