Tyger, Tyger – Global Tiger Day is celebrated on July 29th to raise awareness about this endangered big cat. You can download WWF’s free printable tiger activity sheets for students to take part in this wild day, including a word puzzle, maze game, mad lib, and more. Also explore other learning resources in WWF’s full toolkit.
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Youth Award – Applications are now open for the WWF Youth Conservation Leadership Award recognizing young leaders (ages 18-30) making contributions to the environment. The deadline to apply is August 1st .
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No Details Available –There is still no detail of how ministerial responsibilities are to be shared out between the new ministers in the DfE. Also, a search of the government website seems to show zero references to the Natural History GCSE.
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Elephant Times Association [ETA] – The recent Tide~ AGM confirmed plans to close the educational charity later this year, and proposed setting up an Association – the ETA – to work on Tide’s legacy. The aim is to make ideas and resources available through an active archive, and partnership with other organisations. The ETA will also enable people to reflect on Tide~ experiences in the context of current education debates.
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Geography Education Research – The Geographical Association has a feature article on research in geography education. This draws on Puttick (2017) ‘Researching geography education’ in The Handbook of Secondary Geography, published by the Geographical Association.
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New Qualification – The International Sustainability Diploma (ISD) has been developed by Dollar Academy and will be piloted by five Scottish schools during the 2024-25 academic year.
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Dorothy Morley Conservation Award – Curridge Primary School, Thatcham, has won the Dorothy Morley Award for its bee-friendly garden from the Berkshire Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). Their garden, which was created on a barren piece of land near the school, won First Prize in CPRE’s annual competition for the best school environmental project. Pupils researched bee-friendly plants before starting work on the garden, and since establishing it have been busy observing the bees that visit and recording the results of their observations.
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Four & Twenty Blackbirds – The British Trust for Ornithology is appealing for anyone with a garden to take part in a survey to understand the impact of the Usutu virus on blackbird numbers. If you can spare 15 minutes a week to watch yours, sign up here.
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Will you be in Pittsburg PA? – Registration is now open for NAAEE’s Annual Conference (November 6–9) & Research Symposium (November 5–6) taking place in Pittsburgh in partnership with the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators. Drawing inspiration from Pittsburgh’s iconic river crossings, this year’s theme of “Building Bridges” emphasises Environmental Education’s community’s role in developing solutions by working collaboratively, nurturing innovative partnerships, and amplifying programme impact. Click here to learn more about the keynotes, scholarships, & special events, and register.
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Unesco Webinars – Click here to read the latest Unesco ESD Newsletter. This includes details of the ESD-NET 2030 Learning Webinar Series ‘Learning and assessing competencies in ESD’ that starts in September. There is also detail of the third discussion on ‘How can educators be supported to teach skills relevant for green jobs?’ which will reflect on the challenges and concrete solutions in higher education and TVET from the diverse perspectives of teachers, educators, young people, and policymakers. This is on July 30th and you can register here.
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Unesco Resource – Arts for Transformative Education: A New Thinking Tool for Teachers is a UNESCO resource that sets out to help in implementing UNESCO’s new Framework on Culture and Arts Education that was adopted earlier this year.
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Global Interconnections – Have you ever wondered how all the world’s biggest challenges are interconnected? For example, how access to clean water, food security, quality education are all tied together in complex ways. The Sustainability Compass from the World’s Largest Lesson can be used by educators, students, and education leaders as a tool to help explore each of the Global Goals and to explore the interdependencies of these inextricably linked challenges.
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Plants for Life – July 6th was National Meadows Day – set up to acknowledge the special and important areas of grassland that have been immortalised in books, poetry, paintings and songs for generations. Recognised as harmonious havens for plants and other wildlife, meadows are the perfect place to unwind, connect with nature and boost our wellbeing. You can still visit your local meadow, or one of Plantlife’s nature reserves listed here. Here’s an ID guide and spotter sheet, to see how many species you can see.
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Planet Atlas – The Times confirms what we all suspected, that native plants have halved since the 1950s. The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland’s Plant Atlas 2020 results from twenty years of fieldwork by citizen scientists. It follows editions in 1962 and 2002. The research found 1,692 native species and 1,753 non-native ones. Intensification and expansion of agriculture was found to be the main driver for 53% of decline in native species since the 1950s with the biggest losses occurring in the 1960s and 1970s as grasslands, meadows and chalk downland were ploughed up. Increased use of nitrogen fertilisers has also meant that native plants that favour infertile soils have lost declined.