Conference Goals and
Objectives
The conference theme:
Education for a Secure and Sustainable Future
Conference Goals:
Conference Objectives:
Prepare a national agenda for education for a sustainable and secure future.
Develop a plan and a constituency for making this agenda a national priority.
Bring leaders in society and science together with the full range of the educational enterprise -- from formal (K-12, college and graduate) to informal, including public education and training in environmental education, sustainability education, nature education, agricultural education, science education, and engineering education.
Address major questions such as the identification of essential knowledge about the environment and sustainability and how such knowledge is related to the security and stability of human and natural systems.
Address the roles of science and values in education and explore the use of new technologies and pedagogies.
Discuss challenges such as fragmentation, gaining public support and using funds more effectively.
Explore and evaluate the diversity of approaches but allow participants to discover shared ground of common themes and approaches.
Produce a report of recommendations on how to improve environmental and sustainability education on various levels and in various communities and as a whole.
Distribute the report widely including through briefings and presentations to Congress, federal agencies, press, and K-12 and higher education and UN officials working on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainability.
Participants
Some 600 – 800 scientists, educators, policymakers, business people, international, federal, state, tribal and local government officials, environmentalists and community leaders.
Conference Outline:
Plenary lecture – Jonathan Lash, World Resources Institute
Goal: Make the case for a broader perspective of security that integrates sustainability and the environment; discuss the role of education in achieving a sustainable and secure future.
Roundtable discussion – Ray Suarez, moderator
Goal: Through a conversation involving leaders with diverse perspectives, develop additional understanding of connections among security, sustainability and the environment and how education should be changed in order to increase the understanding of these relationships.
Participants: Leaders in government, science, communication and education across the political spectrum.
21 concurrent breakout sessions including K-12, community ed, higher ed, public communication, as well as a variety of topics including diversity, geographic education, planetary health, business, and curricular development.
Goal: Develop 6 – 10 bulleted recommendations of what should be done to advance education for a sustainable and secure future within the context of the breakout area
late afternoon/evening – recognition, inspiration and communication –
John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture, NSF Director Dr. Rita Colwell
Goal: Recognize a national leader in linking science and education and human and environmental needs. Better understand the role of science and education in securing an environmentally sound future
Reception
Written presentation of results from breakout sessions (to all participants)
Plenary lecture – Ray Anderson, Interface Flooring Systems
Goal: Reinforce themes from first day by drawing connections between business, sustainability and education
Response panel of decisionmakers and educational leaders
Goal: Potential implementers discuss keystone and synthesized recommendations and how the recommendations relate to their own areas of jurisdiction
Participants: leaders in education and science who are in position to help implement recommendations from the conference.
NCSE Lifetime Achievement Award – Senator Gaylord Nelson
Goal: Honor the founder of Earth Day; gain a historical perspective on environmental education and protection.
Closing plenary panel: How to communicate to the public about environment, sustainability and a secure future
Goal: Educate conference participants about strategies and approaches for developing messages and communicating information to diverse public audiences about environment, sustainability and their relations with security.
Participants: Journalists and communication experts
Exhibition
Education: Programs and Products
Goal: Provide conference participants an opportunity to learn about educational programs and products provided by federal agencies, businesses, educational institutions, and nongovernmental organizations. . Through personal conversations, exchange ideas, best practices, new opportunities and contacts.
http://www.cnie.org/NCSEconference/2003conference/
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