Hamline University's NAAEE-accredited Natural Sciences and Environmental Education program has launched the nation's first graduate certificate in nature-based education for classroom teachers and other school staff. The benefits of nature-based education are well-documented and have been shown to improve academic outcomes, social-emotional learning, and physical health for students and teachers alike. It also has an equigenic effect: the benefits are even more pronounced in historically underserved communities and populations. Distinct from environmental education, which typically offers content about the environment, nature-based education uses the environment as a context for learning every discipline, meaning the education happens in, with, and through direct experiences in the natural world.

Building on the success of the Teacher Field School, a grant-funded program supported by the MN Legislative Citizens Commission on Minnesota's Resources, the ten-credit certificate program helps educators, administrators, and school support staff learn to use nature as a context for learning in any grade level.  Grounded in research and practice, with a focus specifically on the needs of classroom educators, the coursework includes both in-person and online options and includes nature immersion, individualized and team-based approaches to curriculum refinement and student support, and a final synthesis project. 

For more information, please reach out to Dr Patty Born, program director, pselly01@hamline.edu. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and you may begin the program at any time.

Learn more about Hamline's Nature-based education certificate on the program's website.