Despite my complete lack of posts from my trip to Japan, I learned a great deal that has improved my teaching and understanding of sustainability across all classes. Currently, my biotech class has finished their carbon sequestration studies, some of which they have already shared with two schools in Japan. We are now studying aquaponics, with the help of the rainbow trout we have been raising (thanks to Trout in the Classroom, sponsored by the SC DNR), and the possibility of common herbs as hyperaccumulators of nitrates for phytoremediation.
So lots of lessons learned, but seeing as how I've already set a terrible precedent for not writing but just posting pictures, the following images were taken in Omuta City (and the surrounding area), where our group was so graciously hosted.
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Hopefully, the title says, "I'm going to Japan!" I have my doubts about machine translation, however good it is becoming... So, two days until part II of our Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) program, which involves visiting schools in Tokyo and Omuta-shi. Omuta is a former coal-mining town in the Fukuoka province that now has a major recycling industry. I'm very excited to get to see two different parts of Japan in this experience. This week, I am in the San Francisco area as one of fourteen US teachers and 14 Japanese teachers who are creating collaborative projects for ESD. ESD stands for Education for Sustainable Development, which is an idea that evolved out of environmental education during the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development. According to the UN World Commission on the Environment and Development Brundtland Report of 1987, “Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” One of the more interesting aspects of this conference is the language barrier; although most of the teachers from Japan speak a fair amount of English, I am sorry to say that I can count the number of Japanese phrases I know on my fingers (and for the ones that I can consistently pronounce correctly, you could use a binary system). But despite my complete inability to speak Japanese, it is amazing how much you can communicate and realize you have in common. Yukiko, the teacher whom I sat next to yesterday, was also a humanitarian volunteer in sub-Saharan Africa (she in Tanzania; I in Togo), and we realized we had had several shared experiences. We agreed frequently on how to prioritize global competencies in our very different classrooms, and several laughs were shared during the long day. Most importantly, in our group discussions, which were centered around ESD in the classroom, I was so humbled by all the fantastic projects and ideas everyone contributed. This is already a fantastic learning experience, and I can't wait to plan more and to visit Omuta and Tokyo. |
ESD and common groundArchives
February 2016
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