Explore awards
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.
Continuing of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) Competitions
The National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB), managed by The Consortium for Ocean Leadership, provides enriched science education and learning through a nationally recognized and highly acclaimed academic competition that increases high school students’ knowledge of the marine sciences, including the science disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics, and geology. The NOSB addresses a national gap in environmental and Earth sciences in K-12 education by introducing high school students to and engaging them in ocean sciences, preparing them for careers in ocean science and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Currently, there are 25 regions in the U.S. that compete in the NOSB, each with their own regional competitions. The regional competitions are coordinated by the Regional Coordinators, who are typically affiliated with a university in their region. Each year approximately 2,000 students from 300 schools across the nation compete for prizes and a trip to the national competition. The goal of this organization is to increase knowledge of the ocean among high school students and, ultimately, magnify the public understanding of ocean research. Students who participate are eligible to apply for the National Ocean Scholar Program.
Convening Young Leaders for Climate Resilience in New York State
The Wild Center’s Convening Young Leaders for Climate Resilience in New York State project will increase climate literacy among high school students and teachers in New York City, the Catskills and the Adirondacks and give students the leadership skills to help their communities respond to the impacts of climate change. Working with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County, the Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School in Brooklyn, and the Alliance for Climate Education, along with NOAA, the New York State Office of Climate Change and NYSERDA, the project comes at a time when the impacts of climate change loom larger than ever. But today’s youth – the generation most likely to mitigate its impacts – have had little exposure to the issue: Just 25 percent of American teens demonstrate a basic understanding of it. Project partners will incorporate state, regional and local planning in their efforts, which will establish Youth Climate Summits and Youth Climate Leadership Practicums in the three project regions; build on educators’ interests through a Teacher Climate Institute; and communicate climate change science and resilience through community outreach activities. By the conclusion of the project, we expect to work directly with more than 600 students and 200 teachers, each of whom will gain a better understanding of the impacts of climate change in New York State, a greater capacity to make informed decisions about the threats to their own regions, and a stronger connection with other community members and ongoing resiliency work. In addition, the project will also create replicable tools, video documentation for local outreach, and training approaches for youth leadership and teachers regardless of their location.