Measuring Environmental Education Outcomes Sara J. Hallas, Coastal Education Coordinator

Our Mission: To provide citizens and groups with the assistance they need to take an active role in the stewardship of North Carolina’s coastal water quality and natural resources.

• Founded in 1982 • Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Manteo

•Staff of 22 •28 Board Members

Newport Wilmington

• over 10,000 Citizen Members • 1,500 Student/Adult Volunteers

Education • Restoration & Preservation • Advocacy

Measuring Environmental Education Outcomes How can we design programs to achieve environmental improvements? How can we measure progress towards various EE goals? How can we quantify outcomes that occur for individuals, learners, communities and ecosystems? How can we be sure our programs are working? How can we prove ourselves to potential funders?

Environmental Education Controversy What is the most effective way to educate children so that they will grow up to behave in environmentally responsible ways? Orion Magazine July/August 2012: “Look ,Don’t Touch” The problem with environmental education by David Sobel

WILD nature experiences in childhood correlates with adult environmental values and behavior

Researched Based Evidences of EE Nicole Ardoin, EE professor at Stanford University Summary of the research on Environmental Education and impact on student outcomes.

http://www.fcfox.org/EEFC/ EE Funders Collaborative

Measuring Environmental Education Outcomes - Online professional development for educators, non credit course - Considers multiple outcomes of EE and explores tools to measure these outcomes quantitatively - Offered through EE Capacity, an EPA-funded training program by: Cornell University Civic Ecology Lab North American Association for Environmental Education Environmental Education Exchange

http://civicecology.org/course-meeo.php

eeEcology Map ecologymap.org A visual and written guide to your own understanding of what you hope to accomplish as an environmental educator. Step by step planning tool allows you to input the following: What are the goals of your program? What are the social and environmental conditions that impact the community where you work? Who are the participants in your program? Describe some of the activities in your program. Link activities to specific goals.

ecologymap.org

ecologymap.org

Levels of Evaluation Reaction Measures the audiences’ immediate positive or negative response. Most common level of evaluation. What is the participants’ response to the project or activity? Learning Measures whether the audiences’ knowledge and awareness of the issues increased. What did the participants learn? Behavior or Application Measures if the participant is able to use the new knowledge and skills learned. Did the participants’ learning affect their behavior?

Levels of Evaluation Results Show successful application of new skills and knowledge. Did participants’ behavior change move towards the desired outcome? Cost Benefit Analysis Show benefits in excess of costs. Is the cost of implementing this project reflected in the level of benefits received from the results?

NOAA. (2004). Designing evaluation for education projects: NOAA Office of Education and Sustainable Development.

My EE Evaluation Resource Assistant http://meera.snre.umich.edu/

Online evaluation consultant to support the evaluation efforts of environmental educators. Guiding principles: 1. Range of evaluation experience - articles for beginners, intermediate, advanced 2. Focus on program evaluation with emphasis on measuring outcomes 3. Build on existing resources 4. Selective in identifying the best resources 5. Provide enhance usability

Are we really making a difference?

NCCOAST.ORG Sara J. Hallas Coastal Education Coordinator [email protected]