children & nature

I Am a Humane Educator

Reading about the good works of others is inspiring. Use these sources for stories about humane educators who are working for a better world to inspire and empower yourself and others. Curated by the Institute for Humane Education.

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Why the Cycle of Animal Abuse Is Not Only Bad for Animals, It’s Bad for Us

How Barbie Changed a Black Girl’s Life

Zoe Weil is a blogger for Psychology Today, and we share her blog posts here. As a child, I loved Barbie dolls and crafting Barbie stories with my friends. Getting a new outfit for Barbie — especially when I could pick it out myself at the nearby toy store — filled me with joy. But…

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books

Recommended Books for Humane Educators

In this document, you’ll find recommended books in several categories and on a variety of subjects. You’ll find books for adults on education, social justice, environmental sustainability, animal protection, and culture and change-making. We have also curated a series of children’s books for educators and parents to use, and you’ll find links to these compilations…

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steve banner

Inspiring Citizens: An Interview with Steve Sostak

Following 15 years teaching elementary and middle school on three continents, Steve Sostak founded Inspire Citizens, an independent educational organization working with diverse partners to reimagine schools as thriving community centers of transformative learning. Steve wears many hats in his work with Inspire Citizens. He guides administrative teams on future-focused strategic planning around transformative learning…

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Solutionary Guidebook

Solutionary Guidebook – Mandarin

We are excited to offer you a free, digital Solutionary Guidebook to help your students and children build solutionary practices. Our guidebook offers a rationale and step-by-step process for educating people to be solutionaries. It also offers case studies covering elementary through higher education along with many resources. The guidebook will help you guide young people to:

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girl with pencil

It’s time to reassess what we teach kids in school

Zoe Weil is a blogger for Psychology Today, and we share her blog posts here. The following post is excerpted from the upcoming second edition of The World Becomes What We Teach.  What should we teach students in school? Given the realities of globalization, constantly evolving technologies, rapidly shifting job opportunities, and a planet in peril…

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blog post

If We Truly Teach Civics and Let 16 Year Olds Vote, We Can Save Democracy

Zoe Weil is a blogger for Psychology Today, and we share her blog posts here. Enjoy!  Approximately 65 percent of eligible Americans voted this month in what many considered the most consequential presidential election of our lifetime. This was the largest percentage in more than a century. Although an improvement, this falls far short of…

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Solutionary Guidebook

Solutionary Guidebook

We are excited to offer you a free, digital Solutionary Guidebook to help your students and children build solutionary practices. The guidebook details the multi-step Solutionary Framework and outlines how to use it to educate people to be solutionaries. It also offers case studies covering elementary through higher education along with many supporting resources. The Solutionary Guidebook…

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cynthia trapanese

Educating the Whole Child During the Pandemic and Beyond: An Interview with Cynthia Trapanese

Cynthia Trapanese is an elementary school educator and an adjunct faculty member for IHE’s graduate programs where she teaches two electives that she created, Creative Activism and Just Good Food. Cynthia has had previous careers in theater, pediatric chaplaincy, non-profit bereavement work, and lived on a small wooden sailboat for two years in her early…

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classroom

Envisioning New and Better Post-Pandemic Schooling

Zoe Weil is a blogger for Psychology Today and she has been writing weekly posts about COVID-19. We’re sharing them here. We hope they are helpful to you during this pandemic. Promising to solve all our problems is surely hubris, but transforming schooling comes close to being a panacea for the world’s ills, and there’s…

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