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Teaching Empathy: From Me to We

My recommendation to elementary school teachers interested in enhancing their students’ empathic capacities is to begin with a deep and meaningful study of “self.” Explicitly teach your students how to identify and name their own emotions and associated sensations. Support your students as they begin to consider the cognitive, affective, and perceptual perspectives of their peers within your classroom. With time, widen the lens to consider multiple points of view across local, regional, and global scales. Finally, expand to include a multispecies perspective. Continue reading Teaching Empathy: From Me to We

Educator Spotlight: A Student-Led Exploration of Local Species

Andrea Sayler fostered her students’ curiosity of the natural world by holding a BioBlitz in the nature preserve near their school. A BioBlitz is an event that brings together community members to find and identify as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time. Andrea’s students used the data they gathered to develop research projects on flora or fauna that interested them. They shared their findings with their school community. Continue reading Educator Spotlight: A Student-Led Exploration of Local Species

Strategy Share: Immersing Your Students in a Place They’ve Never Been

The following post was written by 2017 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Jackie Grannis-Phoenix, a pre-K and kindergarten teacher at the Children’s House Montessori School in Camden, Maine, after her expedition to Southeast Alaska. The Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Program is a professional development opportunity for pre-K–12 educators made possible by a partnership between Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic Education. Have you ever traveled somewhere and thought to yourself, “Oh, my students would … Continue reading Strategy Share: Immersing Your Students in a Place They’ve Never Been

Educator Spotlight: Channeling Curiosity to Teach Natural Phenomena

Sonia Saunders taught her fifth-graders how plants and animals obtain energy by presenting students with three “phenomena.” Through research, creativity, and collaboration, students were able to better understand Earth’s natural processes and see themselves as part of a larger ecosystem. Continue reading Educator Spotlight: Channeling Curiosity to Teach Natural Phenomena

Top 10 New Species!

ENVIRONMENT Large and small, beautiful and bizarre, researchers have released the top ten new species for 2018. (CNN) What were the top ten two years ago? Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers Toolkit. Discussion Ideas Amphipod Epimeria quasimodo, a tiny crustacean, is abundant in the frigid waters of the ocean surrounding Antarctica. What are amphipods? In what other … Continue reading Top 10 New Species!