More about Environmental Education

The Georgia 4-H EE program uses the outdoors as classrooms without walls to provide overnight academic field studies for students in public, private, homeschool and home-based learning in grades K-12.

Participants report an increase in student relationships with their classmates, student relationships with their teacher, environmental awareness, environmental behavioral intent and connectedness to nature.

Environmental Education Printable Overview

The Story of GA 4-H EE

Objectives

To develop an awareness, knowledge and appreciation for the environment
To cultivate curiosity, critical reasoning and evaluation
To develop positive relationships among students and their teachers
To make the school program more meaningful by applying knowledge and skills acquired in the classroom to real life situations
To provide experiences in using scientific processes, such as observing, measuring and classifying
To develop self-confidence and physical fitness
To develop appreciation for the local and natural history of an area

Status Report

One of the nation’s largest residential environmental education programs
A program of Georgia 4-H under Cooperative Extension at the University of Georgia. It was first implemented at Rock Eagle 4-H center in 1979. Over 1.1 million students have participated in the program from 500 different schools, representing six Southeastern states.
Program now established at five 4-H state facilities representing “living laboratories” in the mountain, coastal, and piedmont habitats of Georgia.
Forty to forty-five seasonal staff are hired annually as 4-H Environmental Educators to assist the visiting classroom teachers. Classes at each center are taught cooperatively by on site staff and teachers from the school.
The 4-H Environmental Education Program serves more than 37,000 students each school year.

More Information

Annual Program Reviews

Download our Annual Program Reviews to learn more about the value of our programs and evaluation summaries.