Conference Info:

Save the date! 

Expand Your Influence!
Empowering Citizen Action for the Environment

February 1 – 4, 2018  
Princess Royale, Ocean City, MD

 Request for Conference Proposals is now open!
All RFPs must be submitted by 5pm on August 1, 2017

In February 2018, the Maryland Association for Environmental & Outdoor Education will bring together educators, resource personnel, scientists and researchers together to share experiences and ideas. Now is your chance to be part of the annual conference! Do you have great ideas, lesson plans, or favorite STEAM and/or NGSS activities you want to share? Do you have knowledge to share on Environmental Education topics? Please read through the instructions below before filling out the Request for Proposal (RFP).

  1. The application will be submitted via a Google Form, the link to the form is here: https://goo.gl/forms/4O9QW9siCRTEFgtc2 Please be sure to read through the entire form before you begin to complete it.
  1. Choose a strand for your presentation. We encourage you to emphasize how you incorporate technology, NGSS, STEAM, and EE standards into your curriculum. The 2018 strands will be:

Actions to Become “Greener” Schools & Communities: These sessions would highlight “green” actions that individuals, agencies, centers or schools could take as they move towards achieving “Sustainable” status.  Suggestions for improving energy conservation at school, work or home, ways to lessen your carbon footprint, ways to engage partners and larger topics of focus would be appropriate.  Alternate forms of energy or other energy related issues, solid waste reduction,  water conservation and management, and sessions designed to build awareness in participants would be appropriate. Have you had great success partnering with your school or county facilities teams to implement Greener practices?  This is the place to highlight that! Additionally, those sessions that would support the MAEOE Green School program would fit in this strand.

 Agriculture Education and Environmental Education: Food, Farm, Environment:  Schools throughout the state are planting edible gardens and connecting with farmers to learn where food comes from, about the economics of farming as well as farm to school and the ties to our environment. Experts from the farming community as well as formal and informal educational staff will share examples of topics; partnerships, techniques and issues tied to agricultural education.

Civic Engagement & Environmental Literacy: What have you done to engage and empower students or community members?  What projects have worked?  Why?  This strand will focus on efforts of civic involvement and engagement, from organizing a schoolyard clean up to presenting at City Hall, PTA’s , school boards and beyond!

Environmental Education and…: ART, SCIENCE, SOCIAL STUDIES, TECHONOLOGY, HUMMANITEIS, BUSINESS, ETC….. How do you incorporate Environmental Education in your programs?  Have you found practical ways to engage and empower people of all ages in understanding ways their actions impact the environment or ways to communicate concepts?  Projects or curriculum materials that marry traditional subjects with an environmental education twist are strongly encouraged.

In Depth Science: This strand will focus on more in-depth exploration of an environmental topic, issue or principal.  It might include a focus on a specific Chesapeake Bay population or particular species, a natural phenomenon or issues dealing with a specific area of the state (i.e. mountaintop removal, fracking, etc.).  Of particular interest to our participants would be sessions presented by scientists or researchers in their field.  If you are presenting on a “controversial issue” we encourage you to share viewpoints from all sides of the issue.  

Natural History:  These sessions should focus on increasing participant’s knowledge of the natural world and how it functions.  Traditionally, this is one of the most popular strands with conference attendees.  Topics could include a focus on conservation, preservation, human history and ecology.  Many conference attendees are looking for advanced topics to build their skill sets in working with people in an outdoor setting.

  1. What kind of session do you intend to present? In addition to our usual offerings we’ve added a “Lightning Round” on Saturday afternoon. For this session the Conference Committee will pair up 2-3 presentations on similar topics. This round is designed to highlight a new topic, research, or a glimpse of a new project to your fellow environmental professionals in just 20 minutes.
  1. NEW THIS YEAR! All presenters MUST PROVIDE their own laptop. MAEOE will continue to provide screens and projectors in each room. If you are using an Apple product, please be sure to bring your own adaptor to connect it to the projector.

Should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact: conference@maeoe.org