Environmental Education Study:
Executive Summary

In the fall of 2003, MARC conducted a qualitative study to research environmental education in the bistate Kansas City metropolitan region. While there are many environmental education opportunities for the general public in the Kansas City region, the focus of this study was how formal classroom teachers are using environmental education resources in their classrooms.

The study employed the following definition of environmental education: Modern environmental education looks at the ability of the earth to support the quality of human life that most people have come to enjoy. Effective environmental education focuses on the process or skills involved in how to think, not on the content of what to think.

For this study, representatives from Kansas and Missouri state education departments, school districts, schools and environmental education organizations were interviewed. The interviews were conducted to ensure representation from target audiences on both sides of the state line and include representation of environmental content areas. A total of 43 individuals completed the interview process.

Trends:

The research identified three trends, which led to the development of two critical issues with suggested solutions:

  1. A significant quantity of high-quality environmental education resources is available in the region, but they are not effectively marketed.
  2. Teachers need training on how to integrate environmental education across the curriculum and implement it at all grade levels.
  3. Environmental education resource providers as well as teachers and administrators need additional funding for environmental education to increase in the region.

Critical Issues:

  1. Create structure and components to improve the inclusion of environmental education in the formal classroom and enhance the integration of environmental education topics within and across standard academic subjects.
  2. Expand funding to meet current and future environmental education needs in the region.

A number of actions were recommended to address each critical issue. Area educators, administrators and resource providers must communicate and maximize the use of available resource in order to enhance the environmental education capacity in the area. Doing so will increase the quality of life in the Kansas City region.