September 12, 2018 was a very special day. This was the first day of the unprecedented Global Climate Action Summit, and the official education affiliate event Education: Key to Long-term Climate Action Success at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The attendees included educators, students, policy makers, and representatives from governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses, media, […]
I am a proud new member of the elite Teacher Ambassador team for the California Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI), a statewide program to make environmental literacy an integral part of K–12 instruction. A major part of the initiative is the model EEI Curriculum – a free curriculum resource which uses the environment as […]
#Teach4Climate is a social media campaign organized by a flotilla of partners who are inspiring educators to prepare students and communities to be part of the solution to climate change. Today’s youth are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change and possibly the last that can do something about it. These partners are working […]
As teachers dig deeper into the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and move past the newness of the three dimensions, there’s something beautiful that begins to illuminate. It becomes immediately apparent there are strong connections between the standards and science ideas surrounding the environment and, specifically, environmental issues. Considering the big shift in the NGSS […]
Introduction The San Fernando Valley Science Project (SFVSP) recently hosted a two-week summer institute for middle and high school science teachers focused on incorporating the California Environmental Principles & Concepts (EP&Cs) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) into classroom lessons. This summer workshop is offered annually, with 2018 representing the third year of a four-year […]
Students at Foulks Ranch Elementary School, with teacher and National Geographic Education Fellow Jim Bentley, completed the final phase of their Geo-Inquiry project to address the question, “How can we make water more accessible and reduce plastic waste in our parks and school?” The students helped Cosumnes Community Services District park administrators install a bottle-filling station […]
Outside the urban glare of Los Angeles, we found a night sky packed with stars and a still silence interrupted only by the wind’s whisper and the chatter of crickets and frogs. It was different, yet familiar. My father packed little more than a kerosene lamp, a small tent and some fishing gear for those […]
“The students of today will be the architects of future climate strategies and our champions for achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets.” ~State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson 2015 was a big year for environmental and sustainability education, and a critical pivot point. Superintendent Torlakson’s Environmental Literacy Task Force had spent all of 2014 putting […]