School districts interested in pursuing $10-$20 million grants for building improvements from the EPA Community Change Grant program now have access to dedicated support to help with their grant applications. The Center for Green Schools, The Collaborative for High Performance Schools, The Association of School Business Officials, and the National Rural Education Association are working together to provide grant writing tools, training, and direct coaching for school district applicants.
Read MoreDarcy Hitchcock is a long time Sustainability Consultant and friend and supporter of the Cloud Institute. She posts interesting news, articles, thoughts and opinion pieces regularly. I think this is one that all our schools State by State can use to stimulate a discussion about renewable energy, our present and our future.
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We are in the swing of our first year working with the Burke’s School in San Francisco, CA, an Independent K-8 School for Girls that has taken on Educating for Sustainability for the first time this year. It is wonderful to be working with Alice Moore again (currently Director of the Lower School and formerly at Marin Country Day School where we worked together with Robert Greene for seven years integrating EfS with DEI) and joyful working with Fran Yang, Director of Curriculum and Innovation for the first time.
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At the Katherine Delmar Burke School, (commonly known as Burke's--an independent K-8 girls' school located in the Sea Cliff neighborhood of San Francisco, California), I have been working with the first-grade teachers of Art, Science, Library and Maker Space to build an interdisciplinary curriculum around the study of the ocean and the plants and animals that live there. This is a video of Yara Herman (the Art teacher) and her team’s contribution to the interdisciplinary study called “Ocean Emotion”. Love, Art, Artists, Impermanence, Mindfulness and a Strong Sense of Place.
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Jaimie recently attended the Oxford International Curriculum Schools Conference as keynote speaker and panel discussion participant.
Here is some of the feedback from teachers and school leaders: “What resonated most with me was the webinar's holistic view of education for sustainable impact. It wasn't just about teaching environmental science or sustainability concepts - it was about cultivating learners who are empowered to be ethical leaders, systems thinkers, and passionate advocates for a more equitable and regenerative future.”
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Cloud Institute partner Darcy Hitchcock recently shared how solar panels may be coming sooner than we think. ”Right now, the solar paint is about eight percent efficient in converting sunlight to energy. Experts think that solar paint just needs to reach 10 percent to be a viable product, so they’re pretty close!” This is an excellent example of biomimicry!
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Introduction to EfS will immerse participants in systems thinking games and simulations, group discussions about economics and quality of life, and the science of sustainability. Stories and case studies will be shared, we will explore contemporary ideas in EfS and we will envision what is possible when we educate for sustainability.
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Educating for sustainability means inspiring children to think about the world, their relationship to it, and their ability to influence it in an entirely new way. Children learn the knowledge, skills, and mindsets to work towards their preferred future - a new paradigm for living with one another on Earth that celebrates our capability to thrive over time in the context of a rapidly changing and interdependent world.
Apart, Together - A Book About Transformation uses everyday scenes such as gardening, mixing color, playing a sport, and playing with blocks, to invite children and their grownups to read, discuss, play, imagine, and together, be curious about the connections that make up their world.
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The Cloud Institute is proud to announce the new Oxford International Curriculum for Sustainability! Now more than ever, teachers are increasingly looking for ways to bring the attributes of Education for Sustainability into the classroom, and today’s young people are counting on all of us to learn how to work together to make the shift toward a sustainable future.
The Cloud Institute is working closely with the Oxford International Curriculum team at Oxford University Press to build the vertically articulated series of project- based learning experiences from 1st year to 9th year (K-8 in the U.S.).
We wrote the Learning Outcomes and Assessment Framework for the series and are working closely with the lesson authors to make them come alive for students and teachers in classrooms all over the world.
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Planting the seeds for a sustainable future starts early for these young students. It's at the core of one charter school's mission from how it's built, to what it serves.
We are happy to share this CBS feature about Mundo Verde Public Charter School, a PreK-5 bilingual school that serves students across two campuses in Washington D.C. The Cloud Institute has been working with Mundo Verde for several years now because they are dedicated to educating for a sustainable future. It’s working!
