Winter Newsletter | Celebrating Big Ideas

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Celebrating Big Ideas
EfS Benchmarks for Individual
and Social Learning

Big Ideas are also known as “Enduring Understandings”. They operate at the level of principles that are transferable. They describe the concepts that students will understand, and that will have lasting value in the real world over time.

The EfS Benchmarks for Individual and Social Learning recognizes the processes that include a whole system of dynamic and interconnected elements considered essential to educating for a sustainable future. The Big Ideas collectively frame the other essential elements of EfS and distinguish EfS from other fields of study.

Documenting and Mapping Curriculum Solutions to Common Challenges

Using Online Curriculum Mapping tools, a procedure for documenting, mapping, viewing, reviewing, analyzing and evolving the operational curriculum in a classroom, school and/or district was introduced in the mid 1990’s by Heidi Hayes Jacobs. The benefits of curriculum mapping include increased student achievement, optimized collaboration among teachers, vertical articulation and continuity of curriculum, lateral interdisciplinary cohesiveness, and an innovative, flexible approach to teaching and learning. Keep Reading

Morrell Park Is My Community GreenFutures Elementary Student Work [video]

With support from GreenFutures, a program of the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), the Fairmount Water Works, the educational outreach arm of the Philadelphia Water Department, the Cloud Institute and a cohort of elementary faculty from the SDP developed and piloted two new Units of Study for the 4th and 5th grades to expand FWW’s 6-UNIT Middle School Curriculum (grades 6-8) Understanding the Urban Watershed Curriculum.

Explaining the Circular Economy and How Society Can Re-think Progress [video]

There's a world of opportunity to re-think and re-design the way we make stuff. 'Re-Thinking Progress' explores how through a change in perspective we can re-design the way our economy works - designing products that can be 'made to be made again' and powering the system with renewable energy. It questions whether with creativity and innovation we can build a restorative economy.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a UK charity working on business, learning, insights & analysis, and communications to accelerate the transition towards the circular economy. Find out more about their work here: ellenmacarthurfoundation.org.

Three Recommendations for Sustainable and Climate Resilient Schools During COP26

We educators are responsible for preparing young people with the knowledge, skills and habits of mind that will build their capability to thrive over time. It is our role to understand and facilitate learning that equips us all to navigate the unique challenges that define our era — reversing global warming and adapting to climate change; regenerating the integrity of ecosystems; achieving social justice; developing sustainable, just and humane food systems; revitalizing the health of our oceans; improving the well-being of people; protecting biodiversity; and accelerating the shift toward a green economy and clean, renewable energy.

Curriculum
Design Studio
Save The Date | Aug 2022

Our Annual Curriculum Design Studio will be a hybrid event this year. Join us in person or online.

Join us for the popular Introduction to Education for Sustainability (EfS) One Day Workshop or a full week of Curriculum Design and Coaching. Register to access expertise, resources, and tools required to design elegant curricula for use in the classroom, protocols for professional development, or action plans designed to implement EfS change initiatives in schools and communities.

What is Sustainability?
What is Education for Sustainability? 
Why Educate for Sustainability?

Play the Fish Game to start the conversation about education for sustainability with students and faculty. The game teaches system dynamics, ecological principles, responsible citizenship and more!

During this interactive introductory session participants will:

  • Develop a shared understanding and vocabulary of Sustainability and Education for Sustainability(EfS)

  • Generate personal rationales for educating for sustainability

  • Become inspired and hopeful about contributing to the shift toward a sustainable future through education

Request a meeting with Jaimie Cloud to learn more and find out if an Introduction to EfS workshop is a good fit for your school group.

Donate to Support Education for Sustainability

Our children are counting on us all to turn Spaceship Earth around. Our contribution is the different ways of thinking that characterize Education for Sustainability.

Your donation to The Cloud Institute gives us the flexibility to create new opportunities for the teachers, students and the communities we serve.