Outreach or Education? Why Knowing the Difference Can Help Us Teach More Effectively

Outreach or Education? Why Knowing the Difference Can Help Us Teach More Effectively

Published Online: April 24, 2025

Written by: Bethany Kogut

As an environmental educator, do you do outreach or education? It’s hard to pick, right? It has been a pleasure to hold various roles throughout my career focused on engaging with schools and communities to develop a sense of care and responsibility for our environment. In each role, I have had the responsibility to educate and to do outreach, but haven’t spent much time digging into the differences of how that might show up in schools, community spaces, or even in passing. As an educator, exploring these differences ensures that the programs I am developing and delivering reach the correct audience and utilize the most impactful methods. By investigating this distinction, we can be more intentional in our work, making sure that both outreach and education effectively support learning and action.

When the public thinks about education, their first thoughts would probably go directly to schools. You may have caught yourself, and said, “But wait, education happens in other spaces too, like museums, gardens, zoos, and parks.” As an environmental educator, I agree. Education can happen in formal, non-formal, and informal spaces to name a few. Regardless of the location, the purpose of education is to impart knowledge. Depending on your field or area, this may range from conservation, to ecosystems, to science practices. In most scenarios this knowledge is also deep and comprehensive in a way that people develop an understanding of a given topic. This, to me, serves as the main difference between education and outreach. ..."

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