What excited you the most in the previous discussion?
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Discussion 1
- Why are you excited about Midwest climate education and the MCC Educator community of practice?
- What do you bring to the table?
- What is the initial foci of our learning together?
Discussion 1 Takeaways
Gina Jaquet
Feb, 2022
This post was edited by Gina Jaquet on Feb, 2022
Idea of creating a shared language for how to educate students and communities in this area. In higher education, this could be learning outcomes, best practices, support for curriculum development.
Idea of creating a shared language for how to educate students and communities in this area. In higher education, this could be learning outcomes, best practices, support for curriculum development.
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Beth Martin
Feb, 2022
We are excited about the ability to come together across the midwest and share state and regional specific resource. We are also excited to support education to bring effective and empowering messages to students. \r\n
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Heather Navarro
Feb, 2022
Thinking about placed-based education that leverages local organizations (museums, zoos, botanical gardens) and shares local impacts of climate change. The need to fill gaps between academic institutions, rural/urban, cross-sector collaboration without replicating existing networks and coalitions.\r\nEducational resources shared: Project Green Health for health care industry, SERC, Climate Central (expanding content to educators), \"Climate Misinformation\" by Katie Worth, http://www.katharinehayhoe.com/, Greenman Studio documentaries by Peter Sinclair
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Seth Spencer
Feb, 2022
Hearing about the possibilities of collaboration between education focused organizations around the midwest to support K-12 educators.
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Seth Spencer
Feb, 2022
Specific guidelines of \'best practices\' for climate change education AND action for teachers/communities.
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Bill Gutowski
Feb, 2022
The great variety of people involved in my discussion group was energizing and stimulating. All of these perspectives, especially Midwestern perspectives, is vital for making progress on climate change. Education is central to that, and we need a variety of educational endeavors.
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Katherine Golden
Feb, 2022
With all of these collective organizations and people there is a huge potential to collect examples and evidence of climate change impacts on the Midwest, to help educators make Climate Change local for students. So many resources exist that focus on places like California, Great Barrier Reef, or the arctic, but what does this actually look like for us here in the Midwest.
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Missy
Feb, 2022
The number of connections that we had across the region - it was affirming to discover that we are already informally working with each other and that there is a significant opportunity to amplify this work through intentional programming and networking.
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Anonymous Poster
Feb, 2022
A continued look at an interdisciplinary approach to integrating climate change learning and action across various curriculum (both formal and informal).
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Benjamin Freiman
Feb, 2022
I was most excited to hear a shared interest in and concern for climate anxiety experienced by students, not only in higher education but in all levels of education in our region.
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Jason Cervenec
Feb, 2022
There are individuals working in a number of complementary spaces doing good work that could benefit from cross conversations.
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Anonymous Poster
Feb, 2022
Most excited to learn and share with others. We all bring new and interesting ideas to the conversation. Im finsing my tribe in my new home in the midwest. OThers I can go to for advice and suggestions.
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Beth Martin
Feb, 2022
Huge need is knowledge of existing resources - who is doing what where? Who has what where? How can these be share and built upon.
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Ozge KH
Feb, 2022
Educational prospects - curriculum aspects. There\'s a lot of work out there and it can be brought together via MCC.
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Maggie McCoy
Feb, 2022
I liked being able to hear about different programs across the Midwest and think forward to how we can share best practices.
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Angela A. Moore
Feb, 2022
Looking at the social behavior portion of how we can move forward with community change.
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Anonymous Poster
Feb, 2022
Lots of passionate people that care about the same issues, working to jump the same hurdles
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Hope Gribble
Feb, 2022
I appreciate the opportunity to connect with others across the region who are doing complimentary work - to learn about their work, share what we are doing, and find a way to collaborate for greater impact. Feeling really inspired and excited about the synergies and possibilities!\r\n
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Sarah Fortner
Feb, 2022
Excited to create a Midwest specific path for collective action that supports students in hope & building community for change. Excited to leverage the talents of interdisciplinary expertise & settings for action.
