Take Me Outside

With Annie Roth of the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont What is a RELC? How can schoolyards be used in place-based learning? Why is it sometimes important for educators to become co-learners with their students? In this episode, we first hear about Tremont’s RELC as well as the Institute’s approach to supporting learners (educators included) before partaking in a virtual learning session...

With Wendy Nadherny Fachon of Story Walking Radio Hour What is food forest gardening? How can educators leverage it for impactful learning? What does corporative learning have to do with this? Wendy Fachon has her own food forest garden, and she sees great potential for food forest gardening in environmental education. She also shares her insights about nature drawing as a powerful pedagogical too...

With Jen Cirillo and Betsy Rosenbluth of Shelburne Farms What is farm to school? Are there any common misconceptions about it? Why is farm to school such an essential part of the educational journey? In this lively discussion, Jen and Betsy walk us through the three Cs of farm to school, how educators can better incorporate it into their teaching (without taking up too much extra time!), the core...

With Todd Ormiston of North Country School and Camp Treetops How do students benefit from place-based learning? In what ways does it foster ruggedness, resourcefulness, and resilience? Why is it helpful for adolescents to bear witness to life cycles of fellow living things? While many educators and learners in public education systems are constrained by standardized tests and fixed learning outcom...

With Day Sanchez of 2e Minds How do eco-anxiety and ecological grief differ? What can educators do to address them with their learners? Why is solarpunk such an effective counter-narrative? Day Sanchez does extensive work in the realm of eco-emotions, so she has many important insights about how to navigate these often-turbulent waters. We know that doom-and-gloom framing leads to apathy in most p...

With Jane Ji of Springbay Studio and Grace Sadler of the Science Teachers’ Association of Ontario How can gamification be used to connect young learners with nature? In what ways do the virtual world and real world overlap? Why is competition such an impactful tool in education? What does this all have to do with managing eco-anxiety? Jane Ji of Springbay discusses the conceptual underpinnings of...

With Jane Hiller of the Environmental Education Association of South Carolina and South Carolina Green Step Schools What is student-powered learning? Why is it so impactful? In what ways can mentorship be most effective? How can mentors help teach in-service teachers? What is the key to sustaining environmental projects year after year? The Green Step Schools program in South Carolina, USA has bee...

With Susanne Heaton of Motivated By Nature Why are an increasing number of doctors prescribing national park passes to patients? How does stress impact our bodies? What evidence supports the practice of forest bathing (shinrin-yoku)? Why is the “happy gardener” more than a stereotype? Drawing on copious amounts of sound research, Susanne Heaton discusses the healing benefits of direct, multi-senso...

With David Ramsay of BC Tomorrow What is watershed education? Why is it a critical component of place-based learning? How can we engage students of all ages in learning through a watershed lens? David Ramsay is well versed in using watersheds as an integrating context for learning, and he joined us to share both his tips for best practices as well as the ins and outs of BC Tomorrow’s new watershed...

With Lauren Madden of The College of New Jersey How did New Jersey become the first state in the US to include climate change standards across the K–12 spectrum? In what ways has teacher feedback contributed to this achievement? Why is community-based climate change education so critical? What are some high-impact individual actions and choices that can lead to systemic changes? How does this conn...

With Aadil Nathani of Green Ummah Where can you find passages about respecting nature in the Quran? How does environmentalism fit into the Five Pillars of Islam? Why is it so important to focus on solutions to our various environmental challenges? Where does all of this fit into environmental education? Aadil Nathani, one of the co-founders of Green Ummah, joined us to discuss these questions, lea...

With Jennifer Engbrecht of the Louis Riel School Division and Music Outside What’s it like to teach music outside in the temperate zone through all seasons? How cold is too cold to learn outdoors? Can drama and movement support students’ learning of complex musical elements like meter, rhythm, and form? What opportunities do outdoor settings afford educators and learners? How does the Orff approac...

With Sylvia Hadnot and Derek Hoshiko of E3 Washington How can we make environmental education a more equitable space? To what extent is citing limited resources a lack of creative, inclusive thinking? What is tokenism and how can it be avoided? Which narratives about equity are both inaccurate and counter productive? Sylvia Hadnot and Derek Hoshiko are the co-chairs of E3 Washington — the Washingt...

