Want to Evaluate But Don’t Know How? Let EUGENE Help! Ecological Understanding as a Guideline for Evaluation of Non-Formal Education Dr. Mike Mengak- University of Georgia, Dr. Michaela Zint- University of Michigan, Dr. Barbara McDonald- USDA Forest Service, Michelle C. Andrews-University of Georgia, Dr. Stan Zarnoch-USDA Forest Service What is EUGENE? A non-formal EE evaluation system that : based upon 7 general educational ecological principles highly adaptable & easy to use virtually cost free to EE administrators & teachers Why use EUGENE? Your teaching programs emphasize the importance of ecological understanding. The 7 general ecological principles are already incorporated into popular EE programs. Of 94 activities surveyed (e.g. Project Learning Tree, WET, WILD), 92 (97.9%) included references to at least one ecological principle & 69 (73.4%) included references to four or more ecological principles. Mengak, M.T., Rutledge, H. E., McDonald, B. (2009). Ecological principles – A Unifying Theme in Environmental Education. In Press: Journal of Extension Principles of Ecology: Adaptation Behavior Growth & Development Diversity Energy Flow Limits Regulation (Used as education standards) Named in honor of Eugene Odum, the “father of modern ecology.” When to use EUGENE? Review your activities. Are any of the 7 principles evident? If so, then EUGENE will measure knowledge gain of those principles. Where to find EUGENE? www.projecteugene.org EUGENE can also be found on MEERA (My Environmental Education Evaluation Research Assistant) http://meera.snre.umich.edu Just about everything that concerns us as humans on this earth—growth, competition and cooperation, health, quality of life, survival, use of energy, space and resources, relationships with other forms of life and so on—has parallels in nature. UGA Institute of Ecology assisted in the ID of the 8 ecological principles…. Cronbach Alpha Scores for each set of questions per principle. Adaptation 0.685 Behavior 0.729 Development Diversity 0.674 Energy Flow 0.614 Limits 0.652 Regulation 0.640 ….statements were developed for each principle to be used in a simple evaluation instrument. Therefore it stands to reason that we can learn a lot from ecology, the science of the environment, that can help us understand & deal with our human predicaments & dilemmas. Eugene Odum