California’s Hub for Environmental Learning and Action (CHELA) is a new website resource for inquiry- and place-based learning on topics related to environmental literacy and environmental justice. It is designed to leverage the power of geospatial technologies to accelerate environmental learning, connect to students’ lived experiences, and support them in pursuing their interests in confronting […]
When I entered the Tree Rooms for the first day of the San Mateo County Office of Education’s (SMCOE) San Mateo Environmental Learning Collaborative (SMELC) institute in summer 2017, I knew some of what to expect. I knew I would be taking a break from my responsibilities as a summer camp manager with the HEAL […]
This article originally appeared in GreenNotes, a publication of the Green Schools National Network, and was republished with permission. There’s no question that real work and research makes for more engaging learning. That’s never more obvious than when we put students at the center of a problem in a place that evokes curiosity and creativity […]
For four years, we at the California State University, Northridge, Science Learning Colaboratory have been working with Los Angeles-area science teachers to develop relevant and engaging lessons and activities that integrate California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs) into the California Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) secondary school science curriculum. For three years, we have used […]
Ten Strands launched the San Mateo Environmental Learning Collaborative in 2015 in partnership with the San Mateo County Office of Education. This article is from one of the instructional coaches at the 2019 summer institute. The author, Robyn Stone, offers a unique perspective. “Over 1,000 people were impacted in my community!” exclaimed fifth-grade teacher Andrea […]
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 bring environmental literacy and advocacy to the forefront, and educate high school students about climate […]
“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) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a special report in 2018 on the […]
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 funding? To meet the challenge, the Marin County Office of Education (MCOE) partnered with organizations […]