Register Now! Inside-Outside Virtual Conference

A Virtual Conference

Inside-Outside

Promising Practices in Nature- and Place-based Education

Saturday, October 24, 2020

1:00pm–3:30pm

Let's reimagine how to bring school to life

with nature- and place-based education for kindergarten through 8th grade students.

Keynote:

Place-based Education: An Inspiration for the Future of Education

Sarah Anderson, Author of Bringing School to Life: Place-based Education Across the Curriculum (2018) and Fieldwork Coordinator, Cottonwood School of Civics and Science, Portland, OR

As educators are now reimagining what it means to teach in this unprecedented moment, how can we make adaptability a part of our continuing practice? How does a place-based approach help us to embrace challenges as opportunities and nurture creative and critical thinking? From her experience as a place-based education coordinator in a K-8 school, Sarah will share how to embed problem-solving into practice to prepare students for meeting the challenges of the future.

Breakout Sessions:

Our program features a wonderful range of nature- and place-based breakout session topics. Breakout sessions led by a presenter will be interactive and will include discussion. Please come ready to participate.

A Trip to the Boiler Room: Using Local Energy Systems as a Context for Engaging Place-based Education

Simon Jorgenson, Associate Professor, Department of Education, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT

Where does the heat in the classroom come from? Who keeps us warm in the winter? Where do these pipes lead? This session will provide examples for how teachers can use local energy systems (including people and places within schools) to teach elementary science and social studies concepts.

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Preserving Nature-based Education in the Digital Age

Conor Driscoll, Principal, Hatfield Elementary School, Hatfield, MA

This workshop will provide successful strategies for keeping students’ connection to nature alive in a digital world. The strategies can be used to increase children’s time in nature whether or not the bulk of teaching and learning happens through computers.

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How Healthy is Our Stream?

Christina LaRue, 7th/8th grade teacher, Mountain Village Charter School, NH

Our middle school class has been 100% outdoors and fully engaged in place-based, standards-based curriculum. This session will highlight our first integrated investigation of the year: "How healthy is our stream?" The investigation has included nature journaling, a macro-invertebrate stream study and biotic index evaluation, student-led research projects, genre study of narrative non-fiction and nature essays, and an immersive introduction to biodiversity.

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Pollinator Gardens for Outdoor Inquiry

Marie Valentine, 2nd grade teacher, Lakewood Elementary School, Myrtle Beach, SC

The Outdoor Inquiry program addresses Pre-K - 5th grade state standards through gardening, environmental science, and sustainability. Building on 15 years of classroom teaching and a partnership with a local university, Marie shares how Outdoor Inquiry reimagines connection to nature and place. Join this session to learn more about pollinator gardens as an inquiry focus at every grade level.

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Integrating Math and Outdoor Learning

Julie Bisson, 4th grade teacher, New Hampton Community School, New Hampton, NH

Yes, you can teach math outdoors! Immerse yourself in outdoor learning strategies targeted at teaching your math curriculum in a creative, hands-on way. Gather tips for making fun and practical outdoor math tools and gain insights into the principles of how to turn outdoor learning into an integral part of your day.

Who's Outside? Building the Anti-Racist Bookshelf

Aimee Arandia Østensen, Professional Learning Facilitator, Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, VT

As we strive for a vision in which all children have meaningful connections to nature and place, what does our book collection say about who is part of this vision and in what role? Together we'll explore the intentional and unintentional messages about representation, stereotypes, and belonging that our bookshelves communicate.

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The Role of Land Stewardship in Emergent Curriculum & Practices of Gratitude

Landere Naisbitt, Outreach Coordinator, Blue Hill Heritage Trust, Blue Hill, ME

In this session, participants will engage with what it means to take care of the land and cultivate compassion for all life forms while simultaneously experiencing emergent curriculum. We will share and discuss practices of gratitude that enhance place-based connection.

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Community Impact & Design Thinking

Leslie Cook, Senior Director of Education Development, Teton Science Schools, Jackson, WY

Place-based education can give students the skills to positively impact their community and the resources to accomplish their goals. In this breakout session, participants will share and discuss community impact projects done by students and consider how the design thinking process can be useful for facilitating positive community impact.

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Cultivating a Sense of Plate

Ming Wei Koh, Executive Director and Ecoliteracy Educator, Center for Getting Things Started, Lower Puna, Hawaii Island, HI

Food is essential to life. Reimagining bringing school to life is inextricable from having healthy food bring life to school. De-commercializing our palates and guts through sensory exploration is the goal of this deep and delicious breakout. Taste matters.

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Teaching Outside 101 and Beyond

Joan Carey, Education Program Coordinator, Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center, Brattleboro, VT

K - 6th grade teachers are invited to take a deep dive into BEEC’s latest resource: Teaching Outside 101. This session will help you move from simply reading this document to implementing it to best meet your needs. We will focus on "Moving Standard-Based Curriculum Outdoors" and will help you settle in with "Nature Journals." Participants will leave oriented to our document Teaching Outside 101, with concrete plans and tools for their "teaching outside" toolbox.

Registration Steps

This is a Zoom online event. When you register below, you will first set up your account and pay for the conference. (Please do not use Apple Pay). You will receive a confirmation (from continuing-ed@antioch.edu). It will include information on how to login to Zoom. You will then receive an email invitation to the webinar, which is your secure access for the event.

In the Zoom invitation (from Liza Lowe) are the instructions for selecting your session topic. Please do this by October 23rd.

Photo Credits: Liza Lowe