(A Call to Action by Steve Cochrane, Executive Director of the Institute for Humane Education) Over the past two years, life as we know it has changed. We have seen the entire world impacted by disease. We are watching the atrocities of war through our daily news feeds. We are facing a climate crisis, a crisis…
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Introduction: Katie Coppens is an award-winning science teacher at Falmouth Middle School, the author of seven STEM-themed children’s books, and an experienced solutionary educator. In 2018 she participated in the Institute for Humane Education’s Solutionary Pilot Program, and her students shared their solutions to the problem of animal testing at our Solutionary Summit in Portland,…
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Veronika Perková is a Czech environmental journalist with bylines in BBC, Mongabay, and Earth Island Journal. She hosts a monthly, solutions-focused podcast, Nature Solutionaries, which tackles conservation and population issues. She is also the author of Ask Great Questions, Get Great Answers; a university lecturer on interviewing; and a wildlife illustrator. Zoe Weil: You’re a…
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Introduction: After graduating from college and moving to Maine in 1970, Robert Shetterly taught himself drawing, printmaking, and painting, becoming an illustrator at newspapers and of approximately 30 books. After the 9/11 attacks, Rob painted a portrait of Walt Whitman, etching a quote from Whitman on the painting. Thus began his Americans Who Tell the…
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Kris Tucker, Ed.D. serves as adjunct faculty in our graduate programs with Antioch University, teaching both elective and required courses, including our course, Building a Solutionary Practice, that prepares our graduate students to be solutionaries and to educate others to be solutionaries. She is also a teacher at Ridge and Valley Charter School in NJ,…
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We were introduced to Haj Carr in 2018 by IHE M.Ed. student, Cate Waidyatilleka, who had been his English teacher at the Iolani School in Hawaii. On a visit to Maine, Cate told Haj about IHE. He was excited to learn about our solutionary approach to education and wanted to help. Shortly thereafter, Haj joined…
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JJ Morrissey is the Head of Upper and Middle School at Poughkeepsie Day School in Poughkeepsie, NY. He runs the daily operations of a 6-12th-grade independent school whose mission is to offer a progressive education that liberates the mind, ignites passion and purpose, and provides the world with agile, resourceful, self-directed, community-oriented citizens. JJ graduated…
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by Marsha Rakestraw You only have to watch kids in a garden or park to know that we humans have a special connection with the natural world. Studies have shown that we benefit physically, emotionally, and mentally (including academically) from our interactions with nature. Yet except for a hemmed-in tree here or there, or a…
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Everyone has an ecological footprint. Participants use paper footprints to simulate the impact of their choices on the earth. Extension activities allow students to explore their ecological footprints and what choices can be made to reduce them. Recommended for grades 6 and up. Time: 45 minutes Common Core Standards for this activity (pdf): Download Common…
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A lot of teachers want to offer their students experiences in the natural world, but because of strictures on curriculum, the prevalence of standardized tests, and other challenges, encounters with nature can fall into the category of “nice but not necessary.” But we know from a plethora of research that we humans desperately need that…
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