Girls Learning Environment and Energy

For Parents and Participants

Girls Learning Environment and Energy (GLEE) is a joint effort between Stanford University and the Girl Scouts of Northern California to teach Girl Scouts and their families about the environment and energy conservation. The program has been shown to increase energy-conserving behavior among both Girl Scout participants and their parents.

So far, hundreds of troop leaders have registered the GLEE training course online, and thousands of Girl Scouts across the country are estimated to have participated in the program.

Learn to Teach GLEE

There are three ways parents and troop leaders can learn how to teach GLEE:

The GLEE online course for troop leaders. First, sign up for the GLEE course. Second, create an account with EdX, which hosts the online course. You will receive an email once you have been enrolled, after which GLEE will appear on your EdX dashboard.

The GLEE website. In a hurry? View most videos and download instructional manuals for troop leaders on the GLEE website.

Order our Home Energy manual. Get the GLEE manual for troop leaders on the Girl Scout website (free shipping!). You'll only need one manual per troop.

We also offer patches for Girl Scouts who complete the Home Energy curriculum and the Food Choices curriculum. Troop leaders can order both of the patches at the Girl Scout online store.

Learn more

Program Goals

The GLEE program was supported from a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. It embraces the leadership themes of Girl Scouts while at the same time building girls’ skills to make energy reduction behavior changes in home electricity and food sustainability.

Initially, we conducted a randomized controlled trial with 30 junior Girl Scout troops in Northern California to assess two behavior change interventions focused on: (1) residential energy use and (2) energy-related food and transportation behaviors of Girl Scouts and their families.

Each intervention served as an active control for the other. Troops randomly assigned to the residential behavior intervention significantly improved their self-reported Girl Scout and parent residential energy conservation behaviors immediately following the intervention and at follow-up, compared to controls. Girl Scouts in troops randomly assigned to the food and transportation behavior intervention group significantly improved their self-reported food and transportation energy conservation behaviors immediately following the intervention, compared to controls but not at follow-up or among parents.

The results demonstrate that a behavioral intervention targeting Girl Scouts can improve their energy conservation behaviors and provides evidence of diffusion of behavior changes from children to their parents/families.

Results from the research are published in Nature Energy.

For More Information

Please contact Dr. June Flora and our team at: kyen-project@stanford.edu.