The shortlists for the 2016 Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Learning Outside the Classroom have been selected. The LOtC Awards recognise individuals and teams of people who have made a significant impact on the lives of children and young people through their commitment to providing and/or championing exciting and inspiring learning outside the classroom opportunities. The…
The Countryside Classroom September newsletter has a feature on a project from the Manchester Environmental Education Network (MEEN) which focuses on the industrial revolution’s heritage in the local area. Using the project, called ‘Our environment, our heritage’, two East Manchester primary schools learned about activities in the past that had caused soil, air and water pollution in their local…
It’s not too late to book for the TEESNet conference in Liverpool. The conference will … “explore opportunities and challenges in monitoring and evaluation of education that supports people in leading fulfilling lives in a changing, globalised world. This responds to growing interest in monitoring and evaluation in ESDGC. It will also provides an…
This is a feature article in Yale Environment 360. Ecologist Suzanne Simard has shown how trees use a network of soil fungi to communicate their needs and aid neighboring plants. Now she’s warning that threats like clear-cutting and climate change could disrupt these critical networks. The article begins … Two decades ago, while researching her…
We are grateful to Max McMurdo for these up-cycling tips: Jam jars – these make great display storage Old lampshades – remove fabric to reveal a beautiful wire structure Coat hangers – these can be used to make amazing lampshades as seen on the latest Channel 4 series of ‘Fill your house for free’ Chipped…
Click here to see the latest updates from Practical Action. And here, for the latest updates from Project Dirt.
The Environmental News Network reports that storms have killed millions of Monarch butterflies. The article begins … While international efforts are under way to help keep dwindling populations of monarch butterflies from disappearing, scientists are raising concerns about how severe weather and a loss of forest habitat at their wintering grounds in Mexico are affecting them. Every year,…
The Children & Nature Network reports an Australian study (by ABC’s Layla Tucak) which says that gut health, mental wellbeing and immunity are linked to outdoor play. This begins: Playing in nature used to be a part of everyone’s childhood but researchers say it has become an increasingly foreign concept in Western countries with changes to…
Miles Irving’s, ‘The Forager Handbook’, begins with a passionate introduction about a revolution in the food industry and a burgeoning communal return to our ancestral roots. His enthusiasm and knowledge are clear from the start, and the book, without doubt, does offer a wealth of information. However, I fear the title misleads us in its…
This article was first published in NAEE‘s Summer 2015 journal Environmental Education (Vol 109), as our ‘President’s Column’. The views are Bill Scott’s own, not NAEE’s. The Sustainable Schools Framework – and those doorways Much of the work of the Sustainable Schools Alliance [ SSA ] is focused around the Sustainable Schools Framework which was something the Blair government set up. It had 8…
The Development Education Research Centre (DERC) at UCL in London has announced two autumn seminars: Dr Maureen Ellis will talk on The Critical Global Educator on Tuesday 4thOctober 2016 – 1700 to 1830. Dr Ellis is Senior Research Associate at Development Education Research Centre, University College London – Institute of Education; Associate Lecturer at the Open University; and author of The…
There are only a few more days to take the Countryside Classroom Annual Survey. All participants who complete the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 cash prize. Countryside Classroom says that the survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete. It has 4 sections: – Using the site…