With Bridget Booth and Leah Higgins of the Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE) and the MiPINES app
How can we connect people to outdoor spaces in their state or province? An app might not be the first thing that comes to mind, as so many are looking for ways to decrease screen time and increase green time. But maybe a bit of screen time on a carefully constructed app like MiPINES can ultimately get more people outdoors. How do these technologies impact experiential environmental educators like park naturalists? What are some of the keys to leveraging digital tools for outdoor learning? We discussed these topics and more… and got off on a tangent about the super-picky Kirtland’s Warblers in northern Michigan.
Guests:
Bridget Booth is an 8th-grade science teacher at Haslett Middle School and a certified environmental educator in Michigan. She got her start in education at Woldumar Nature Center in Lansing and has been taking students outdoors to learn ever since. She is currently the president of the Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE), whose mission is to support, inspire, and empower a diverse network of individuals with a passion for environmental and outdoor learning. Bridget lives with her husband and two sons in East Lansing and will spend her summer reading, playing in the northern woods, and swimming in the Great Lakes.
Leah Higgins is beginning a career in environmental education after graduating Summa Cum Laude from Eastern Michigan University in 2019. After graduation, she worked as a volunteer intern for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and is now serving as the Education Programs Developer at the DNR RAM Center via Huron Pines AmeriCorps. Leah recognizes place-based education as a valuable component of any environmental ethic, noting that the environment is not a place “out there” but is instead the place where we all live.
Episode 42: Food forest gardening
Episode 41: Farm to school
Episode 40: Placed-based education and life cycles
Episode 39: Managing eco-anxiety and ecological grief
Episode 38: Gamification for EE
Episode 37: Student-powered learning and mentorship
Episode 36: Nature-based healing
Episode 35: Watershed education
Episode 34: Inside New Jersey’s climate change ed. breakthrough
Episode 33: Unpacking environmental racism with Green Ummah
Episode 32: Teaching music and drama outside in all seasons (in Winnipeg)
Episode 31: Equity in environmental education
Episode 30: Gen Zs talk climate change, sustainability, and reciprocity in education
Episode 29: Biomimicry: Taking design lessons from nature
Episode 28: Bringing rocks and geology to life in land-based learning
Episode 27: Bananas in the classroom (and other fair-trade matters)
Episode 26: Bringing science to special ed. classrooms with PBELL
Episode 25: The future of energy, transportation, food, materials, and information
Episode 24: Green jobs for youths roundtable, Part 2
Episode 23: Green jobs for youths roundtable, Part 1
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
Teaching Learning Leading K-12
Regenerative Skills
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast