News reports recently left me a bit amused that the mighty Apple could get it so wrong. Apple has vowed that iBooks will reinvent school textbooks. My take is that this initiative is more about selling iPads than shaking up education. As noted by many, the textbook is a relic. It is all about transmitting knowledge or information on mass from an authority (a subject, a teacher, an institution) to the student. The textbook learning ...Read more
Sustainability for Classroom Educators
Feb. 17th, 2012
Enhance your Students’ Engagement through Community Action
It was a sad sad day for me as an educator the day I was supporting another teacher’s civics class. I introduced the concept of the community action project. It took a long time to convince the students that we were actually going to do the action project. We weren’t just going to write about it. We weren’t going to do a simulation, a ‘mock’ anything or a… We were actually going to do it. The students wouldn’t believe me. ...Read more
Nov. 28th, 2011
Appreciation for Alternate Perspectives in Your Classroom: Effective Strategies
What the world needs now is another folk singer like I need a hole in my head. For some people, Cracker’s song lyrics are fighting words (but the tune is great…check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n8rfFRvIH0). But what does the world need now? Certainly, we need to get better at appreciating alternative perspectives. Not just tolerating…but actually appreciating them. Appreciating alternative perspectives requires a consideration of different ways of looking at issues in the process of forming opinions and taking a ...Read more
Oct. 21st, 2011
Belfountain Public School: a school on a professional inquiry path
I have had the pleasure of working with the staff of Belfountain Public School for several years. They stand out in terms of professional practice on a number of levels. The result is a school learning experience that is engaging learners and consistent with the growing body of knowledge that supports students learning in the context of their local communities, working on meaningful, real world projects and bringing social land environmental issues into focus in age-appropriate ways. It is worthwhile ...Read more
Sep. 27th, 2011
Sustainable Classroom Tips!
This post written by Angela Heagle Kielbowska – Environmental Studies Graduate student and new LSF blogger. Are you itching to make a difference in the environment but don’t know how? Here are some easy ways that YOU can make a positive change! Sometimes it can be frustrating to hear about the environmental issues that are facing our world today and not know how to solve these problems. I have come up with a few quick and easy ways for classrooms to take ...Read more
Sep. 9th, 2011
The $1,000,000 Aviva Community Fund is back!
LSF is once again proud to partner with Aviva Canada, one of the country’s leading insurance groups, in helping bring the Aviva Community Fund to life. This fun competition, created to inspire ideas that create positive change within communities across Canada, is a great way for your school to submit R4R Action Project ideas. Individuals or charitable organizations can submit an idea for a cause within their community that they feel passionate about. They then become actively involved in promoting the ...Read more
Mar. 18th, 2011
Grand & Toy Asks Canadians to Nominate Exceptional Teachers for ‘A Day Made Better’
National Initiative Encourages Canadians to Nominate Outstanding Teachers Who Demonstrate Creativity, Innovation and Excellence TORONTO, March 14 /CNW/ – Canadian office solutions provider Grand & Toy (G&T), in partnership with Learning for a Sustainable Future, today announced an open call for nominations for its national ‘A Day Made Better’ campaign (www.grandandtoy.com/betterday). This annual corporate social responsibility initiative rewards extraordinary public school teachers (kindergarten to grade across the country with national recognition ...Read more
Feb. 7th, 2011
Sustainable Classroom Checklist
It is a new year and many of us are reigniting our efforts to work toward a world that is fair for humans and non-humans, near and far, now and in the future. Is your classroom supporting responsible citizenship in every way it can? Below are some examples of questions to ask about sustainability-related behaviours in our classrooms. A Classroom-Level View of Sustainability Education and Responsible Citizenship Classroom Culture Examples Are events in the natural world routinely incorporated into discussions and activities? Are negative representations ...Read more
Jan. 25th, 2011
Preparing for World Wetlands Day
World Wetlands Day is coming up on February 2nd. What will you do to get your class involved and learning about these fragile ecosystems? Canada contains nearly 9 percent of the world’s freshwater and 25 percent of the world’s wetlands. Wetlands are essential components of watersheds, connecting water, land and all living creatures. Despite this, wetlands are some of the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. Unfortunately in many parts of the country wetland loss has reached over 70 percent and wetlands continue ...Read more
Dec. 11th, 2010
Tools to help you get started on reducing your high school’s carbon footprint!
While Canada has received many fossil awards so far at the UN climate change talks in Cancun, many teachers and school board administrators across Canada are taking action on mitigating greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions in their schools. Are you interested in better understanding your schools’ carbon footprint? For many students and teachers it can be challenging to map out and accurately measure their schools’ carbon footprint (including all GHG emissions), so we have decided to outline a few ways to get started. ...Read more