Environmental education often aims to inspire a feeling of awe and wonder, since this fleeting emotion leads to environmentally and socially responsible attitudes and behaviors. Events and objects in nature that elicit awe typically meet the following characteristics: vast, hard to accommodate, sensory-rich, novelty, involves direct contact, novel experience, and unexpected. Children respond more often to these elicitors than adults, and accurate assessment of awe is easier in children than adults, because external constraints are limited for children. Accurate assessment of awe and wonder can include both summative and formative assessment. Assessment can be verbal, written, and self-evaluative, or observation of desired attitudes and behaviors after the intended elicitor is presented, though the new attitude/behavior may only occur after a delay. A possibility for assessment is facial expressions, though the validity of this approach is still in question. Further research is needed on how availability of time affects eliciting awe.