As an educator for over 20 years, I have started questioning the goal of education. With an overemphasis on grades and testing, sometimes the things that matter the most—such as learning about climate change—get put on the back burner. To...
Even though our classroom at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) sat adjacent to a parking lot in the midst of an extensive construction zone, the three-day teacher institute was punctuated multiple times with cries from a hawk perched in...
In September 2007, I enrolled my son in kindergarten at our local elementary school. I have a clear memory of a parent-teacher association meeting where I spontaneously asked about the potential for installing a garden on school grounds. “We don’t...
Teaching robust Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) lessons can be challenging, so asking teachers to center instruction on local environmental phenomena can make the task feel overwhelming. For the last six years, we’ve been introducing teachers in San Diego to...
As teaching science moved into the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), teachers needed background in these exciting new standards, yet some were struggling with the complexity of the three dimensions. Some teachers resisted, stating time concerns. Some felt they did...
“For the love of God, not one more thing!” This was my first thought when hearing about the Environmental Principles & Concepts (EP&Cs) roughly three years into my Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) journey. After much struggle and frustration I...
“Pour ce qui est de l’avenir, il ne s’agit pas de le prévoir, mais de le rendre possible.” (“As for the future, it is not a question of predicting it, but of making it possible.”) ~Antoine de Saint Exupéry (1948)...
“I need a glue gun!” “Should we use black or white paper?” “Think about the angle.” “Let’s try putting the foil here.” “Should we seal it completely?” If you were at Bay Farm School in Alameda on June 12, 2019,...
The challenge: How to equitably increase access to environmental and arts knowledge for 4,000 K–12th grade students countywide in just a few months? How to make sustainable changes that will support and transform the landscape after the end of one-time...
This article is part of our Youth Voices series. At Ten Strands we believe that young people have valuable perspectives and a critical role in shaping our society and our world. We recognize their power to drive dialogue and create...
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