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Use the filter menu and interactive map to explore the past competitions offered and grants awarded through the Environmental Literacy Program.

To learn more about project findings and outcomes, view the summaries of our grantees’ summative evaluation reports.

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Environmental Literacy for Alaskan Climate Stewards (ELACS)

Funding: $499,888
Year: 2018
The Environmental Literacy for Alaska Climate Stewards (ELACS) project served 84 K-12 educators and 1,080 Alaskan students in predominantly Alaska Native coastal villages. The project provided opportunities to build understandings of how climate change impacts local environments, increase overall climate literacy, and contribute to community resilience. Participants were primarily from the Chugach School District and the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, both located in the southcentral region of Alaska.

The Environmental Literacy for Alaska Climate Stewards (ELACS) project served 84 K-12 educators and 1,080 Alaskan students in predominantly Alaska Native coastal villages. The project provided opportunities to build understandings of how climate change impacts local environments, increase overall climate literacy, and contribute to community resilience. Participants were primarily from the Chugach School District and the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, both located in the southcentral region of Alaska. Students and teachers in the Aleutian Region School District, Nome City Schools, and the North Slope Borough School District (southwestern, northwestern, and northern Alaska, respectively) participated to a lesser extent in novel learning experiences made available through collaborative partnerships that emerged during the grant period. The project focused on three areas: teacher professional development, classroom instruction, and community engagement. Professional development included training in project-based learning and co-teaching/coaching sessions with master teachers. Classroom instruction engaged students in meaningful, innovative, place-based, project-based learning, and citizen-science activities focused on site and community needs. Students monitored their local environments, built or otherwise used ocean observation systems, collected data, and represented their new knowledge through presentations and art. Significant outcomes included student work on the relationship between phytoplankton and salmon conservation in Chenega Bay, a Living History Project that engaged community members and elders with traditional ecological knowledge in Tatitlek, and engagement in weather and environmental monitoring plans for the community of Whittier (potentially threatened by tsunamis generated by unstable slopes in a nearby fjord). Students shared active research regarding impacts and available resources. ELACS aligned with and supported NOAA’s educational mission by helping the target populations understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts. This project promoted students’ environmental stewardship and a deeper understanding of a changing environment at both local and global levels. Throughout the four-year project, students and teachers worked with scientists and experts in education, climate change, and marine science using project-based learning approaches and educational technology. A notable (but not exhaustive) list of partners included researchers from NOAA’s Kasitsna Bay Laboratory, the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and the International Arctic Research Center (both at the University of Alaska Fairbanks), the Polar Science Center (University of Washington), Ground Truth Trekking, and the Center for Alaska Coastal Studies. Educational consultants included STEMisEd, Teknikio, NexMap, Build-A-Buoy, and EcoArt Expeditions. Corporate and non-profit partners included WeatherFlow, Inc., Batelle, Inc., Cook Inlet Tribal Council, and Alaska Science Teachers Association.

Award Number: NA18SEC0080011
Grant Dates: 10/01/2018 to 05/31/2022
PI: Douglas Penn
State: Alaska   County:   Anchorage Borough District: AK00
Partners: University of Alaska (UA-Fairbanks) / College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences · National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) / Alaska · National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) Kachemak Bay · University of Alaska (UA-Fairbanks) / International Arctic Research Center · Washington College / Center for Environment & Society · NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) / Kasitsna Bay Laboratory · U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System / AOOS · Kenai Peninsula Borough School District · Chugachmiut · City of Whittier · Tatitlek Village Ira Council · Chenega Bay IRA Council · U.S. National Ice Center · Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies · Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council · Battelle, Inc. · University of Washington (UW) / Polar Science Center · Weather Flow · Teknikio · Ground Truth Trekking · Cook Inlet Tribal Council · Alaska Science Teachers Association · Alaska Conservation Foundation · STEMisED · NextMap ·

Community resilience from the youth up: a place-based education strategy for southeast Michigan

Funding: $127,028
Year: 2023
Community Resilience from the Youth Up addresses the urgent need to increase resilience in Detroit and southeast Michigan by partnering high school students and teachers with place-based educators, climate scientists, adaptation professionals, municipalities, and community organizations.

Community Resilience from the Youth Up addresses the urgent need to increase resilience in Detroit and southeast Michigan by partnering high school students and teachers with place-based educators, climate scientists, adaptation professionals, municipalities, and community organizations. Using a Place-Based Education (PBE) process and the Climate Resilience from the Youth Up curriculum, students and teachers will explore local climate impacts and develop resilience strategies that protect vulnerable school campuses, households, and neighborhoods from the increased occurrence and intensity of heat waves, storm events, and flooding. Through their involvement in this project, students will increase their climate and civic literacy, actively contribute to broader sustainability initiatives, increase their awareness of and interest in climate adaptation careers, and engage in solution-focused work that inspires hope in their communities. Students will share their work locally and regionally, and teachers and project partners will contribute to regional and national conversations about community resilience education and creating communities of belonging for both educators and youth. Using an ecojustice approach to PBE, this project locates community and climate resilience within a broader vision of youth and adult health and well-being and is grounded in the belief that issues of social and ecological justice are inseparable. It builds on the relationships, partnerships, and educational strategies that were developed and refined in the previous project, Climate resilience from the youth up: A place-based strategy uniting high school students, educators, residents, community organizations, and municipalities in southeast Michigan, and will use them to solidify a community resilience education framework. Building teacher and student capacity to engage in resiliency-focused place-based learning while fostering their identities as change-agents in their communities reflects NOAA’s education mission and goals. This project is led by the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition (SEMIS), housed at Eastern Michigan University and part of the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI), a statewide PBE network. Project partners include GLISA, the American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP), Izzie, LLC, Detroit City Council Green Task Force, Ypsilanti Sustainability Commission, NOAA’s Climate Program Office, Great Lakes B-WET, Michigan Sea Grant, and schools throughout southeast Michigan.

