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Embracing the Unfamiliar Through Adventurous Eating with an Equity Lens
Embracing the Unfamiliar Through Adventurous Eating with an Equity Lens By Caroline Bargo Adventure Awaits As I began exploring the IslandWood campus in August it became abundantly clear that the garden would be one of my favorite places here on the 255-acres...
Perspectives: Educating as if Survival Matters
Educating as if Survival Matters Nancy M Trautmann Michael P Gilmore BioScience, Volume 68, Issue 5, 1 May 2018, Pages 324–326, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy026 Published: 22 March 2018 ver the past 40 years, environmental educators throughout the world have...
Climate Change
A Chance to Make a Difference: Tackling Climate Change in a Middle School Classroom by Angela Duke Northwest Expedition Academy Hayden, Idaho n the days of selfies and social media mania, it is often a difficult job getting middle schoolers to look up instead...
Immersive Storytelling
Immersive Storytelling: A Reminder to Read to Your Students Outside By Hannah Levy Sitting amongst towering cedars as the sun treated us to the last bits of golden hour, our final field study day was coming to a close. We had a hard week, for many of my students, this...
Climate Scientists
On a sunny fall day in Oregon students are outdoors learning about the new citizen science observation site in their schoolyard. With a mix of 4th and 5th grade exuberance and the seriousness of adults they are taking on the mission of gathering basic data for a...
Exploring Culture and Environment – Pt 1
Canoes and other forms of human powered watercraft have been utilized by human beings all around the world since time immemorial. For this reason, the study of canoes can serve as a gateway to analyze, compare and learn from the world’s cultures and the...
Exploring Culture and Environment – Pt 2
This article is a story of how fourth-grade students in Moscow, Idaho studied the confluence of cultures throughout Idaho’s history by building a canoe, hand-carving paddles, and actively participating in the resurgence of the traditional canoe throughout the Pacific...
Native Voices: Reclaiming a Culture Through the Traditional Canoe
Native Voices: Reclaiming a Culture through the Traditional Canoe Interview with Nathan Piengkham (In conjunction with Blooming Culture: The Canoe as a Vessel for Exploring Cultures) Nathan Piengkham is a member of the Kalispel Tribe and the Executive Director of The...
E.E.’s Philosopher King
Not One More Cute Project for the Kids: Neal Maine’s Educational Vision by Gregory A. Smith Lewis & Clark College, Professor Emeritus PART ONE eal Maine, now in his late-70s is an iconic figure for many environmental educators in the state of Oregon. Early...
E.E.’s Philosopher King (Pt 2)
Not One More Cute Project for the Kids: Neal Maine’s Educational Vision by Gregory A. Smith Lewis & Clark College, Professor Emeritus PART TWO (see Part One here) Sustaining Neal’s Place-Based Vision of Education: Lessons Learned Despite the power...
Lessons from IslandWood
Adventure Hike to a Harbor: Creating a space for all to engage with marine science By Julia Glassy I am currently a graduate student of University of Washington over on Bainbridge Island, WA at IslandWood, a non-profit outdoor education center. I am passionate about...
Ear to the Ground: Gary Dorr
Native Voices: Reclaiming a Culture through the Traditional Canoe Interview with Gary Dorr (In conjunction with Blooming Culture: The Canoe as a Vessel for Exploring Cultures) Gary Dorr is a member of the Nez Perce Tribe and Chairman of The River Warrior Society....
Poetry and Science
Utilizing the Tools of Poetry for Science Inquiry by Jim Martin CLEARING consultant pril is National Poetry Month. Can we celebrate it by using poetry to facilitate teaching science as inquiry? What does the flow of thoughts, images of relationships, grammar and...
All You Need is Love
Four Lessons in Global Education from the Beatles By Sean Gaillard, June 19, 2017 Editor's note: Sean Gaillard, principal of Lexington Middle School in Lexington, North Carolina, is a huge proponent of international collaboration for students in his school. In this...
Outdoor Learning
NatureBridge Takes the Classroom Outdoors: Inspires Teachers and Students Through Discovery by Karen West for NatureBridge “The future will belong to the nature smart… the more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.” – Richard Louv, author of “Last Child...
Connecting Art and Science
Making Science Engaging at Camp Connecting art and science helps students find STEM classes more engaging and enjoyable By Elli Korthuis is a youth development organization that focuses on helping members, ages 5-19 years, grow as individuals through their...
Forget Your Botany!
by Jan van Boeckel MANY PEOPLE DEPLORE the loss of direct contact with nature. Moreover, this absence might be one of the root causes for the ecological crisis we are experiencing today, and for the mood of indifference that many people feel for it. It is hard to care...
Art and the Environment
Getting to the HeART of Teaching Marine Conservation by Kerry Hynes “I don’t understand. This is too hard. Why are we learning this?” These are just a few of the phrases that I hear in my classroom that force me to stop, take a deep breath, and remind myself that,...
Book Review: Place-based Education
Enlivening Students by Gregory A. Smith Review of Sarah Anderson’s, Bringing School to Life: Place-Based Education across the Curriculum (Lanham, Massachusetts: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017) or the past two decades, books and articles written by place-...
Marine/Aquatic Education: Nudibranch Population Dynamics
The search for sea slugs Linking non-divers to the excitement of ocean discovery by Elise Pletcher Citizen Science and Volunteer Coordinator The Marine Science and Technology Center Highline College he Nudibranch Team is a citizen science volunteer program at the...
Blog: Teacher Preparation
Know and Do What We Teach: How many times are we assigned to teach a subject we know little about? by Jim Martin CLEARING Special Contributor t a riparian ecology training for teachers a few years ago, I met two who epitomize a perennial problem in education in...
E2E Grant Project Report – Alaska
E2E Grant Project Report Evaluate EE Programs for Systemic Change in Your Community How to improve the effectiveness of teacher professional development in environmental education By Cathy Rezabeck, Marilyn Sigman and Beverly Parsons illingham, Alaska is a...
Marine and Aquatic Education: Underwater Technology and ROVs
Engaging Students in Underwater Technology and ROVs by Jessica Lotz Education and Outreach Coordinator The Marine Science and Technology Center Highline College ften times it’s hard for us air breathers to really appreciate the depth and immensity of our ocean when we...
Blog: Science, Art, and English Education
What is the Place of Science in Art and English Education? by Jim Martin CLEARING Special Contributor School districts have, over the past four decades, reduced their arts offerings in order to meet increased demands for time devoted to science, mathematics, social...
Outdoor, Hands-on STEM Learning
Outdoor Learning in Shelton: A Surge of Hope by Eleanor Steinhagen Bayshore Preserve – Shelton, WA wo 7th graders have just tossed their pears into Johns Creek and are jogging downstream to see which one will cross the finish line first. Maneuvering around a...
Empathy and Environmental Education
The Compassionate Educator: Empathy and Environmental Education Tom Stonehocker common challenge in environmental education is working with students who feel disconnected from their environment. This disconnection not only impedes a student’s ability to understand how...
Journey to Understanding: Lessons from a Canoe Curriculum
Tribal teachers set out to help design an integrated curriculum around the canoes of Pacific Northwest Native American tribes. Article by Suzie Boss Click here to view article in PDF format: Canoe Curriculum PDF
Reframing Sustainability
Reframing Sustainability Peter Denton, Ph.D. Keynote Address - EECOM Conference 2016, International Peace Gardens peaking here today is kind of like preaching to the choir. It is great to have a friendly crowd who does not think a polar icecap is the name of some new...
Urban EE and Sense of Place
Urban Environmental Education and Developing a Sense of place Authors: Jennifer D. Adams, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, USA David A. Greenwood, Lakehead University, Canada Mitchell Thomashow, Philanthropy Northwest, USA Alex Russ, Cornell...
Environmental Handprints
Environmental Educators Create Handprints by Jon Biemer he Handprint is a paradigm whose time has come. The Handprint motivates by focusing on the positive ways to think about sustainability and follow through with appropriate action. Over the past...
Integrated Teaching
Photo by Jim Martin Integrated Teaching: The Student-Directed Investigation by Jillian Whitehill s educators, our goal is to increase the growth of each of our students, foster their passion for learning, and best prepare our students for the real world. While there...
Forest Schools
When Water Speaks: The Power of the Forest School Movement by Amanda Crawford issouri is a treasure trove of outdoor places and wild spaces dedicated to adventurers of all kinds. The natural brilliance of the Missouri landscape is no secret. And yet, unbeknownst to...
Eco-Art: How to Flow Upstream
By Shimshon Obadia hirty-one degrees Celsius and the air is dry to the touch in downtown Kelowna, BC. I whip my bicycle down the shoulder of Pandosy Street where the bike lane would be until I hit K.L.O. Road where I connect to the actual bike lane embedded in the...
