TAEO Home
Welcome to Teaching About the Environment Outdoors (TAEO). TAEO is a four week, one-credit graduate-level online course. This course is intended for teachers in UW-SP’s Extended Masters Program, educators within the non-formal sector, or anyone looking for techniques and strategies for teaching youth about environmental topics in the outdoors.
Children today spend nine times more time indoors being entertained by electronics than they are outdoors playing, observing, and physically experiencing "fresh air." Current research shows that students benefit cognitively, emotionally, and physically by being allowed to spend time in green spaces. (Louv 2006) By taking students outside of the traditional classroom, you can provide great opportunities for positive learning experiences about the environment with meaningful hands-on education in your own schoolyard.
TAEO consists of four units; teaching & learning outdoors, environmental topics to teach, teaching methods, and planning & preparation. Each week you will be asked to read content material, visit outreach websites, and complete three assignments. The assignments consist of a short-essay reflection pertaining to that week's readings, an online group discussion, and an activity you must complete outdoors. You will use Desire2Learn (D2L) to submit all of your assignments. D2L can be accessed by clicking on the link to the left.
I encourage you to use the TAEO assignments and activities to reconnect with the outdoors yourself. I recommend starting an outdoor journal to record new ideas, thoughts, perceptions, reactions, and outdoor experiences. Use your outdoor journal as a reflection tool to become inspired (or re-inspired) to teach in the outdoors.
Please take time to explore the navigation links on the left. These links
contain important information about the course including what to expect, how to submit assignments, and deadlines. Please email me
klockman@uwsp.edu if you are having any trouble accessing or navigating the pages.
All TAEO photographs were taken by Karla Lockman