Award Number: NA23SEC0080001
Grant Dates: 12/31/2023 to 12/30/2026
PI: Ethan Lowenstein
State: Michigan   County:   Washtenaw District: MI06
Partners:

Sailing Elementary Teachers Towards Ocean Literacy Using Familiar Water Resources

Funding: $461,534
Year: 2007
This project plans to increase elementary and undergraduate ocean science and related Great Lakes science literacy that aligns with the Michigan Curriculum, the national science standards, and the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts.

This project plans to increase elementary and undergraduate ocean science and related Great Lakes science literacy that aligns with the Michigan Curriculum, the national science standards, and the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts. We will 1) develop an elementary storybook and other elementary classroom materials that support ocean and Great Lakes literacy, 2) train pre-service elementary teachers to use this Storybook, 3) develop undergraduate activities that support the NOAA Education Plan and Ocean Literacy in teacher education courses at Eastern Michigan University (EMU), and 4) train teachers in Detroit and Dexter (MI) and Golden (CO) to use an elementary storybook and related activities that support Ocean Literacy. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and oceanographic experts at EMU and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) will partner with us to develop the elementary storybook. This elementary resource will be freely available to all teachers, via the internet (see http://www.windows2universe.org/teacher_resources/ocean_education/curre…). Our second objective is that teachers will relate ocean and Great Lakes science to theirs and their students' lives. We will accomplish this by 1) producing teacher-friendly web resources that make Great Lakes data from GLERL accessible for use by elementary teachers and 2) teaching pre-service teachers to interpret these data during undergraduate, inquiry activities at EMU. Our third objective is to measure environmental, ocean and Great Lakes literacy among pre-service teachers and their students before and after implementation of targeted instruction. We will accomplish this via 1) assessing pre- and in-service teachers' content knowledge and ability to apply content knowledge in ocean and Great Lakes science, 2) assessing elementary children for content knowledge and ability to apply content knowledge in ocean and Great Lakes science, 3) performance assessments of pre- and in-service teachers' abilities to interpret environmental data, 4) standardized tests of Earth Science content knowledge, and 5) surveys of pre- and in-service teachers' attitudes towards ocean literacy and supporting materials.

Award Number: NA07SEC4690004
Grant Dates: 10/01/2007 to 09/30/2012
PI: Sandra Rutherford
State: Michigan   County:   Washtenaw District: MI06
Partners: University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Center for Science Education · City University of New York (CUNY) / Hunter College ·

Into the Woods (ITW)

Funding: $1,355,463
Year: 2012
Queens College’s Into the Woods (ITW) project is an environmental literacy program for New York City Elementary School Teachers enhancing content knowledge about the Earth System and extending their classrooms outdoors into Nature. The classrooms continue to evolve into school stewardship and service learning in partnerships with parks and environmental organizations. The ITW project starts with five Elementary Globe books that link science, math and literacy.

Queens College’s Into the Woods (ITW) project is an environmental literacy program for New York City Elementary School Teachers enhancing content knowledge about the Earth System and extending their classrooms outdoors into Nature. The classrooms continue to evolve into school stewardship and service learning in partnerships with parks and environmental organizations. The ITW project starts with five Elementary Globe books that link science, math and literacy. Fiction becomes reality during field training that uses GLOBE books as blueprints for how teachers can guide their students to conduct their own research to enhance understanding of the environment. The project trains teachers to design and supervise grade-appropriate research projects using GLOBE protocols in local parks; support them during those projects; and host annual research symposia during which students present their results. The project's template of immersing teachers and students in environmental research is becoming a national model for improving environmental literacy in all school systems. The NYU Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education works in partnership with Into the Woods to connect teachers to the resources, materials, and strategies required to successfully implement environmental education, outdoor learning, service learning and hands-on experiences across all grade levels and curriculum areas.

Award Number: NA12SEC0080010
Grant Dates: 08/01/2012 to 07/31/2017
PI: Peter Schmidt
State: New York   County:   New York District: NY12
Partners: Center for Educational Innovation · Cornell University / Cornell Lab of Ornithology · New York City (NYC) Department of Education (DOE) · New York University (NYU) · National Sea Grant College Program / New York Sea Grant College Program · Bronx River Alliance · Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island, Inc. · Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) · New York City (NYC) Urban Park Rangers · Cornell University / Institute for Resource Information Sciences (IRIS) ·