The 2nd Annual American Forest Kindergarten Association Conference will be held August 9 – 11, 2019 at Nature Nuts Forest School in Maple Valley, Washington. Learn valuable “tools of the trade” for best practices, business strategies, research, and advocacy from experts in the field, like keynote speaker Niki Buchan. Share successes and take advantage of networking opportunities with community gatherings throughout the conference. See examples of a program in action through observation of Nature Nuts, the first Cedarsong-accredited school.
The theme for Earth Day 2019 is Protect Our Species. This toolkit from Earth Day Network is a web-based, cross-disciplinary resource that includes a range of lesson plans and educational activities focused on the issue of Biodiversity.
The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF)’s National Environmental Education Week (EE Week) is taking place April 22-26, 2019. EE Week is the nation’s largest celebration of environmental education. Each year, NEEF partners with educators, students, government agencies, businesses, communities, nonprofit organizations, and others to inspire environmental learning and encourage stewardship of our essential resources: land, air, and water. Visit the website for a toolkit, resources, and updates on events and activities for 2019.
For more than four decades, NAAEE has convened one of the leading annual conferences for environmental education professionals, designed to promote innovation, networking, learning, and dissemination of best practices. The annual Research Symposium, held in advance of the conference, attracts new and established researchers to examine in-progress environmental education research and promote dialogue between researchers and practitioners.
The 2019 Safe Routes to School National Conference will be held at the Hilton Tampa Downtown from November 12-14, 2019. Save the date for this opportunity to join hundreds of active transportation and public health advocates and practitioners from across the country for valuable networking, sharing best practices, and exploring one of Florida’s most vibrant and active cities. Early bird registration is now open.
Join the Wade Institute for Science Education for one of four regional inquiry-based hands-on, minds-on, STEM-focused professional development institutes held across Massachusetts. Spend a week with fellow teachers on-site at multiple partner organizations and experience field and classroom investigations to take back to your classroom. The 2019 institutes’ theme is Engaging Your Students in Science and Engineering Practices.
Institutes will be held July 8 – 12 and July 15 – 19, 2019. Cost is $425 per participant ($400 per participant if attending in a team of two teachers from the same district; $375 per participant if attending in a team of three or more teachers from the same district). The deadline to register is June 1, 2019.
Captain Planet Foundation (CPF) supports educators with grants, resources, tools, and models to spark children’s curiosity, cultivate a love of nature, and engage students in science and engineering practices to solve real-world problems. Our programs and materials have co-evolved with education priorities over the years to ensure educators have the tools and strategies to meet their needs in and out of the classroom.
The Annual CELF Summer Institute in Education for Sustainability is an intensive multi-day workshop that enables teachers to integrate the concepts of sustainability into their existing curricula. The Institute equips K-12 teachers with practices and teaching methods to address the core concepts of education for sustainability – the intersection of social, economic, and ecological systems – and how the balance of those three systems is vital to a sustainable future, and relevant to all subject areas.
2019 Summer Institute locations include: Westchester County, New York; New York City; and Los Angeles, California.
At this three-day Sustainability Summit in Chicago, you will learn from experts about systems, anticipatory, and creative thinking, the commons; the importance of diversity and multiple perspectives; and links with STEM. Jaimie Cloud will keynote. Learn more and register.
Collaborate with like-minded colleagues who value compelling, student-centered projects that open doors to new REAL learning and relationships. Experience inspired learning and collaboration as we build a K-16 community of practice. Topics included: Student Voice; Social and Emotional Learning; Reciprocity; Social Justice; Global Citizenship; Sustainable Communities; Design Based Thinking; and Collaborative Ethnography as a Tool. Space is limited, register soon.
EcoRise’s school-based program empowers youth to tackle real-world challenges in their schools and communities by teaching sustainability, design innovation, and social entrepreneurship. Our curriculum, classroom grants, ongoing training, and support engages educators and students in meaningful learning experiences. Our program empowers teachers to confidently champion sustainability and innovation in their classrooms, while students cultivate 21st century skills and sustainable living practices.
The Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Short-Term Program for U.S. Teachers (Fulbright DAST) provides an opportunity for outstanding K–12 teachers from the United States to take part in a two- to six-week professional development experience overseas. Teachers will have an opportunity to share their educational expertise by consulting with and providing support for schools, nonprofits, teacher training institutions, and other educational organizations abroad. Fulbright DAST Cycle II projects will take place in 12 different countries between October 2019 – May 2020. Deadline to apply is May 6, 2019.
The majority of school buildings operating today can achieve zero energy performance, and schools looking to upgrade campus buildings have resources they can use to achieve low-energy goals. Join this one-hour webinar highlighting lessons learned from school retrofits that reduce energy consumption enough to allow the remainder to be served with renewable systems such as photovoltaic panels. Industry experts including Alexis Karolides of Point Energy Innovations will brief attendees on the innovative approaches that teams are taking during the assessment and planning process when retrofitting on the path to zero. This information will be presented as case studies and models for replication in your own design. The webinar will also address operational considerations that are crucial for ongoing successful performance.
Spend five rich days with colleagues from around the country at an informative and restorative institute created to give you the opportunity to deepen your understanding of education for sustainability. This week is part conference, part workshop, part retreat. The 2019 Summer Institute will use the lens of sustainability to focus on local, regional, and global food systems. Topics might include food systems education; culturally sustaining nutrition; ecological, economic, and cultural connections; cultivating food sovereignty; climate change and civic action; and sustainable food system learning journey.
Cost $600. Includes light breakfast and lunch; excludes travel and graduate credit. A limited number of on-site accommodations are available. Scholarships may be available on a need-based scale. Learn more and register here.
Cost $375. Includes meals, tax, and accommodations; excludes graduate credits. Limited to 16 participants. Scholarships may be available on a need-based scale. Learn more and register here.
Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI) is a nonprofit that builds leaders to drive climate solutions. For over 20 years, SEI’s focus has been on building capacity to create sustainable communities through scalable programs and models. Its flagship programs (Energize Schools, Energize Colleges, School of Environmental Leadership, and Climate Corps) integrate climate education, training, and career development. From young students to emerging professionals to communities, SEI programs engage local talent to directly address their community’s sustainability goals by leading projects with measurable environmental, economic, and social benefits.
Energy and Environmental Design is a project-based learning course in which students complete projects related to sustainable design, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. This year-long course is approved as a University of California A-G G-elective and is the second in a two-course series designed to meet California Technical Education Standards for the Energy and Power Technology Pathway in the Energy, Environment, and Utilities sector. Highlights include completing a mock solar installation, building a residential circuit, designing a green building, networking with educators who are teaching sustainability curriculum, and earning CEU credits.
Facilitator training that prepares school and university teams to lead professional development in their own settings. Training is based on the book Reframing the Curriculum.
Leadership development and strategic communication to advance understanding of sustainability and social justice.
Consultation for schools, universities, and other entities.
Learn more about these services and upcoming events.
This online course offered by Oregon State University is designed to help teachers increase their freshwater ecology knowledge and learn how to facilitate student-directed watershed inquiry that includes action projects. Participants will practice sensory-based activities outdoors and keep a journal to record their reflections. Participants will read, watch videos, and conduct field work to learn essential watershed content. Using scientific protocols, participants will conduct research and use their findings to develop an action plan.
This resource guide includes suggested reading, tips and toolkits, and inspiring materials that illustrate how environmental sustainability can be woven into arts programs.
From Amazon.com: What is the cultural dimension of sustainability? This book offers a thought-provoking answer, with a theoretical synthesis on cultures of sustainability. Describing how modernity degenerated into a culture of unsustainability, to which the arts are contributing, Sacha Kagan engages us in a fundamental rethinking of our ways of knowing and seeing the world. We must learn not to be afraid of complexity, and to re-awaken a sensibility to patterns that connect. With an overview of ecological art over the past 40 years, and a discussion of art and social change, the book assesses the potential role of art in a much needed transformation process.
