About me
Vivian Bowles is passionate about conveying to students that they are part of a great big world, and that it begins in their own backyards. In the fall of 1987, she began her teaching career at Kit Carson Elementary School helping seven and eight-year-old students make connections between themselves, their communities, and the natural world. In 2003, she shifted her teaching adventure to fourth grade, providing opportunities for young scientists and engineers to integrating life, earth, and physical sciences using the environment as a unifying theme. Along the way, she, her students, and a host of volunteers built and maintain a variety of learning gardens on the school campus.
A life-long learner, Vivian’s 2004-06 participation in a series of summer institutes, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, inspired her to hone her place-based pedagogy by seeking professional development to equip students with standards-based lessons and service learning opportunities about their native environment and stewardship responsibilities. In 2010 she found “her people” when she attended her first KAEE conference and in 2012 completed the Professional Environmental Educator Certification program sponsored by the KY Environmental Education Council.
Her students’ social, emotional, and academic gains in the classroom, and their participation in the Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools initiative, have led Vivian to share her experiences through workshops, conferences, publications, and advisory and working groups, including the Kentucky Environmental Literacy Plan Implementation Advisory Team, which develops and promotes environmental applications across the curriculum. She currently serves as a facilitator for several of the environmental education curricula sponsored by KAEE.
Vivian holds a B.A. in Social Work, and teaching certifications for high school psychology and elementary education, from Eastern Kentucky University. She is a National Board Certified Middle Childhood Generalist and a Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Science Teaching (PAEMST).
