General Tips:

We recommend that, for any of the tools listed below, you begin with a  general search, and then use search results to progressively narrow your request.  As you become more familiar with the materials on this site, you’ll be able to take advantage of the depth and variety of information EE-Link offers.

Using the search forms -- “match” and “format”

Setting the search matching option to “All” will instruct the search engine to find only those that contain all your search terms.  Set matching to “Any” if you would like to conduct a looser search; this will allow the search engine to return results which match only one or a few of your search terms.  For more directed searching, you can also select Boolean searching as your “match” option.

The “Long” format search returns a brief description of each item; the “Short” format search will return only the titles of search results, and a match rating.  The search engine automatically expands root words, or shortens expanded words.  So initiating a search for the word “teaching” will return a search for the words “teach, teacher, teachings, teaches or teachers.”

Specific Tools and Databases

1. Activity Finder and GreenCOM’s EE Resource Library:

• Activity Finder

The Activity Finder, written and maintained by Angela Higgs, is a listing of, activity-based natural resources instruction materials. The Finder is published on disk and the full 6,200-item current edition is searchable here. Activity Finder lists and describes each activity; descriptions include the best location to conduct the activity (e.g., inside, outside, active) and classifies the activity according to topic (e.g., water, water quality, groundwater) and learning skills (e.g., observing, researching, data collecting).

Activity Finder Sample Search:

Enter “analyzing water quality outside” as your search text and instruct the engine to match “All” words. Your search will yield outside activities that deal with testing water quality and teach analyzing skills.

• GREENCOM's EE Resource Library

The GreenCOM Project and the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) built this collection over 4,000 items. It includes curricula, handbooks, standards, monographs, case studies, reports, periodicals and newsletters, and sample materials such as games, posters, videos, and computer software with environmental themes. Each publication’s database entry includes a title, abstract, author and publisher, keywords and other bibliographic information.  You can find resources published in a specific language (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, etc) or search by publication date, title, author, publication type, keyword or grade level.

GreenCOM Sample Search:

Enter the keyword “earth summit” and select “Spanish” as the language and you will find resources which were published in Spanish about earth summits and conferences.

2. GAIN Directories of Environmental Organizations

With over 13,000 records of environmental organizations throughout the continental US and Hawaii, this listing allows you to search for organizational resources near you by entering your city, state, or zip code, or by using keywords to describe an environmental issue. Each record includes the organization's name, address, contact person and other contact information, and keywords. As with the GreenCOM Directories, you should run a search or two and take a look at the database fields. You can also search the database for records containing a particular text or phrase, or limit the search to organizations that have web sites.

GAIN Database Sample Search:

Enter "48103" as your search text with nation-wide searching and you will turn up resources in the 48103 area code -- the area code for Mack Elementary School in Ann Arbor, MI.

3. EE-Link Site Searching

Use the main EE-Link Search page to look for materials hosted on this site or on many sites.  Our site includes listings of Environmental Education books, classroom activities, and general publications. You can search for a topic area (e.g., wetlands, wildlife, conservation), or for a specific type of resource (e.g., lesson plan, magazine, conference), or for materials directed at a specific audience (e.g., elementary school, professional training, study reports).

EE-Link Site Sample Searches:

Enter “wetlands curriculum” as your search text and set searching options to match “All” search terms and search the entire EE-Link site.  Your search will reveal curriculum materials related to wetlands.

Enter “teaching ecology” with matching set to “All” and set your search area to "Many EE Web Sites".  You will turn up materials related to ecology instruction in many EE web sites.  Try revising your search by adding “pamphlets” to the search text.  The multi-site search engine is an important search tool since it searchs key areas of 30 EE related sites and is updated weekly.

Enter “wetlands prairies ocean” as your search text and set matching to “Any.”  Searching the entire EE-Link site, you will find materials related to any of these three types of ecosystems.  Revise your search to “Boolean” matching and change the search terms to “wetlands and prairies or ocean” for more control of your results.