CBEEN is a non-profit network in the Canadian Columbia Basin that supports environmental education initiatives. Formed in 2001, it now has over 220 members from education, NGOs, and private/public sectors. CBEEN builds capacity through professional development, information sharing, and networking. It facilitates collaboration and promotes programs, events, and resources. A flagship program, Wild Voices for Kids, provides free environmental and heritage education presentations and field trips for K-12 students by connecting them with local experts. The program aims to provide experiences for students annually and create an engaged, informed youth.

1. Welcome to
CBEEN!

2. Columbia Basin
Environmental
Education Network
Our mission is to encourage
environmental stewardship and
sustainability in the Canadian
Columbia Basin by supporting
environmental education initiatives

3. Formed in 2001 as a non-profit network for environmental education professionals,
CBEEN now has more than 220 members from both the formal and informal
education fields, NGOs and the public and private sectors of the Basin.
A bit about what
we do: CBEEN builds capacity
through professional
development,
information sharing and
networking opportunities
CBEEN facilitates
CBEEN coordinates and
collaboration amongst
promotes environmental
schools, community
education programs,
groups, and
events, and resources
environmental
education professionals

4. + Our members provide programs predominantly to
children and youth, because at this key
developmental stage, they can be inspired to
become lifelong stewards of the environment.
+ CBEEN envisions that each of the 20,000 students in
the Basin’s 6 school districts receive some form of
environmental education each school year.

5. + Experiential learning involves direct
experience with a concept, followed by
observation, reflection, and negotiation,
leading to further inquiry.
+ CBEEN supports programs that get kids outside,
connecting with the natural world.
The Ministry of
Environment’s
Environmental Learning
and Experience
framework employs the
Experiential Learning
Cycle.

6. Environmental Learning and Experience (ELE):
An Interdisciplinary Guide for Teachers

7. The Environmental Learning and
Experience Framework helps teachers
meet PLOs while engaging students in
rich, environment-based learning.
Students gain an understanding of the
complexities of economic, ethical,
political, and social issues relating to the
environment.
Promotes the use of CARE: Complexity;
Aesthetics; Responsibility; and Ethics to
deepen environmental learning.
Supports implementation of many curriculum
packages.
Designed to help integrate environmental
concepts into diverse subjects like science,
social studies and language arts.
Uses the environment as an organizing
theme for teachers who want to affect
change from within the education system.

8. Wild Voices
for Kids
Connecting the Land and its People
CBEEN’s flagship place-based
environmental and heritage
education program, providing free
presentations and field-trips for
students in grades K-12.

9. WVFK is an environmental and heritage education
program that connects students to the natural
and cultural history of the Columbia Basin
How the program works:
+ Program Coordinator recruits qualified Community Educators (CEs)
+ Online database lists available presentations and programs
+ School district representatives promote WVFK program to teachers
+ Teachers select a program and liaise with CBEEN to arrange
presentations or field trips
+ WVFK provides honoraria and travel costs to presenters, and pays for
bussing to field trips
+ Teachers and students provide written feedback on presentations

10. Why Wild Voices for Kids ?
WVFK Program Goals:
+ Connect students and teachers with local experts
+ Provide at least one program per student per year
+ Create informed, decision-making youth engaged in stewardship
+ Assist teachers by linking presentations to Ministry of Education’s
prescribed learning outcomes
+ Build strong ties between communities
and schools

11. Benefits
and
Outcomes
of the
WVFK
program , , ,

12. CBEEN envisions a bright future for
environmental and heritage education
throughout the Columbia Basin
+ Regular capacity building workshops and networking opportunities
+ Annual regional conferences and events
+ Promotion of, and support for, implementation of the ELE framework
+ Continued development of the Community Liaison program
+ Ongoing recruitment of members and Community Educators

13. For more information
visit us at
www.cbeen.org