2024 MAEE Conference

Registration includes full access to conference sessions, activities and meals for day(s) registered. Lodging is located on-campus at Camp Friendship and includes dorm-suite style rooms with bunkbeds, anticipated 4 per room. Participants should plan to bring their own bedding, pillows and towels. We will try to honor any roommate requests noted on the registration form.

Friday, October 4th, 2024

4:00pm - 5:30pm:  Registration & Exploring Camp Friendship

5:30pm - 6:15pm:  DINNER

6:15pm - 6:30pm:  Welcome & Announcements

6:30pm - 7:30pm:  Camp Friendship Programs Overview

7:30pm - 8:30pm:  Choose your own adventure:

OPTION 1:  Exploring the Night Sky (if skies are clear)

OPTION 2:  Climate Change Campfire Stories

Saturday, October 5th, 2024

7:45am - 8:30am BREAKFAST

8:30am - 9:00am Registration

9:00am - 9:45am: SESSION 1 

Session 1A: 75 Minnesota Schoolyard Gardens, What we Learned

Session 1B: Environmental sustainability through Integrated STEM education

Session 1C: Teaching Human Ecology with Models and Simulations

10:00am - 10:45am: SESSION 2

Session 2A: Student Panel: Climate and Racial Justice through a 2024 Lens

Session 2B: Guiding the future of EE and youth outdoor experiences in Minnesota

Session 2C: Building a Successful Native Garden at Your School

11:00am - 12:30pm: WORKSHOPS

Workshop 1: People, Place & Critical Partnerships: Native Prairie Plants As Superheroes Beyond Water Quality

Workshop 2: Season Watch, Observing and Recording Nature Observations

Workshop 3: Liberating Structures - Facilitation for Change

12:30pm - 1:15pm:  LUNCH

1:15pm - 3:15pm:  Choose Your Own Adventure: 

Option 1: Foraging & Mushroom Hunting 101 at Lake Maria State Park

Option 2: High Ropes Course  (cost: $20 per person)

Option 3: EE Olympics: Camp Sports Fun Competition

3:30pm - 4:15pm:  SESSION 3

Session 3A: Connecting Minnesotans 55+ to Nature - Field Scan Findings

Session 3B: Healthy Collectivism: Sowing Seeds of Healing After the Pandemic

Session 3C: Students Become Scientists: Real Research in the Classroom

4:30pm - 5:15pm:  Choose your own adventure:

OPTION 1:  Networking Hike

OPTION 2:  HappEE Hour

5:00pm - 7:30pm:  Silent Auction 

5:30pm - 6:15pm:  DINNER

6:15pm - 7:00pm:  Keynote Speaker

7:30pm - 8:30pm:  Choose your own adventure:

OPTION 1:  Exploring the Night Sky (if clear skies) 

OPTION 2:  EE Trivia Night 

9:00pm - 9:30pm:  Campfire Songs & S’mores

Sunday, October 6th, 2024

7:45am - 8:30am:  BREAKFAST

9:00am - 10:00am:  Fostering a network of collaborators across Minnesota & MAEE 2025 initiatives

10:00am - 10:30am:  Closing Announcements & Networking

Friday, October 4th, 2024

4:00pm - 5:30pm Registration & Exploring Camp Friendship

5:30pm - 6:15pm DINNER

6:15pm - 6:30pm Welcome & Announcements

6:30pm - 7:30pm Camp Friendship Programs Overview: incorporating accessibility into programs 

Abby Dehmer, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at True Friends

True Friends is a nonprofit organization providing life-changing experiences that enhance independence and self-esteem for children and adults with disabilities, including developmental or physical disabilities, as well as various health conditions.  Come find out about their incredible programs and how they recommend that formal and nonformal teachers add special needs considerations into their own programming.

7:30pm - 8:30pm Choose your own adventure:

OPTION 1:  Exploring the Night Sky (if skies are clear)

Jesse Gates, Voyageurs Conservancy

Guided tour across space with a Voyageurs Conservancy education specialist. With our powerful telescope, you’ll have the opportunity to view distant planets, galaxies, and mesmerizing starscapes like never before!

OPTION 2:  Climate Change Campfire Stories

Hear climate education stories that were gathered from people who attended this year’s state fair.  Discuss and share ideas on how to incorporate climate stories and conversations into your programming or curriculum.

Saturday, October 1, 2022

7:45am - 8:30am BREAKFAST

8:30am - 9:00am Registration

9:00am - 9:45am SESSION 1

Session 1A: 75 Minnesota Schoolyard Gardens, What we Learned

Galen Erickson, Jeffers Foundation

Jeffers Foundation has given grants to nearly 100 schools to start schoolyard gardens. 75 of them were visited 1-2 years later to see the results. A short video was made of each of these. We interviewed students, teachers and principals. What did they plant? Why? What were the problems? What were the benefits? See their creative solutions. Learn from their experience with our free 'A Garden 4 Every School' program.

