ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION 

To be recommended for certification in Environmental Education, candidates must hold an existing Pennsylvania teaching certificate.

• Agricultural Education
• Elementary Education (checksheet)
• Secondary Biological Sciences (checksheet)
• Secondary Earth and Space Science (checksheet)
• Secondary Social Studies (checksheet)

To view curriculum checksheets, you will need access to Adobe Acrobat. [Download Acrobat Reader] 

For example, a pre-service teacher working toward a valid Pennsylvania teaching certificate at Penn State in one of the above areas may add the courses specified for Environmental Education on the respective departmental checksheet to the initial certification area. Similarly, an inservice teacher with a valid Pennsylvania teaching certificate in any of those areas may have Environmental Education added to his/her certificate, through a graduate degree program or separately, by adding the specified courses to the initial certification area.

The prescribed Penn State courses on the appropriate curriculum checksheets relate to the following seven Environmental Education certification standards established by the Pennsylvania Department of Education:

1. Interaction between humans and other ecosystems
2. Economics, sociology, politics and technology in environmental management
3. Communicating environmental knowledge
4. Environmental learning sequence
5. History and research in environmental education
6. Societal, biological, political and economic impact on the environment
7. Student teaching

In addition to the courses listed above, the candidate must:  pass the Precertification Competency Examination on Educating Students with Disabilities, as well as pass the pertinent  PRAXIS Series.

Further information on Environmental Education certification can be obtained by contacting one of the following college representatives:

Agriculture: Dr. Dennis C. Scanlon, 337 Agricultural Administration Bldg., 863-7852
Education: Dr. Murry Nelson, 141 Chambers Bldg., 865-1500
Recreation/Parks: Mr. Gerald Potter, 201 Mateer Bldg., 863-2000