With Patricia Sung and Alexander Dickson of McGill University and Mihskakwan James Harper of NRStor Inc. At what age did you first learn about climate change? How was it framed? Was there much talk of solutions? What is the true meaning of the word “sustainability”? How can it be more intricately woven throughout elementary and secondary education? When it comes to reciprocity, which books could b...

With Rosanna Ayers of The Biomimicry Institute When facing a design challenge, ask yourself, what would nature do? Or rather, what does nature do? How can the “three seeds of biomimicry” be applied to human design? Where does regeneration fit into this framework? How can we learn more from Mother Nature? This is where educators can play an important role in learners' development. Learners bring a...

With Jade Harvey-Berrill of the Non-Profit Outdoor Learning Store , Take Me Outside , and Stoked on Science How can we make rocks and geology interesting when teaching on the land? What are some strategies for getting learners to comprehend geological time? Can anyone truly conceive what a billion years means? Geological processes comprise the foundation of our landscapes, yet rocks and geology of...

With Zack Gross of the Canadian Fair Trade Network and Fairtrade Canada Why are bananas such a great entry point for teaching fair trade? How can we champion fair trade in schools? What happens if you’re up against unsupportive administration? Zack Gross has been grappling with these questions for over five decades as a fair-trade activist throughout the world. To better educate the public about f...

With Brittney Oden of The Diverse Classroom   Why is science so often an afterthought in special ed. classrooms? How can Problem-based Enhanced Language Learning (PBELL) be used to give 100% of your students access to 100% of your content? What does Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) have to do with any of this? Brittney Oden teaches special ed. using PBELL. She also loves bees. This convergence of pr...

With Markham Hislop of Energi Media How can we remain hopeful amid accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss? In short, it’s hard. But it’s also possible — and necessary. Though we still need immediate action on these twin crises, we have all the tools we need. In fact, many of them have been around for years. In this wide-ranging discussion with Energi Media’s Markham Hislop, hear about t...

With Kelsey Brasil, Sabrina Guzman Skotnitsky, and Brennan Strandberg-Salmon How can post-secondary institutions better support students who are seeking meaningful work in the green economy? What can government-funded programs do to ensure that access to stepping-stone jobs is equitable? Is a youth climate corps a viable option? Where in the private sector are we seeing exciting green innovations?...

With Kelsey Brasil, Sabrina Guzman Skotnitsky, and Brennan Strandberg-Salmon We’re rapidly shifting toward a green economy, yet many youths feel left in the dark about how to get involved. Some think that they’ll be left out if they don’t have STEM qualifications. As the three members of our panel of passionate Gen-Z change-makers assert, we need to re-think the definition of a green job and wake...

With Nazish Qureshi of GreenLearning How do recycling and a circular economic model differ? What are the ecological benefits of the circular model? Does it present any financial opportunities? Where does biomimicry fit into the discussion? How can teachers engage students in meaningful learning about a circular economy? Nazish Qureshi joined us to answer these big questions. She also shed light on...

With Haley Higdon of Natural Curiosity How can inquiry-based learning be used in addressing heavy topics like climate change? Why is it so critical to lead with learners' questions and theories? What steps can all educators take to engage with millennia-old Indigenous wisdom? How can Indigenous and non-Indigenous people collaborate on a path toward reconciliation? Haley Higdon, Managing Editor of...

With Mary Clark of Agents of Discovery What does the research say about using mobile apps and augmented reality (AR) to connect students to the outdoors in engaging and meaningful ways? How do these digital tools impact learners’ conservation ethic? Can they have intergenerational appeal even though the average tech generation is only three tears? What does all of this mean for the future of exper...

With Laura Frost and Scott Lenhart of Project Dragonfly , Ecoteach , Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist program , and Boardman Glenwood Junior High You can push students beyond their comfort zones by taking them abroad to work in a rustic biological station tucked into dense rainforest. You can also do it at your nearby creek just by implementing an inquiry-based teaching method in an outdoor set...