Conference Presentations

CAEE’s Fall 2023 Advancing Environmental Education Conference

The 2023 Fall Conference will be held September 29th-30th at the CSU Spur Campus!

Presenter Information:

Presenters help the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education (CAEE) explore, elevate and spark environmental education by sharing new ideas, research, successful strategies, and more.  The conference offers a variety of sessions, inspiring speakers, and many opportunities for networking and discovering new ideas, tools and techniques. Click here to learn more about the overall conference.

If you have specific questions after reading this information, please email info@caee.org

Click on the following links to go to these specific sections.  

What we look for in Sessions

Environmental education occurs in many forms by a variety of environmental education (EE) providers and supporters, including formal educators (pre-service teachers, in classrooms, school districts, higher ed), non-formal educators (nature centers, parks, non-profits, youth groups, state agencies, community groups, etc.), as well as other sectors (business, consultants, media, etc).

CAEE seeks session proposals that highlight environmental education approaches from a variety of backgrounds, sectors, focus areas, and experience levels, and in particular the connections between environmental education research, practices and collaborations that offer tangible takeaways for participants.

STRANDS & TOPICS: 

The 2023 annual conference will feature session strands and tracks to encourage a more broad and inclusive representation of environmental education innovation, research, approaches and resources. Session presentation formats included traditional presentations, hands-on, workshops, roundtable discussions, panels, and lightning presentations that were intended for different knowledge and experience levels (click here for more information on session formats).  

Session Strands and Example Topics:

  • Conservation - Focus on increasing environmental knowledge, improving environmental awareness and attitudes and inspiring positive actions to lead to improvements in environmental issues including water, fire, flooding, climate change, energy, pollution, overpopulation, etc.

  • Connecting People to Nature/Health and Wellness - Focus on increasing people’s connection to the outdoors to ensure physical, mental, emotional and social health. Topics could include health and wellness connected to outdoor experiences, understanding of personal and environmental health, hands-on learning, place based education, food/agriculture, behavior change, lifelong learning, urban/rural community approaches, etc.)

  • Pre-K-12 Education - Focus on improving academic performance, including greater STEM literacy, increased school engagement for students; programs that support teacher professional development and direct improvement of school grounds and other learning spaces. Topics could include academic standards, curriculum, student achievement, interdisciplinary approaches, projects, extracurricular activities, school grounds, buildings, healthy environments, STEM, homeschooling, and collaborations among schools/universities, EE providers, families, communities, etc.)

  • Youth Development - Focus on guiding young people as they grow into responsible, engaged citizens that care for the environment and their communities. Topics may include professional, leadership, or character development through outdoor experiences or community service, youth engagement, moving forward EE career paths, etc.)

  • Social Justice - Focus on providing access and opportunity for underserved communities and underrepresented populations including increased access to outdoor experiences, improved urban green space, and the development and support of environmental educators and leaders from traditionally underrepresented groups. Topics could include environmental justice, cultural competency, inclusivity/equity practices, engaging diverse audiences/communities (i.e. ethnicity, language, age, gender, ability level, socioeconomic status, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, etc.) 

  • Skills and Professional Learning - Focus on building skills and capacity of professionals within the EE community. Topics may include organizational infrastructure, management, fundraising, evaluation, advocacy, messaging/marketing, volunteers, community outreach, developing and expanding alliances, collaborations, networks, etc.

Other Conference Information

Registration: 2023 conference registration will be available in early Spring 2023.

Interested in Sponsoring the Conference?  Click here for more information.  Sponsorship requests will be due Summer 2023.

Interested in Exhibiting at the Conference? Please contact [email protected]  Online information will be available soon.

Other conference information is currently being updated and will be available on the main conference webpage (see left hand sidebar for specific conference components.)