Master of Education Program
A Natural Approach to Education
The best educators are those who can creatively teach core curriculum topics both inside and outside the classroom. By adding EBL credentials to your resume, you will learn how to use assets within your own community to engage and motivate students to want to learn.
Mary Baldwin College offers one of the nation’s first environment-based learning (EBL) graduate programs designed specifically for educators. With an environment-based educational approach, educators use the local community and environment to teach all subjects in a way that is meaningful and relevant to K-12 students.
By integrating an inquiry-based outdoor education model into their curriculum, teachers can help their students develop critical thinking skills, become better problem solvers, and gain an appreciation for their surroundings.
EBL courses like Math in the Garden, The Intersection of Life and Land, and Natural Research empower you to teach relevant content through engagement with world outside your classroom walls.
Research suggests that active, inquiry-based learning in the outdoors increases student academic achievement in all subjects. When students study and apply content in real world settings, they gain a deep understanding of the concepts and therefore are better able to transfer the knowledge to other situations- including to questions on standardized tests. The environment provides the perfect setting for this kind of natural learning.
–Tamra Willis, Program Director for Environment-Based Learning (EBL)
An increasing number of parents and a few good schools are realizing the importance and the magic of providing hands-on, intimate contact between children and nature as a larger part of a child’s education.
–Richard Louv, author of New York Times bestseller, Last Child in the Woods
