Office of Innovation
The Environmental and Outdoor Learning Hub helps teachers, students, and schools build knowledge, resources, and skills in the natural environment, both globally and locally. This hub is a place for educators, leaders, and partners to explore environmental education resources, opportunities, and connections.
Learning about and in the outdoors is crucial for students' social-emotional learning and confidence, creative problem solving, community engagement, local environmental stewardship, and physical health. This approach includes the pursuit of equitable and accessible outdoor education, an emphasis on supporting the well-being and climate resiliency of students, the integration of traditional ecological knowledge, and the skills and knowledge for outdoor recreation, conservation, and climate change action. Partnerships, collaborations, and a wide range of models for environmental education are employed throughout the state of Maine.
Maine DOE Programs
The Office of Innovation connects the various departments, projects, and initiatives across the Maine DOE that address some aspect of environmental or outdoor learning. Many of these projects are housed in different departments; collecting them here allows any visitor to locate a program and the Maine DOE contact leading that work. Each school or school community may want different guidance, so each project below links out so you can learn more and determine its fit for your community.
Maine Educator Environmental and Outdoor Education Learning Portal — Join EnGiNE, free for educators, and dive into connections and content with Maine educators around the state.
Green Schools Program
The Maine Green Schools Program, a partnership between the Maine Department of Education and the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, supports schools in advancing sustainability across leadership, facilities, curriculum, and career pathways. The initiative helps schools adopt cleaner technologies, improve building performance, and create meaningful climate-related learning opportunities that extend from the classroom into the community.
Maine DOE contact: Glenn Cummings, Director of Green Schools
Climate Education
Climate Education is guided by the Maine Environmental and Climate Literacy Plan, which outlines a vision of environmental literacy for the state and a coordinated effort to strengthen environmental education, climate literacy, and outdoor learning. The program also administers the Climate Education Professional Development Grant Program, created by L.D. 1902, which awards grants for climate-related interdisciplinary professional learning carried out in partnership with community-based nonprofit organizations.
Maine DOE contact: Teddy Lyman, Climate Education Specialist
Trail Guides
Trail Guide Coaches work alongside Maine teachers and schools to co-plan lessons, model outdoor learning strategies, and help connect standards-aligned classroom learning to the natural world right outside the school door. Whether you are just beginning to explore outdoor learning or are looking for new ways to take existing lessons outside, a Trail Guide can help you get started. Trail Guides is a free program.
Maine DOE contact: Sharon Gallant, Trail Guide Coach
Wabanaki Studies
The Maine DOE supports PK-12 educators in integrating Wabanaki Studies into existing curricula, centering and highlighting Wabanaki perspectives, histories, and experiences. This material represents a continuing collaborative effort between the Wabanaki Nations, Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators, districts, and other organizations. Resources include a Wabanaki Studies Framework, guidance on cultural appropriation and critical thinking, a Knowledge Sharers Directory, and monthly office hours.
Maine DOE contact: Brianne Lolar, Wabanaki Studies Specialist
Resources
Outdoor and Environmental Foundations
A curated collection of resources and professional learning opportunities to help educators and learners build a strong foundation in outdoor and environmental education.
Guides
Training
- Educational Trip Leader Permit: Teachers & Educators
- Outdoor Leadership and Education Graduate Certificate University of Maine
Applications in the Classroom
Outdoor and Environmental Connections
Partnerships and networks to explore centered on environmental and outdoor education.
Resources
- Teach ME Outside
- Maine Climate Office University of Maine
Networks
- Connected Learning Ecosystems Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Opportunities
- Mini Grants for Outdoor Learning Maine Environmental Education Association
Past Projects
These initiatives are no longer active, but their resources and lessons continue to inform environmental and outdoor learning work across Maine.
Maine Outdoor Learning Initiative (MOLI)
Developed by the Maine DOE at the direction of Governor Mills, MOLI was a statewide effort to connect Maine's young people to the outdoors through engaging, hands-on learning opportunities, with an emphasis on equity of access for all students. The initiative provided outdoor education program design and consultation, supported schools in developing outdoor learning spaces, offered use of the Maine Outdoor Learning Pavilion on Mackworth Island, and developed teaching and learning resources.
Rethinking Responsive Education Ventures (RREV)
RREV was funded through a federal grant from 2020 to 2024 to support and develop projects strengthening a culture of innovation in PK-12 education. The work continues today as Innovative Research and Design (IR&D), which supports schools in pursuing innovative approaches to teaching and learning, guided by state statute and informed by lessons learned from the RREV project.