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Gina Jaquet
Feb, 2022
I think it would be helpful to consider some subgroups from this larger group -- perhaps one on community outreach, one on higher education curriculum development/learning/student engagement, and one on K-12 at some point. Or, at least for some breakout discussions. This might allow us to share more specific resources with each other within our sub-areas of education. Agree with idea of sharing the curricula that exist (and student engagement opportunities) and creating a repository with contacts so members can reach out and follow up with more specific questions.\r\n
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Lesli Moylan
Feb, 2022
Exciting to think about working together to develop the Midwestern collective will to address climate change
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Anonymous Poster
Feb, 2022
The need for shared language across the region that includes sustainability justice and inclusion.
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Tara Rocque
Feb, 2022
People from multiple disciplines with varying strengths sharing their skills and supporting each other.
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Derek Lough
Feb, 2022
So many participants are actively seeking ways to create actionable climate change practices in education and community engagement--especially by transitioning from disciplinary silos to interdisciplinary collaboration and coming together as a community to force political representatives to act on our behalf. Most importantly, we want students to be able to take the time and effort to envision a healthy future, as well as learn the tools to fight for it.
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Anonymous Poster
Feb, 2022
Frank Fischer That good things are going top happen in the future and not to focus on the negative. Also\r\n That the anecdote to anxiety is action
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Beth Martin
Feb, 2022
\r\n\r\nHuge need is knowledge of existing resources - who is doing what where? Who has what where? How can these be share and built upon.\r\n
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Anonymous Poster
Feb, 2022
Thinking about community-academic-practice connections on local-regional-global levels. Being in conversation with other Midwest Sustainability thinkers/ practitioners may inspire needed collaboration and common language around sustainability and climate justice. Incorporating insights and reading/podcast recommendations into current work in classroom and community.
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Jill Martin
Feb, 2022
I am most excited about the diversity of backgrounds and ideas among the individuals in my group! Backgrounds Humanities, Earth Science and Industry represented just in our small group can come together to create new ideas and best practices for educating our community across disciplines when it comes to climate change.
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Anonymous Poster
Feb, 2022
Excited to be in the mix with such a great cross section of formal and informal climate educators, and exploring ways my informal science education org can support formal educators
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Alli Wenman
Feb, 2022
I\'m excited to network with other educators! I\'m new to the educator side of climate education (been on the learning side for a while now). So I\'m excited to discuss with others what has helped engage and empower students and ways to bring storytelling and action into climate education. What I bring: I have been using a curriculum that is based in civic engagement (persuasive language, understanding decision-making processes) around an environmental issue (stormwater). We are bringing climate more intentionally into that curriculum and I think it\'s an amazing model for providing students with education and the tools to contribute to local action.
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Jim Poyser
Feb, 2022
What I felt we came to from our delightful conversation was the idea of a vision for solutions. Just recently I\'ve come upon a Midwest based storyteller, Jeff Biggers, who has a program he calls Ecopolis that invites communities to not only envision a sustainable 2030, but know what are the steps in getting there. His process involves oral history input so that the community is building off of its past in creating its sustainable future.\r\nThe other idea I came away with is this: MCC is the yenta for categories of education (say, for example, zoos), that connect those categories across the midwest, while utilizing the cross-discipline resources (say SDGs at zoos) to engage all the MCC talent.
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Emily Andrews
Feb, 2022
There is a lot of great working going on across the Midwest - how can we leverage that for real and meaningful change? The potential is exciting!
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Michael Wysession
Feb, 2022
It is exciting to get people talking about actions that can be taken across not only multiple field of formal education but also informal education, government, industry, and communities. Climate impacts all of our systems and needs to be addressed in an integrated way across all of our systems by everyone involved. However, children have an energy and enthusiasm that is unmatched at other levels and need to be provided with multiple opportunities to take action, both as a way of engaging and \"falling in love\" with the work of engaging, but also as a way of developing the tools needed to maintain a sense of hope in the face of what will be an ever-increasing onslaught of \"bad news\" as climate impacts on society continue to worsen, particularly those communities with the least voice.
