In Spring 2023, I had the privilege of being accepted as a 2023 NAAEE CEE Change Fellow. The CEE Change Fellowship supports and connects educators working at the intersection of environmental and civic engagement education. The 2023 program focused on climate change and education.
Through this fellowship and a partnership with Compass Education, I received support and $2000 of funding to design and run a free three-part virtual training called “Introduction to the Compass Tools: Systems Thinking for Climate Education and Civic Action” for educators from around North America. This training introduced participants to the fundamentals of sustainability and systems thinking tools they could use to educate and act on sustainability.
The first two sessions introduced versatile systems thinking tools: The Sustainability Compass and Systems Iceberg. The final session supported participants in developing a learning or action plan to engage their students with sustainability in the classroom or through community action using said tools. We framed climate education through the UNFCC ACE framework and the United Nations Global Goals. We considered methods for civic engagement outlined by the Center for Civic Engagement at Illinois State. Every participant planned post-workshop action steps to engage their students with climate education and civic action before the end of the 2023-24 school year.
Since our training, the participating educators have submitted blogs, vlogs, lesson plans, and examples of how they have used systems thinking to engage their students in climate education and civic action. I have been thrilled and awed by their willingness to ‘not stress the mess’ and try out new systems thinking tools and ways of thinking with their students. This report features some of their reflections and work in their communities thus far. As you review their stores, click on the embedded links to read more about their stories and experiences in their own voices.
One of my underlying goals for this project was to build a more robust North American community of educators using systems thinking tools to engage students and schools in sustainability education for systems change. In September 2024, we hosted a virtual educator meet-up for educators from around North America, and 12 teachers from around North America, many of whom were part of this program or connected to this program, participated. I look forward to seeing how this community of practice will continue to evolve.
Author
Pablo Gitanjali
Desde que se unió a Compass Education en 2014, Gitanjali ha trabajado con los Grupos de empoderamiento de jóvenes y aprendizaje para diseñar y facilitar talleres, campamentos y cursos educativos. Como Gerente del Programa de Educación, Gitanjali coordina las experiencias de aprendizaje, supervisa el desarrollo de nuevos productos y apoya a la red estelar de educadores voluntarios de CE en el cumplimiento de las metas y la misión de la organización. Las experiencias de Gitanjali como estudiante y docente en escuelas internacionales han fortalecido su motivación para equipar a las personas con conocimientos y habilidades para prosperar y crear un mundo más sostenible. Además de su trabajo con Compass Education, Gitanjali trabaja como diseñadora de aprendizaje y facilitadora independiente para otras organizaciones en cuyo trabajo cree. Es una ávida amante de la naturaleza, los experimentos de cocina, las aventuras con la familia y pasar tiempo con su gato filipino rescatado, Mahatma Charlie.
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