Alameda County Arts Commission, in partnership with Alameda County Sustainability, Alameda County Probation Department, and Alameda County Office of Education, created this guide as a complement to the 2011 Art IS Education initiative. It includes examples of student work, a suggested project plan, and resources that explore arts education from a sustainable and environmental perspective.
This article from the Society for Organizational Learning’s journal Reflections highlights how artist Jay Mead uses the arts to connect people with nature and tap into their personal visions of a more sustainable future.
This essay, originally published in The Journal of Sustainability Education, describes a cross-age project between a fourth-grade class and university students in which the two groups of students worked together on a dramatic performance of Paul Fleischman’s book, Seedfolks (1997, 2014).
From Springer: This book addresses this challenge by proposing an integration of sustainability and arts education in both principle and practice.
In a global context of intensifying social, economic and environmental crises, education is key to raising awareness and motivating individuals and communities to act in sustaining life in our more-than-human world. But how is this done when the complexity and need for change becomes overwhelming, and schooling systems become complicit in supporting the status quo?
Drawing on critical education theory and precepts of creativity, curiosity and change, it documents a series of case examples that demonstrate how five principles of Education for Sustainability – critical thinking, systems thinking, community partnership, participation, and envisioning better futures – are found at the heart of much arts practice in schools. Featuring the creative work and voices of teachers working in arts-based inquiry and diverse community-engaged contexts, the book investigates how sustainability principles are embedded in contemporary arts education thinking and pedagogy. The authors are unapologetically optimistic in forming an alliance of arts and sustainability education as a creative response to the challenge of our times, arguing that while they may have operated on the margins of conventional pedagogy and curriculum, they have more than marginal impact.
EducationCloset supports teachers, leaders, and artists using arts integration and STEAM education through world-class, comprehensive professional development and resources. Resources include free lessons, teacher printables, and ArtsEd Lab, an online monthly magazine. Professional development opportunities include online classes, virtual workshops and conferences, and a certification program.
Models of Excellence is a curated, open-source collection of exemplary high-quality PreK-12 student work, along with resources to support the use of student work models to inspire and elevate teaching and learning. The purpose of this site is to catalyze the use of models to help build student skills and dispositions for success in college, careers, and life. The student work found on the site comes from a wide range of preK-12 schools.
The Models of Excellence site is a product of EL Education, a national network of school partners focused on achieving whole school transformation through implementation of 38 core, research-based practices that make up the EL Education model and address every aspect of a school’s instructional program, culture, and leadership.
This article from the Summer 2018 issue of Green Teacher magazine, discusses how a sustainable arts program can be implemented in three different settings: a traditional inner-city school, a rural school, and a school with limited funding and resources.
Earth Island Institute established The Brower Youth Award for Environmental Leadership in 2000 to honor renowned environmental advocate David Brower and recognize the outstanding leadership efforts of young people who are working for the protection of our shared planet. Youth environmental change leaders ages 13 to 22 (as of July 1, 2019) living in North America (including Mexico, Canada, some Caribbean Islands) and U.S. “Territories” are encouraged to apply. Applications are due Wednesday May 1, 2019 at 9 pm PT.
Each of the six recipients of the Brower Youth Awards will receive a $3,000 cash prize, a professionally produced short film about their work from an Emmy award-winning film crew, and flight and lodging accommodations for a week-long trip to the San Francisco Bay Area. During their stay, recipients will participate in coaching, visioning, leadership activities, and speaking and media engagements. The week of activities culminates in an awards ceremony in front of more than 800 guests in San Francisco on October 15, 2019.
ecoSolution Grants range from $500 – $2,500 and are intended to support solution-oriented, youth-led projects that result in real environmental outcomes. Visit the website to learn more about eligibility and restrictions and to fill out an application. The next deadline for applications is July 15, 2019.
ecoTECH grants are available as cash grants of up to $2,500 and support the purchase of materials and other project implementation expenses. The deadline to submit an application is July 15, 2019.