Session 1B: Environmental sustainability through Integrated STEM education

Shuvra Rahman, University of Minnesota

This is a hands-on presentation where participants will engage in activity. Importance of integrated STEM education for environmental sustainability will be discussed. Integrated STEM education can equip the students with necessary skills and knowledge to build an environmentally sustainable world. This presentation gives a hands-on demonstration on teaching environmental sustainability and STEM in the classroom.

Session 1C: Teaching Human Ecology with Models and Simulations

Laura Short, Population Education

Models and simulations can be used effectively to better understand ecological concepts and cause-and-effect relationships in nature, including how human activities can change the physical landscape, affect ecosystems on land and in water, and alter the atmosphere. Introduce students to human ecology concepts with inquiry-based simulations, role-playing, and modeling activities that explore global land use and water use, population changes, changes to wildlife habitats and interdependent relationships in ecosystems.

10:00am - 10:45am SESSION 2 

Session 2A: Student Panel: Climate and Racial Justice through a 2024 Lens

Julius Mims, University of Minnesota

Diverse panel of 3-5 college students share perspectives on climate and racial justice through a 2024 lens. This session will highlight modern perspectives on climate and racial justice and a greater sense of youth's concerns regarding those issues.

Session 2B: Guiding the future of EE and youth outdoor experiences in Minnesota

Jeff Ledermann, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

The 2024 Minnesota Legislature is requiring a report on state programs that facilitate opportunities for Minnesota youth to experience the outdoors, identify gaps in existing programs, and recommendations for program and policy changes to increase opportunities to serve additional Minnesota youth through Outdoor Schools for All legislation or other proposals designed to increase access to the outdoors for underserved youth. This is an unprecedented opportunity for the EE community to provide input to state policymakers.

Session 2C: Building a Successful Native Garden at Your School

Alyssa Janilla, Kind Roots Early Learning and Care LLC & Chris Stumvoll, Minnesota Native Landscapes

Native gardens at schools can serve as outdoor classrooms, living laboratories and community hubs, providing students with a gateway to the natural world that is not miles away, but right at home. Native gardens have inspired generations of students to become scientists, naturalists, horticulturalists and more.  Learn how to build a native garden at your school, including how to analyze your site, employ basic design principles of native gardening, and choose the right combination of native plants.

11:00am - 12:30pm WORKSHOPS

Workshop 1: People, Place & Critical Partnerships: Native Prairie Plants As Superheroes Beyond Water Quality

Dr. Heidi M.S. Ferris, University of St. Thomas

This session shares results, stories, and strategies from a three-year dissertation research project by Dr. Heidi M.S. Ferris that addresses a problem in Minnesota communities at the intersection of ecological and social systems.  Despite efforts to use native prairie plants for cleaning water, the social justice stories connected to native prairie plants are being ignored.  The problem has negatively impacted communities because native prairie plants can be an educational tool for action around water justice, climate change, systemic racism, and habitat restoration.  The purpose of the multiple case study was to hear from diverse voices, perspectives and partnerships involved with a variety of native prairie planting sites in the Minneapolis area.  Nine findings emerged from the data, as well as hands-on, enviroSTEM learning activities for formal and informal environmental education settings.

Workshop 2: Season Watch, Observing and Recording Nature Observations

Stephan Carlson, University of Minnesota Forestry & John Latimer, KAXE Radio

K-12 Classrooms across the State are contributing to Season Watch, a weekly phenology program that shares students observation on the radio and website. John Latimer has worked with teachers and over 40 classrooms across the State for 30 plus years to send in weekly observations to KAXE Radio out of Grand Rapids. Students send in an audio recording and that gets played on Tuesday mornings in the Phenology Talkback program. This workshop will train teachers on using Nature's Notebook to record and document local observations and the tools to forward them on to KAXE Radio.

Workshop 3: Liberating Structures - Facilitation for Change

Breanna Trygg, Voyageurs Conservancy

Dive into the world of Liberating Structures - facilitation tools that work everywhere from the classroom to the boardroom! This immersion session will introduce you to new ways of engaging your audience, doing real work together, and including all voices. Useful as back pocket tools to energize your students, or as a planning tool to create your organization's most useful strategic plan yet. Say no to boring meetings or "sage on the stage" moments with these tools you will experience today and can use tomorrow.

