---
title: About Environmental Education
description: "**Summary** Environmental education (EE) prepares people of all ages to understand environmental issues and take informed action. In Pennsylvania's AML/AMD context, EE connects communities to the science of watershed health, builds the next generation of practitioners and volunteers, and sustains…"
url: "https://aml-connect.org/aml-knowledge-base/about-environmental-education/"
updated: "2026-03-14"
category: Environmental Education
---

# About Environmental Education

**Summary**

Environmental education (EE) prepares people of all ages to understand environmental issues and take informed action. In Pennsylvania's AML/AMD context, EE connects communities to the science of watershed health, builds the next generation of practitioners and volunteers, and sustains long-term public support for restoration work. This page introduces what environmental education is and how this section of AML-Connect is organized.

## What Environmental Education Is

Environmental education is a lifelong process with the goal of preparing environmentally literate people to make informed decisions and take positive action to protect natural resources. It is not advocacy for a particular position -- it develops skills in observation, inquiry, and evidence-based decision-making that people can apply to any environmental question.

Effective environmental education combines classroom learning with direct experience in the environment -- field investigations, water monitoring, site visits, and hands-on experiments. Pennsylvania's adoption of the PA STEELS (Science, Technology, and Environmental Education and Literacy Standards) framework embeds environmental literacy across all science disciplines from PreK through grade 12.

## What's in This Section

This section organizes EE resources relevant to AML/AMD and watershed work in Pennsylvania into four areas:

- **Educator Resources and Training** -- Programs, workshops, curricula, and professional development for teachers and non-formal educators
- **Student and Youth Programs** -- K-12 and college programs with hands-on watershed and environmental science components
- **Community and Public Programs** -- Programs for adults, volunteers, and the general public
- **AMD-Specific Education** -- Programs and materials focused specifically on acid mine drainage and AML

## Related Pages

- [Educator Resources and Training](https://aml-connect.org/aml-knowledge-base/educator-resources-and-training/)
- [Student and Youth Programs](https://aml-connect.org/aml-knowledge-base/student-and-youth-programs/)
- [Community and Public Programs](https://aml-connect.org/aml-knowledge-base/community-and-public-programs/)
- [AMD-Specific Education](https://aml-connect.org/aml-knowledge-base/amd-specific-education/)
- [Developing a Monitoring Plan](https://aml-connect.org/aml-knowledge-base/developing-a-monitoring-plan/) (Watershed Tools) -- for groups moving from education to monitoring

**Source and Last Reviewed**
Last reviewed: 2026-03

**Tags:** education, volunteer, practitioner, pa