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Katherine Golden
Feb, 2022
The need to make Climate Change local. It was also mentioned in our group that students/learners need to have some kind of hope or promise of projects/ actions having long-term effects. Students feel disheartened in doing the same action project each year, i.e. having to restart the recycling program, etc. On a larger scale this same sentiment probably makes others not think about their impacts on climate change or feel like they can do something to help address the issues.
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Katherine Golden
Feb, 2022
The need to make Climate Change local. It was also mentioned in our group that students/learners need to have some kind of hope or promise of projects/ actions having long-term effects. Students feel disheartened in doing the same action project each year, i.e. having to restart the recycling program, etc. On a larger scale this same sentiment probably makes others not think about their impacts on climate change or feel like they can do something to help address the issues.
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Benjamin Freiman
Feb, 2022
I am encouraged to see a real identification of the value of intersectionality and DEI components in our environmental learning and teachings. It feels like this area is still growing but is often underrepresented in these spaces and in some higher ed classrooms even. I am unclear on a specific roadmap in some ways, and a clear definition of goals or timelines feels missing to me currently (though maybe I just don\'t know where to find it!)
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Jack Fishman
Feb, 2022
I was glad to see the concept of the Great Acceleration being suggested as a talking point. In the course I have taught for the last 5 years, I emphasize the Anthropocene and the Great Acceleration.
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Anonymous Poster
Feb, 2022
Hearing the about the programs already developed, and in the process of being developed (ie student/researcher collaborations). It is encouraging to see these hopeful actions.
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Anonymous Poster
Feb, 2022
There are many initiatives happening in our community that are addressing the many climate issues we are facing. Having a MCC Education Community will allow for collaboration that can educate, enhance, and ampligy this work. I love the idea of empowering youth with knowledge and skills for them to be active members in their local communities.
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Janie Riebe
Feb, 2022
I am surprised that curricula have not already been developed to teach about our changing climate.
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Jason Cervenec
Feb, 2022
We will need to involve more individuals in the trenches in some of these conversations. For instance, we will need more k-12 educators involved if hope to work in that space. This time is likely not ideal for their participation.
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Lisa Pitot
Feb, 2022
Hi everyone - I\'m excited about the action currently happening, the expertise within this group, the desire for common language across our collaborative, the focus on equity and social justice climate issues, and how local information and action is key to get folks involved and caring
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Wanda Kolo
Feb, 2022
It will be critical to ensure participation across audiences, utilizing science-informed best practices for communicating the urgency for climate solutions. The cross-section of participants from higher education, research, and educators from k-12, higher education, and interpreters who connect with the general public at public/ cultural institutions is a great approach. At Saint Louis Zoo, we have staff trained in the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation. https://climateinterpreter.org/partner/nnocci-national-network-ocean-and-clim...
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Lisa Lidgus
Feb, 2022
A plan that identifies approaches based on common language/messaging (that is Midwest region specific) and incorporates an interdisciplinary approach that starts with understanding our various audiences\' needs/where they\'re at so we can create curriculum, programs, business challenges, advocacy toolkits, targeted messaging and beyond that has the highest level of impact for our region and communities.
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Jim Poyser
Feb, 2022
I hope we can have a spreadsheet where we can provide contact info for each of us with columns dedicated to what we can provide and what we see our needs to be.
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Lesli Moylan
Feb, 2022
Needs resonating: midwestern examples to pull from and local issues to engage students in, language that empowers and engenders hope + language that is community-centric (honors what many non-academic groups have been doing for generations i.e. not wasting resources)
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Discussion 2
- What are the synergies that you see around identified needs?
- What needs are missing?
- What would you like to learn from of a group of educators with diverse expertise?