The Texas Education Agency defines wellness as an active process of becoming aware of and making choices towards a healthy and fulfilling life. Wellness is more than being free from illness, it is a dynamic process of change and growth. Wellness is being balanced – physically, intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally. Looking through the lens of integrating wellness with science, allows us to provide learners with opportunities that make relevance connections through environmental education topics such as sustainability, conservation, and a healthy environment through hands-on learning that occurs through outdoor investigations including gardening and field investigations. Scaffolding socio-emotional components into our standards-based, environmental education programs not only incorporates intellectual and cultural traditions that characterize the practice of contemporary science, but also reinforces an individual’s ability for informed decision making as Americas are confronted increasingly with questions in their lives that require scientific information and scientific ways of thinking. It also reinforces the following goals of school science in the K-12 Science Framework. 

• To experience the richness and excitement of knowing about and understanding the natural world;

• To use appropriate scientific processes and principles in making personal decisions;

• To engage intelligently in public discourse and debate about matters of scientific and technological concern

Guidelines for Instructional Field Experiences

Authentic Field Experiences