Jim Martin on Inquiry
Is active learning an effective vehicle to train science inquiry mentors? Walking along with you is far better than telling you "I’ll show you the way." ow should we prepare mentors of teachers who wish to learn how to engage their students in authentic science...
Suquamish Basket Marsh: Creating a Living Library
Traditional Ecological Knowledge The Suquamish Basket Marsh: Creating a Living Library An Outdoor Environmental Learning Classroom for the students of Suquamish Elementary School By Melinda West There is a Salish legend passed down by the First Peoples of the Pacific...
Place-based Education
The Time is Now for Place Based Education Schools are not just training grounds for children to learn content and job skills for twelve or more years before they are allowed back into broader society, ready to pursue their own individual enrichment. In the place-based...
Of Education and Place
Everyone Ought to Have a Ditch "What gets lost, when we focus on facts, are the initiation experiences, the moments of transcendence when the borders between the natural world and ourselves break down." by David Sobel spend a lot of time these days talking with...
Connecting to the Natural World – Biome Bonanza!
A Biome Bonanza! After taking a class for teachers about sustainability several years ago, my teaching partner and I were inspired to get kids out and about and connected to the natural world more. We looked at our science curriculum and with the help of Bob Carlson...
Outdoor Education Perspectives
Outdoor Education — Thoughts From an Elder by Dan Kriesberg uring college I was a waterfront director at a sleepaway camp and absolutely loved it. When my post college job search led me to residential outdoor education centers I was thrilled. It was summer camp...
Environmental Education Activities K-12
Environmental Education Activities K-12 a potpourri of teaching ideas for the classroom GRADES K-2 Science Flannel Beach Life Cut out pictures of intertidal animals from calendars or a cheap field guide. Laminate pictures and use stick-on velcro to turn...
STEM Learning: Quatama School/Oregon Zoo
by Alison Heimowitz Every fall students in Sharon Angal’s third-grade classroom at Quatama Elementary, a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) school in the Hillsboro School District, wait patiently for the arrival of the “salmon lady.”...
Climate Change Education
Climate Change Education: A Student's Perspective by Eliot Brody At my recent high school graduation, I found myself reflecting on the 12 years I spent in Oregon’s largest school district, Portland Public Schools. While I sat through the speeches in my...
Ocean Plastic Pollution
Mitigating Microplastics Development and Evaluation of a Middle School Curriculum by Marie Kowalski and Tracy Crews ABSTRACT Microplastics are plastic marine debris less than five millimeters across. Microplastics are a threat to the health of our ocean. One...
Jim Martin on Teacher Mentors
Why would a practicing teacher need a Mentor? Is the idea of mentoring teachers an unnecessary element in our Schools? by Jim Martin If you were to trace your ancestry 25,000 years or further, you'd find that your forebears read no books about the natural...
My Favorite EE Activity – Margie B. Klein
By Margie Klein Retired Interpretive Naturalist Now doing environmental ed. and nature interpretation part-time at local public lands sites. She is also a writer and author of many articles in national magazines; co-author of a nation-wide curriculum; recipient of an...
Jim Martin on Science Inquiry
Can We Learn What Science Inquiry Does For Us? What To Teach; And How? by Jim Martin n a previous blog, a student, Maria, noticed a salmon fry darting toward a rock covered with periphyton, a thin colony of algae which supports microbes and invertebrates living...
Garden of Wisdom
News release submission for CLEARING Magazine - February 2017 The Garden of Wisdom A peace-building program among environmental educators and conservationists in the Middle East inspires children to love and nurture the natural world. Please help us to publish our...
What Can I Do Monday Morning?
50+ Simple EE Activities Across the K-12 Curriculum GRADES K-2 SCIENCE Back to the Earth Display food items such as a boiled egg, apple, peanut butter, bread, jelly, strip of bacon, etc. Pictures can be used. Ask students to identify the food items you...
The Importance of Deep Experiences in Nature
The Importance of Deep Experiences in Nature By Joseph Cornell rofound moments with nature foster a true and vital understanding of our place in the world. I remember an experience I had as a five-year-old boy that awakened in me a life-long fascination for marshes,...
Eelgrass as Teacher – Integrating Tradition, Science, and Learning on the British Columbia Coast
Eelgrass as Teacher Integrating Tradition, Science, and Learning on the British Columbia Coast by Nikki Wright ith a respectful hush, students squat on the sand or sit on logs on the warm beach, listening intently to Trish speaking about the way her indigenous...
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