Registration is open for the 47th NAAEE annual conference in Spokane from 10 to 13 October. It will focus on the power of education to create positive change for the future.
NAAEE says:
“EE is a force for building a more civically engaged citizenry. It’s a force for creating a more diverse and inclusive movement. It’s a force for linking research and practice, and for demonstrating the impact of interdisciplinary education. It’s a force for optimizing human potential and delivering excellent educational opportunities for all.”
The Science Geek has all you need to know about the full lunar eclipse on July 27th. As ever, there are some fine diagrams with some from NASA. There’s also a note about co-ordinated universal time. This is the first full eclipse for 3 years and it will take place in the early evening.
London’s Natural History Museum says it’s teamed up with the LEGO Group to celebrate the arrival of the first LEGO® plants from plants! You can join sustainable superhero Plantus Maximus for brick-building experiences and a quest around the Museum to help mark their launch.
Learning Away says that understanding the impact and benefits of a residential experience means you can better celebrate your students’ achievements with the school, teachers, parents and Ofsted. It also helps ensure that you continue to deliver brilliant residentials. Its free practical Evaluation Toolkit aims to help you design a simple evaluation plan, show you how to collate data and how to make best use of this information. The Learning Away Consortium is led by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC).
The British Ecological Society has launched a new journal People and Nature. This is a broad-scope open access journal dedicated to publishing work from research areas exploring relationships between humans and nature.
The BBC reports that the Prince of Wales is launching a research initiative with the University of Cambridge, addressing the challenges of a time “full of uncertainty”. Businesses and academics are being brought together to address the “most pressing” global challenges, in fields such as health and the environment. The scheme will create 12 new research fellowships at Cambridge with £3.6m in funding from partners in industry. “Objective research” is needed now more than ever, says the Prince of Wales. These Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellowships will focus on major global problems, linked to United Nations’ sustainable development goals.
The 13th European Forest Pedagogics Congress takes place in Finland, 2nd to 5th October. This is a forum for exchange of knowledge and experiences in the field of forest pedagogy. The theme is TOGETHER – How to involve and participate children and youth in learning, decision making and planning and it will take place in the largest log-built school structure in the world, The Log Campus in Pudasjärvi, and the youth and leisure centre in Pikku-Syöte. You can register for the congress here.
Greenpeace says: “This is big: the majority of the krill fishing industry has agreed to voluntarily stop fishing in sensitive Antarctic waters and back the campaign for ocean sanctuaries in the Antarctic. This is not just a welcome relief for penguins and other Antarctic wildlife that feed on krill. It also means that when the Antarctic Ocean Commission meet in October to decide on a massive Sanctuary, the influential krill industry won’t be standing in the way. This is a brilliant step towards protecting the Antarctic.”
A Polish ecological charity was sent a bill for £2,064 when a GPS tracker attached to a migrating stork was stolen and its SIM card used in a phone. The fate of the stork is unknown.