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We are proud to announce our collaboration with the National Park Service to assist educators in their efforts to educate for sustainability through formal and informal education programs.
National Park Service Educators are participating from all over the country in our EfS Curriculum Design Studios. We are excited about the depth and breadth of the work we are doing and are grateful for the opportunity to work with such an amazing array of national park sites spanning the country, including Alaska, and scheduled to also support island groups in both the Pacific and Atlantic.
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We track and share stories and case studies of people around the world who are contributing to sustainability and regeneration. Regeneration is a book by Paul Hawken, a project with a newsletter, and a website. Their mission is to reverse global warming in one generation. Below is a newsletter preview and you can read the full issue here.
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“Is it the sustainability of education and research that is the focus of the conversations or is it how education can contribute to sustaining human and other life on planet Earth? Maybe both?
If we successfully educate for a sustainable future, then we will create favorable conditions to make the shift toward a sustainable future, because EfS will have contributed to our individual and collective potential and that of the living systems upon which our lives-and all life-depend. If we don’t educate for a sustainable future in the way the Benchmarks describe, then we won’t need to worry about education because we won’t be here. We do not have the luxury to spend any time on the latter scenario.
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Annual Curriculum Design Studio Online & On Campus at Omega
Join us for the popular Intro 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.
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Education for Sustainability Standards and Performance Indicators
“We must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet.” — Margaret Mead
The knowledge, skills, attitudes and habits of mind of Education for Sustainability (EfS) are embedded in The Cloud Institute's EfS Standards and corresponding Performance Indicators.
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The Cloud Institute Proudly Announces Our New Partnership With Subject To Climate
The mission of Subject to Climate is to make climate change teaching and learning accessible to all. By enabling educators from all subjects and grade levels to teach about climate change, we believe that the next generation will be inspired to take climate action. We agree. Subject to Climate is a rich resource database of K-12 teaching materials vetted by a team of former and current teachers, scientists, and climate activists. It is one of the best collections I have seen, and I really appreciate the seriousness with which they solicit and accept resources.
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We get what we educate for. That’s why it’s time to educate for the future we want: healthy, just and sustainable for ourselves and for generations to come. There are lots of ways to begin. In early grades, connecting children to the places where they live helps them learn to take care of those places — so the places can take care of them over time.
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The Cloud Institute at Chinese International School
As part of Chinese International Schools Vision '33 Sustainability Pledge Jaimie Cloud was invited to host a week-long workshop for faculty to help develop curriculum that reflects EfS standards and best practices for the coming years.
Jaimie facilitated in-depth discussions on the backwards design process, assessments that produce learning, project-based learning, and analyzing student work. She also provided coaching, organized peer reviews, and hosted a live stream with Q&A for parents who wanted to know more about EfS at Chinese International School.
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Metanoia is partnering with the Cloud Institute to offer a FREE introductory seminar on Education for Sustainability (EfS), which will be delivered by Jaimie Cloud, a global educator and pioneer in the field of Education for Sustainability (EfS).
As a pioneer in the field of Education for Sustainability (EfS) Jaimie Cloud is an international keynote speaker, thought leader, and educational consultant. Jaimie writes and publishes extensively, and is a leadership advisor and curriculum development coach to administrators, teachers, and curriculum specialists in schools around the world.
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Submitted by Tina Bessias of Durham Academy
Last week I had a coaching session with Jaimie Cloud, who is advising DA about our curriculum and culture for sustainability. Our conversation was helpful on multiple fronts, but one detail particularly stuck with me. Jaimie mentioned the widely quoted finding that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. For her, it’s a perfect example of what NOT to teach. First, because it’s not true: it is a projection that assumes current trends continue, so it assumes we do not learn from the very kind of research from which this mangled quote is drawn. Second, because it promotes a sense of helplessness and doom. Jaimie argues that we need to emphasize the opportunity to make changes and guard against doom-and-gloom perspectives.