EDspaces 2019, to be held October 23 – 25, 2019 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, offers critical education content combined with an opportunity to make meaningful connections to help you, your facility, and your students thrive. The EDspaces Scholarship covers registration and hotel accommodations for facility planners, superintendents, purchasing officers, and related staff employed by schools, districts, colleges, and universities. Scholarship recipients receive access to professional development, exhibits that showcase innovative solutions, and numerous networking opportunities. The deadline to submit an application is May 15, 2019.
Nominations are due by 5 p.m. MST on April 15, 2019.
McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation Teacher Development Grants support small teams of teachers in the formation and implementation of groundbreaking K-12 classroom instruction. These grants provide opportunities for teachers to integrate fresh strategies that encourage critical inquiry and to observe their effects on students. Teachers have an opportunity to reflect and write about their projects, as well as to share their results with other teachers. The Foundation awards grants to individuals in amounts of up to $10,000 per year for a maximum of $30,000 over three years, provided the eligibility requirements continue to be met.
Awards are given to teachers from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Department of Defense Education Activity schools, or the U.S. Territories as a group (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands).
The award recognizes those teachers who develop and implement a high-quality instructional program that is informed by content knowledge and enhances student learning. Since the program’s inception, more than 4,800 teachers have been recognized for their contributions in the classroom and to their profession.
A paid trip to Washington, DC to attend a series of recognition events and professional development opportunities.
This year’s awards will honor mathematics and science (including computer science) teachers working in grades 7 – 12. Applications must be submitted by May 1, 2019.
Enter the Possibility Grant Sweepstakes daily for your chance to win $10,000 for STEM at your school! “Fab” your lab with the latest and greatest gadgets, or purchase top-tier technology and supplies for STEM students. One school will be selected as our Grand Prize Winner in May 2019. The Grand Prize will consist of a $10,000 Siemens Possibility Grant, awarded in the form of a check made payable to the winning school and intended to be used by the school for a science lab makeover and/or STEM-related equipment, supplies, or technology. Eligible educators may enter the sweepstakes once per day until April 27, 2019.
The Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) was founded in 1997 by the Stockholm International Water Institute to complement the Stockholm Water Prize. The SJWP is considered the world’s most prestigious award presented to a high school student for a water-research project. Any high school student in grades 9 through 12, who has reached the age of 15 by August 1 of the competition year and has conducted a water-related science project, is eligible to participate in the competition.
Teams of up to three students may enter. Projects should be aimed at enhancing quality of life through improvement of water quality, water resources management, or water and wastewater treatment. Projects can explore water issues on local, regional, national, or global scales. It is essential that all projects use a research-oriented approach, which means they must use scientifically accepted methodologies for experimentation, monitoring, and reporting, including statistical analysis. Entries into the SJWP competition will be judged based on six criteria: relevance, creativity, methodology, subject knowledge, practical skills, and report and presentation.
Note: All students must enter the State SJWP Competition first. National competition entries are open to state winners only.
The entry deadline for the 2019 competition is April 15.
Do you teach in an elementary school classroom? Do you have an innovative idea for improving math or science instruction in your classroom? Is your idea project-based learning with measurable outcomes? What do you need to make learning math and science fun for your students?
K-5 teachers are invited to apply online for a $1,000 Toshiba America Foundation grant to help bring an innovative hands-on project into their classroom. With a Toshiba America Foundation grant, elementary teachers can bring their best new teaching ideas to life.
Grants are also available for teachers in grades 6-12 who are passionate about making science and mathematics more engaging for their students. Applications for grants less than $5,000 are accepted at any time. For grant requests of more than $5,000 deadlines are May 1 and November 1.
Voya Foundation grants are focused on Financial Resilience. We work to ensure that youth are equipped with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) expertise and financial knowledge necessary to compete in the 21st century workforce and make smart financial decisions that lead to a secure retirement.
Provide financial education curriculum to grade 9-12 students focused on navigating major financial milestones including student debt, credit, home ownership, financial products and services/financial capability, and family needs.
Learn more about applying for a Voya Foundation Grant.