Posts from the ‘All ages’ Category

Getting comfortable with outdoor learning (in all kinds of weather)

Presenter: Dave Quinn
Outdoor Educator Dave Quinn will explore some of the basic techniques and simple tools you can use to normalize outdoor learning for your students, and make it easier and more effective for you as a teacher to teach outdoors safely and effectively in all kinds of weather.

Dave Quinn is a wildlife biologist, a BC-certified teacher, and a certified wilderness guide leading expeditions in the Kootenays, the Canadian Arctic and West Coast, as well as overseas. Dave’s work as a photographer and writer is featured regularly in regional and national publications. He has over two decades of experience designing and delivering a range of experiential outdoor education programs to connect Kindergarten to College students to the natural world.

In Partnership with

Getting comfortable with outdoor learning (in all kinds of weather)

Presenter: Dave Quinn
Outdoor Educator Dave Quinn will explore some of the basic techniques and simple tools you can use to normalize outdoor learning for your students, and make it easier and more effective for you as a teacher to teach outdoors safely and effectively in all kinds of weather.

Dave Quinn is a wildlife biologist, a BC-certified teacher, and a certified wilderness guide leading expeditions in the Kootenays, the Canadian Arctic and West Coast, as well as overseas. Dave’s work as a photographer and writer is featured regularly in regional and national publications. He has over two decades of experience designing and delivering a range of experiential outdoor education programs to connect Kindergarten to College students to the natural world.

In Partnership with

Nature-Based Biology Activities from a Distance

Presenter: Cathy Law
Description:

Cathy Law, a veteran of 14 years of nature-based learning, will share her greatest hits of activities that biology students can perform outside while maintaining a safe social distance in the schoolyard, nature preserve, or at home. Getting kids outside to learn science couldn’t come at a better time now that we all need to be cautious about working in groups. Outdoor learning activities based on inquiry and discovery make your students’ learning experience both meaningful and memorable, but most importantly, FUN! Join in on the adventure and preview labs for yourself and see how you can bring excitement into your classroom by not using one! These activity ideas work really well for students under quarantine, too. Separately but together, students will enjoy learning in the finest class setting of them all — Mother Nature.

Cathy Law teaches Biology, Earth Science, and Field Biology at New Paltz High School in New Paltz, New York. She and her students started the Courtyard Gardens over twelve years ago; it features over 200 different kinds of plants in 15 themed garden zones. The mission of the garden is to create an outdoor learning center dedicated to understanding and improving the environment and to enable learning that is problem-based and interdisciplinary. Cathy presented our wildly popular webinar The Joy of Garden-based Education during Earth Month 2020.

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Caring for Our Earth’s Caregivers

Webinar #3 – How do our current needs fit into the transition?

Presenters: Markham Hislop

Originally aired: November 24th, 2021

How do you teach about decarbonization to students from families who are supported by carbon-intensive industries? The energy transition is an existential threat to the North American hydrocarbon economy, which has enjoyed 75 years of prosperity. How do we continue to have a prosperous economy while mitigating greenhouse gas emissions? How do we help communities reliant on these economies transition to other opportunities, such as turning bitumen into materials like carbon fibre and natural gas into “blue hydrogen”? Fortunately, these important questions have encouraging answers that you can explore with your students as part of visioning a low-carbon future. Join us as we explore the challenges for industry, workers, and governments, as well as the opportunities that could help communities adapt and thrive.

Markham Hislop (in his own words)
I’m a Canadian energy/climate journalist and host of the Energi Talks podcast. I also conduct video interviews with energy experts, write the Markham On Energy energy politics analysis columns, and write about the energy future. I’m frequently interviewed on Canadian radio and TV about energy transition issues.

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Webinar #2 – Teaching about contrasting energy solutions

Presenters: Markham Hislop

Originally aired: November 3rd, 2021

In decarbonizing our energy infrastructure, how much should we leave to the market? To what degree should government be involved? These are big questions as part of the broader discussion of climate and energy solutions. As such, they are great questions to have with your students. Using Alberta as a case-study, we will explore the dual roles of the market and government, including an in-depth examination of how future electricity systems of North America could be critically important to economic success. We will also provide a structure within which to understand the challenges and opportunities we face in transitioning off fossil fuels to power our grids.

Markham Hislop (in his own words)
I’m a Canadian energy/climate journalist and host of the Energi Talks podcast. I also conduct video interviews with energy experts, write the Markham On Energy energy politics analysis columns, and write about the energy future. I’m frequently interviewed on Canadian radio and TV about energy transition issues.

Webinar #1 – A simple model for teaching the energy transition

Presenters: Markham Hislop

Originally aired: October 27th, 2021

We are living in the midst of another great energy transition — a fundamental part of the present and future for which we are preparing our students. How can we teach this in a relatable and engaging way? Join us in this webinar as we explore a simple model for teaching about the current energy transition and the changes we will experience by 2030. This transition began in the late 20th century with Lithium-ion batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines, but picked up speed as thousands of related and supportive new technologies entered the marketplace. The third decade of the transition — in this case, the 2020s — is the period of intense disruption as the new technologies become competitive. Many exciting developments are afoot!

Markham Hislop (in his own words)
I’m a Canadian energy/climate journalist and host of the Energi Talks podcast. I also conduct video interviews with energy experts, write the Markham On Energy energy politics analysis columns, and write about the energy future. I’m frequently interviewed on Canadian radio and TV about energy transition issues.

Harnessing Hydroponics: A Case for a System in Every Classroom

Presenters: Amber Carlin-Mishkin and JoEllen Schuleman

Originally aired: October 6th, 2021

Hydroponic systems not only provide food, but they present real-life opportunities to enhance your curriculum. Within a classroom, a hydroponic system naturally becomes a medium through which students can take charge of their learning, test out new ideas and connect to one of the most basic human activities: farming.

Learn what it takes to farm inside your classroom and how it provides a space for students to reflect, protect, and steward for the sake of our shared future and very existence.

JoEllen Schuleman is an Elementary Science specialist at PS 199 in New York City with a passion for inspiring agency and a connection to the planet in her students. JoEllen is one of the founders of Rootprint*. She has a B.A. in Government from the University of Texas and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Houston. She is a lifelong learner, an experienced provider of PD, and a former science coach. She also co-created a proprietary K–8 curriculum integrating hydroponics into science. She is a two-time Master Teachers Fellow with Math for America and a member of the NYCDOE Elementary Science Leadership Team.

Amber Carlin-Mishkin began her education career in 2002 with the NYC Teaching Fellows and is currently a 4th-grade teacher at the Maurice Sendak Community School in Brooklyn, New York. Amber is a co-founder of Rootprint and was previously the Director of Education Programs for an NYC nonprofit sustainability science organization where she co-created proprietary K–8 programming (125+ lessons) linking hydroponics and sustainability with NYC Science Scope & Sequence. Amber earned a B.A. from Fordham College and an M.S. in Education from Brooklyn College. She is an urban gardener, a hydroponic enthusiast, and a former cattle farmer.

Rootprint NY is an educational consultancy focused on designing innovative hydroponics and sustainability programs, customized project support, and professional development in both formal and informal educational settings.