2019 Status and Needs of Non-Formal and Formal (K-12) Environmental Educators Across Pennsylvania

In late spring and early summer of 2019, supported by the NOAA B-WET PA capacity-building grant #NA17NMF4570274, PA Watershed Education Task Force representatives created and disseminated the 2019 Pennsylvania Statewide Environmental Education Survey (2019 PA SEES). This survey sought to fulfill three goals: 1. Determine how well non-formal and formal (k12) educators understand the MWEE framework; 2. Determine areas of need and preferred methods of training with regards to EE; 3. Determine the overall status of EE in the commonwealth. The status of educators' understanding of MWEEs was not currently known, so this survey functioned as a litmus test of educator knowledge of MWEEs. Equally important, educatorsoften feel that they lack proper preparation to teach many EE topics, which impacts instruction. Therefore, the survey includes several questions on professional development, so that we can determine not just what is missing from EE curricula, but what and how assistance can be provided to educators to fill in these gaps. 2020 NOAA Grant #NA17NMF4570274 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) Submitted Public Domain 1861