Trainings & Events

Annual Conference

The annual conference is held each year in April.

Project Learning Tree

Project Learning Tree is a collection of award winning activity guides for Pre K-grade 12.

Growing Up WILD

Growing Up WILD is an award winning guide for educators who work with students aged 3-7.

More Trainings Near You

A variety of trainings are offered by trained environmental educators throughout Illinois.

EdVentures for Educators

 
On Friday and Saturday, September 20-21st at Southern Illinois University's Touch of Nature Environmental Center, EEAI, IL Project Learning Tree, Shawnee National Forest and Touch of Nature Environmental Education Center staff came together to host an incredible professional development training event. 

Thank you Sustainable Forestry Initiative for making this event possible! 
​The Environmental Education Association of Illinois’ first EdVentures for Educators event brought 19 kindergarten through 8th grade teachers together for a multi-day environmental education experience. This very non-traditional training opportunity provided participants with a diverse selection of outdoor learning experiences designed to engage while meeting high education expectations and state learning standards. The event format focus was to provide practical and engaging curricula and easy to replicate outdoor learning for teacher participants to share with their students. Environmental education is multi-disciplinary and connects youth to nature and the outdoors by intentionally engaging their natural intrinsic values. Participants’ reported their favorite experiences were the outdoor field learning opportunities with foresters and naturalists. Participants elaborated by sharing comments including, “love the experience, hands on learning, and how applicable it all was.” Another shared, “amazing resources and all for no cost. Excellent guidance in adding experiential activities to our instruction.”
​EdVentures for Educators was a collaborative event that brought together curricula and education specialists with natural resources professionals and outdoor leadership experts. Each collaborative partner brought an important aspect to the training. The Environmental Education Association of Illinois, Illinois Project Learning Tree, Shawnee National Forest, and SIU’s Touch of Nature Environmental Center believe in the ability of nature-based education to inspire learners of all ages. 100% of participants responded “yes” when asked if they would recommend EdVentures for Educators to a colleague. They expressed their enthusiasm for the event by sharing, “This workshop was so great! I hope that you can expand it to include more teachers within the group! Teachers need workshops like these. I will highly recommend this to my colleagues next year!”

Images from SIU's Touch of Nature Environmental Center