50th Annual EECO Conference
April 6-9, 2017
at
Deer Creek State Park
The Environmental Education Council of Ohio is pleased to issue a
Call for Presenters for the 2017 Annual Conference
“Honoring the Past, Looking Toward the Future”
Click here for the CFP.
EECO’s Mission is to be a leader in the promotion and facilitation of Environmental Education and to nurture knowledge, ideas, and engagement that meet the needs of practitioners and audiences. EECO fosters the development of partnerships among EE individuals, organizations, agencies, and districts.
For 50 years educators from all over the state have been coming together for this conference, and we are thrilled to celebrate all those years of greatness, with many more to come. As educators, we see the future in front of us every day, and we are privileged to have an influence in the lives of those we teach.
Each year we come together with common goals and passions. This year’s theme, “Honoring the Past, Looking Toward the Future”, will allow us to appreciate all of those goals that have been achieved over the last 50 years. It will be a chance to see how much impact we have made over that time so that we can continue the excellence we have already achieved and improve our ability to accomplish the mission of EECO, and our missions as educators: to nurture knowledge, ideas, and engagement, and to bring people together to learn and grow in our natural world. This year we will be doing that by offering topics that help educators in all settings learn more about the environment, while helping them develop new educational strategies for their lessons, programs, and projects.
If you have a program that you feel passionate about, we want to see it! The conference theme is divided into strands, with each strand meant to encourage participants from different interests and backgrounds to gain new knowledge and information that pertains to their area of education. Proposals for sessions should address one or more strands in order to make the session informative to as many participants as possible.
2017 Strands:
Engaging Minorities in the Outdoors- As we strive to increase the number of STEM and outdoor careers, our desire is to include everyone; but programs sometimes fall short on engaging minorities. This strand will focus on compelling strategies for drawing in and including minorities in the outdoors.
Environmental Careers- Presentations in this strand should focus on programs and projects that inspire passion in students to pursue an environmental career path, as well as the resources that are available to make those connections to existing and future careers in the environment.
Outdoor Education - Presentations in this strand should focus on innovative strategies for getting students involved in their education through the environment. The focus should be on helping students develop a deeper relationship with nature while building personal and social skills across any and all subjects of study.
Fundraising- This strand will be for educators interested in finding monetary support to build upon their current programs or to create new ones. It should give them knowledge on how EE professionals around the state fund their activities, such as building a donor base, grant funding, partnerships and building capacity, etc.
Technology in Nature - As the use of technology in the classroom grows, it only makes sense that we embrace the new methods of teaching and bring them with us outside. Presentations in this strand may focus on any use of technology outdoors and may include: citizen science apps, data collection, games, etc.
Please submit your session proposal by returning the attached application by November 18, 2016 to be included in the program. Electronic submissions are preferred and greatly appreciated. Please return submissions to Jen Dennison, Conference Chair, Ohio Division of Wildlife, 2045 Morse Rd., Bldg G., Columbus, OH 43229 or jen.dennison@dnr.state.oh.us If you have any questions, feel free to contact Jen Dennison at 614-265-6316. You will be notified of the status of your proposal by December 15th. Thank you for your submission and we look forward to working with you!