12:30pm - 1:15pm LUNCH

1:15pm - 3:15pm Choose Your Own Adventure - 

Option 1: Foraging & Mushroom Hunting 101 at Lake Maria State Park

Jaime Rockney, Chick of the Woods

Join an experienced forager and certified wild mushroom identifier as we explore Lake Maria State Park and see what edibles we can find!  We will discover how to identify fall mushrooms and edibles which will give participants confidence to safely take advantage of the bountiful food that nature provides back in their own backyards and nearby natural areas. 

Option 2: High Ropes Course 

High ropes, high hopes! Participants will feel on top of the world on Camp Friendship’s high ropes course that will challenge your strength, stamina, and mental focus.

Option 3: EE Olympics: Camp Sports

A little competition is good - let’s have some fun with EE Olympics!  Camp Friendship has a variety of sports opportunities such as gaga ball, volleyball, basketball and more.  We’ll match up teams and have some fun playing familiar games from camp. No skills required, or any athletic ability whatsoever - just a good sense of humor and a little spirit! Prizes awarded to the winning team.

3:30pm - 4:15pm SESSION 3 

Session 3A: Connecting Minnesotans 55+ to Nature - Field Scan Findings

Joelle Hoeft, Joelle Hoeft Consulting

This session will share findings from "A Field Scan of Older Adults and Nature in Minnesota", which explores opportunities, barriers, and recommendations for doing more to expand access to nature for Minnesotans ages 55+. Attendees will learn about models, as well as what older adults share when asked what they would like to do outdoors in nature. We will explore future field building opportunities to support greater access and have opportunities for discussion and sharing.

Session 3B: Healthy Collectivism: Sowing Seeds of Healing After the Pandemic

Tracy Larson, Wilderness Inquiry

The pandemic brought about a significant shift in education, revealing both harmful impacts and positive changes. Wilderness Inquiry’s outdoor educational programming has proven to be an effective strategy for improving youth learning and social-emotional development with hands-on, place-based experiences in nature. Using our programs as a springboard, Wilderness Inquiry is determined to get wider adoption of outdoor learning in the education system. Discussion will be focused on collective action for outdoor education and how you can get involved.

Session 3C: Students Become Scientists: Real Research in the Classroom

Maggie Karschnia, Minnesota Sea Grant

With hands-on activities, participants will learn about current research projects at the University of Minnesota that students can engage with, taking an active role in research projects and becoming researchers themselves. This session will highlight both hands-on field science as well as online science opportunities, including how to connect students directly to real-world scientists.

4:30pm - 5:15pm Choose your own adventure -

OPTION 1:  Networking Hike

Explore the trails and grounds at Camp Friendship while networking with fellow environmental educators.

OPTION 2:  HappEE Hour

Sponsored by Invictus Brewing, enjoy sampling cold brews while networking with other EE professionals.

5:00pm - 7:30pm Silent Auction 

5:30pm - 6:15pm DINNER

6:15pm - 7:00pm Keynote Speaker:  Dr. Patty Born Selly

Dr. Patty Born Selly is an assistant professor of environmental and STEM education at Hamline University in St Paul MN. She is Program Director of the Master of Arts in environmental education and teaches in the School of Education and Leadership. Prior to her work in higher education, Patty taught in traditional and non-formal settings including museums, nature centers, wildlife reserves, primary classrooms, and preschool programs. She has written four books for educators who work with young children, on topics ranging from STEM in the outdoors to child-animal relations. Her research interests include climate justice for children, early childhood education for sustainability, and the role of nature- based learning in fostering a sense of hope in children, youth, and adults.

7:30pm - 8:30pm Choose your own adventure - 

OPTION 1:  Exploring the Night Sky (if clear skies) 

Jesse Gates, Voyageurs Conservancy

Guided tour across space with a Voyageurs Conservancy education specialist. With our powerful telescope, you’ll have the opportunity to view distant planets, galaxies, and mesmerizing starscapes like never before!

OPTION 2:  EE Trivia Night 

Test your knowledge of nature and ecological history in Minnesota in a fun trivia night with fellow environmental education professionals!  Teams of 2-4 will compete for prizes.

9:00pm - 9:30pm Campfire Songs & S’mores

Sing along to your favorite camp songs and enjoy some tasty s’mores by the campfire!

Sunday, October 6th, 2024

7:45am - 8:30am BREAKFAST

9:00am - 10:00am Fostering a network of collaborators across Minnesota & MAEE 2025 initiatives

Join us for an interactive session that will utilize the World Café method to foster meaningful conversations and connections around environmental education and MAEE. This event will create a living network of collaborative dialogue, allowing you to:

• • • • Provide insights into the needs of environmental educators in Minnesota
      • Brainstorm ideas and solutions to enhance environmental education opportunities delivered by MAEE
      • Engage in deep, facilitated discussions on important questions that matter to you

10:00am - 10:30am Closing Announcements & Networking