These stories are a collection of educator professional learning experiences and opportunities provided by ESD, CBO and Tribal School partners.
EarthGen is a statewide nonprofit organization that equips youth, educators, and school communities to become changemakers for a healthy environment. Through science-based, action-oriented programs, EarthGen engages several hundred teachers each year in climate science professional development grounded in Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and culturally sustaining pedagogy. EarthGen’s workshops feature climate scientists, focus on local issues, and highlight action and solutions. EarthGen provides teachers with data, resources, and instructional strategies to make climate change and its impacts relevant for students.
Shellfish are an important traditional food source with cultural significance for coastal Native people and the foundation of an iconic industry for Washington state. The shellfish industry here generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year and employs thousands...
A new virtual training, COVID and Climate Change helps teachers explore the relationships among climate change, COVID, and social injustice. This professional learning workshop, a collaboration between EarthGen and ESD 112, was first offered on January 23 and attended...
The Washington state program ClimeTime, which is facilitated by the state’s nine Education Service Districts (ESDs) and community partners, was recently cited as a popular and effective model for educator education in climate science. The Journal of Science Policy and...
Professional learning forms community and educators made connections in more ways than one at the recent Washington Green Schools’ STEM Seminar: Agriculture and Climate Change, which was held over three afternoon sessions in October and November. Twenty-six educators...
Adults usually try to reduce kids’ screen time, but when COVID-19 closed schools to in-person learning last spring, schools had no choice but to move classes online. With little experience in remote instruction, teachers have been challenged to get kids actively...
Standing in the shadows of giant wind turbines, it’s hard not to be awestruck. For Yakima-area teachers, a field trip to the Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility outside Ellensburg not only inspired wonder, it connected them with local resources to engage their students...
March 4th, 2020, Becky Bronstein of Washington Green Schools met 15 middle school teachers in Chehalis, WA to better develop their understanding of floods and droughts. They centered their discussions on relating these issues to their students' lives region-wide,...
Ask any teacher from a rural school district if they feel they have adequate opportunities for quality professional development in their community and most will tell you they do not. They will likely follow that up with a request, not for themselves, but for their...
It’s a delicate, yet important educational recipe. When imaginative curriculum, mandatory standards and critical areas of focus are combined, the outcome can be a delightful instructive concoction. This was precisely the outcome for the recent Climate Justice League...