Earth Day lands annually on April 22, encouraging us to explore the natural world around us. Educators often use this day to encourage the students’ scientific investigations of our environment. One avenue for these investigations is environmental education. Environmental education prepares students for today and tomorrow by immersing them in environmental topics and equipping them with the knowledge and skills necessary to confront challenges with confidence and innovation.
Interestingly, the benefits of environmental education transcend an understanding of our environment. According to the North American Association for Environmental Education, environmental education has many significant benefits for K-12 students. These benefits include improved outcomes in science, mathematics, reading, and writing, improved teamwork and leadership, greater problem solving and oral communication, and more.
Career Connections
In addition, environmental education empowers students to pursue careers that require critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity.
The career connection component is critical, as research shows that 83% of students cannot connect the skills from school to future employment. Similarly, recent research reveals that while 88% of district leaders, teachers, parents, and students rate life skills as very important, only 57% of students believe their schools adequately teach the life skills needed for future success. With over one billion young people expected to enter the global workforce within the next decade, the time is now to connect classrooms to careers.
Educators can use environmental education lessons and activities to inspire student curiosity and, in turn, build confidence and life skills. For example, the Environmental Education Initiative provides free content that educators can use to help students build the life skills needed for success beyond graduation. The content is intentionally interdisciplinary, built around learning standards and four pillars of innovation: environment, community, resources, and STEM.
By embedding environmental literacy in classrooms and connecting learning to other topics like STEM and civics, the high-quality instructional materials from the Environmental Education Initiative can help a new generation develop the necessary skills — communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity — to succeed in a wide range of careers.
Career-Ready Skills Focus
The focus on developing skills is intentional, as the skills required for careers are constantly evolving. In fact, the World Economic Forum finds that on average, workers can expect that two-fifths of existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated over the 2025-2030 period. Unsurprisingly, skills are a primary focus of employers, with 85% of employers prioritizing upskilling their workforce. In fact, the Future of Jobs Report 2025 finds that environmental stewardship is one of the top 10 fastest growing skills for the first time. However, with the ability to effectively communicate, thoughtfully collaborate, think critically, and be creative, students are prepared to meet the challenges of a changing work environment.
Educating for the Future
More than just education, environmental education provides students insight into the interconnectedness of all things.
The focus on broader connections fostered by environmental education empowers students to be thoughtful of not only the how, but also the why, of work. And because these resources are free, all students can capitalize on the opportunity to build real-world and career connections starting today. In short, environmental education doesn’t just help students in their current education; it prepares them to enter the workforce tomorrow.
About the Author
Amy Nakamoto
As Executive Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Partnerships at Discovery Education, Amy leads strategy connecting corporate and community partners to K-12 school classrooms via real-world content, large-scale critical issue coalitions, and direct partnerships with school districts. Discovery Education is the partner to more than 60 companies, nonprofits, and government agencies, uniquely positioning Discovery Education in schools as the best-in-class education technology solution infused with real-world experiences that take students and teachers beyond the classroom. During her professional career, Amy has worked at the intersection of the education, nonprofit, corporate, and government sectors to address challenges and opportunities that support the positive development of students, young people, and related stakeholders. Previously, she has served as an executive director and board member of youth-focused nonprofits, led grantmaking and philanthropic strategy in the private foundation sector. Since joining Discovery Education in 2017, Amy has elevated the role of multi-sector partnership development to specifically focus on the K-12 landscape. Amy has a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University, as well as master’s degrees in sport science from University of North Carolina at Greensboro and education from University of Pennsylvania. She lives outside of Washington, DC with her husband, four children, and two dogs.
