Council for Environmental Education Internship

Organization Description: CEE, an education non-profit organization with offices in Houston and Austin, serves as the national headquarters for Project WILD, the largest wildlife education program in the United States (see www.projectwild.org). As the cornerstone publication for the Project WILD program, the “Project WILD: K-12 Curriculum and Activity Guide” helps tens of thousands of K-12 educators each year throughout North America and abroad engage students in hand-on activities and projects involving the study and stewardship of wildlife and the environment. At the national level CEE also administers Aquatic WILD, Growing Up WILD, and Flying WILD. The curriculum guides for each of these programs, as well as the educator professional development trainings these programs offer, are closely aligned to the education and outreach efforts of Project WILD sponsoring organizations—primarily fish and wildlife agencies in North America.

In recent years, CEE completed updating and expanding the “Aquatic WILD K-12 Educators Curriculum and Activity Guide.” More recently, CEE designed and developed much new content for the main Project WILD “terrestrial” curriculum guide. Efforts are now focused on finalizing content and editing in preparation for publishing this expanded “Next Generation” Project WILD K-12 Curriculum and Activity Guide.

Position Description: As part of the team at CEE working on the final stages of expanding the Project WILD K-12 Curriculum and Activity Guide, the Curriculum Editor Assistant will focus mainly on content editing and copy editing. The Curriculum Editor Assistant will help review, analyze, research, and edit written and graphic content to help ensure quality control and the delivery of well-written activities or lesson plans. The intern will help assess texts and graphics in terms of sound pedagogy, best practices for education, scientific accuracy, national education standards (such as Next Generation Science Standards), and well-balanced perspectives on issues pertaining to wildlife conservation and managment. The intern will work on content targeting K-12 grade students and teachers as well as nonformal educators. The content will involve multiple academic subject areas, but with an emphasis on science education—including student-centered field investigations, STEM learning, inquiry approaches, career development in wildlife management, and outdoor learning. The intern will also help organize and update appendices in the “Project WILD K-12 Curriculum and Activity Guide” and conduct photo searches to be published in the guide.

Throughout the internship, the intern will meet no less than once per week with CEE staff for a progress report and to ensure that the intern has all of the information and resources needed to complete the work. The intern will also be encouraged to solicit guidance as often as needed.

The intern placed with CEE will be encouraged to be creative and feel empowered to share innovative ways to improve the Project WILD curriculum. By completing this internship the Curriculum Editor Assistant will gain knowledge, experience, and/or skills in:

• Copy editing
• Content editing
• Planning and organizing text and graphics for curriculum development
• Knowledge of the fields of environmental education and science education
• Knowledge of nonformal and formal educator professional development systems and networks
• Knowledge of the educational publishing industry
• Researching environmental conservation issues and organizations
• Researching trends in educational methodologies
• Preparing reports, summaries, and goals for an organization
• Project WILD or related professional development training

In addition to completing the above job description, the intern will collaborate with staff members on a variety of other tasks, including assisting with preparations for an annual conference of Project WILD partnering organizations. With a small staff running several national programs, the intern will have a unique opportunity to be fundamentally involved with all of the programs, and environmental education as a whole, starting on day one.

Participation in weekly staff meetings will provide an overview of the business of running a nonprofit, keep the intern up to date on staff projects, and allow them to report out on their own projects.

The position requires working in an office setting, at a desk, and using a computer most of the time.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• Experience writing
• Knowledge of general office operations
• Detail oriented and well organized
• Ability to use Microsoft Office and Excel software
• Time management skills
• Effective oral and written skills
• Research skills

Preferred Experience (in one or more of the following): Previous writing and editing experience, advanced coursework and/or experience in writing and/or editing, K-12 education, lesson planning, curriculum development, environmental sciences, or STEM education, collaborating in a team using basic Google apps.

Send a cover letter and resume to Marc LeFebre, at marcL@councilforee.org.

While there is no application deadline, CEE hopes to complete the hire for this position by December 20, 2016.