Presenters
Select a presenter’s bio or scroll down to view all presenter bios.
A – E (Last name)
F – K
L – R
S – Z
Karen Acton
The ‘Trials and Tribulations’ of environmental teacher leaders
Barriers to Teaching Eco-justice Issues – How Can We Overcome the Challenges?
Dr. Karen Acton has experience as a teacher, principal, and a Ministry Education Officer. Her passion for environmental education motivated her to take on an Environmental System-Level Principal role, and inspired her to focus her doctoral studies on environmental teacher leadership. She currently teaches at OISE/UT and consults for LSF.
Bonnie Anderson
Exploring Water with Young Children
Bonnie is the Outdoor Environmental Education and Healthy Active Living Coordinator for the Simcoe County District School Board. She also enjoys volunteering for the Canadian Wildlife Federation as a Project WILD facilitator. As a life longer questioner and finder of many answers, she enjoys learning about the environment and inspiring others to have fun while learning.
Julianna Anisko-Clutton
The City as Classroom: Using Gillian Judson’s “A Walking Curriculum” in our Walkable Environment
Julianna Anisko-Clutton, an Elementary Educator in Ontario for 16 years, is currently teaching Full Day Kindergarten. She has shared her love of Environmental Education by co-leading the Ontario EcoSchools program with enthusiastic student teams for over 10 years. Julianna is the co-chair of the Executive on the Inter-School Stewardship and Sustainability Council (ISSSPC).
Jason Armstrong
To What Degree? An Interdisciplinary Approach to Climate Change Education for Middle-Years
Jason Armstrong is manager of Ingenium’s Sustainability initiative (formerly Let’s Talk Energy) at the Canada Science & Technology Museum in Ottawa. He has spent over a decade working in museum settings, and working on communicating science to the general public. He is also a Board Member of EECOM.
Madeleine Asselin
Are we on the right track? Case study results examining the efficacy of environmental and sustainability education approaches in teacher education
Madeleine Asselin teaches in the faculty of education at the Université de Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her interests include science and environmental education, initial teacher education practica.
Jen Baker
The Pollinator Paradise Project: a community collaboration to protect Hamilton ON’s native pollinators
Jen Baker, Hamilton Naturalists’ Club, is the lead on the Pollinator Paradise Project that gives the community the tools to create a network of pollinator habitats across the city. Jen also creates and maintains a series of habitats in parks across the city.
Hartley Banack
“Not elsewhere specified”: A case study of preservice teachers’ perceptions and practices of outdoor learning.
Dr. Hartley Banack is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at University of British Columbia. His research considers time spend in local outdoors for learning.
Rose Barcarse
Food Rescue Hero Workshop – Gain practical tools to incorporate a food waste reduction lens into school curriculum
Rose Barcarse is the Community Programs Manager for Second Harvest and works directly with the 250+ agencies Second Harvest supports by providing logistical support as well as delivering education and training workshops. She is a certified waste auditor with Recycling Council of Ontario and currently the lead trainer and facilitator for Second Harvest’s Training and Education Program. She facilitates 20-25 workshops per year, reaching over 400 participants.
Janna Barkman
Learn to Know, Do and Be: Assessments and Evaluation of Ecojustice Education
Janna has 10 years of experience in outdoor and ecojustice education, from snowshoeing in Northern Manitoba, to farming and food justice in Winnipeg and Toronto. She carries as Masters of Development Practice and a Masters of Teaching from OISE. She currently teaches grade 5 with Seven Oaks School Division in Winnipeg and takes her 25 active learners outside routinely. She is helping develop programming at SOSD’s new land-based teaching and learning centre. and is growing a bicycle program for her students to get to the center with less carbon emission.
Jennifer Baron
The Water Game: Outdoor Ecological Simulation Games as Sparks for Environmental Inquiry and Action
Jennifer has taught Grades JK-8 and at Outdoor Education Centres. She has facilitated Environmental and Outdoor AQ courses since 2001. Jennifer has an HBA in Environmental and Indigenous Studies from Trent University. In 2018, she won Natural Curiosity’s Edward Burtynsky’s Award for Excellence in Environmental Education for leading her Primary Division in “A Water Inquiry with an Indigenous Perspective”.
Chris Beeman
Cassandra re-encountered: ESE in teacher education in a time of climate change
Dr. Chris Beeman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at Brandon University, a predominantly undergraduate liberal arts and sciences institution in Canada.
Samantha Berman
Exploring Urban Elementary EcoSchools
Samantha Berman has 20 years of teaching experience in the elementary grades. She went into education with a strong passion for Environmental Education. She has been part of the Eco-Schools program at Huron St. Public School for the past 10 years and has seen Huron move from Bronze to Platinum status. She has taken Environmental Education Parts 1 & 2. She is currently teaching Grade 3 and loves collaborating with and learning alongside her eco-minded colleagues.
Allison Best
Start with a Seed: How education can link stewardship actions big and small
Allison Best, a certified Ontario teacher, is the Education and Community Programs Manager at Downsview Park. She has been helping to facilitate curriculum connections and community programming related to stewardship and the Downsview Park Tallgrass project.
Shawn Blackburn
Conservation, Sustainability, and Guest Engagement at the Toronto Zoo
Shawn is the lead developer for youth and family experiences at the Zoo including the ever popular children’s summer Zoo Camp. Shawn has been trained in the NatureStart Professional Development Program supported by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and is the lead advocate of the Toronto Zoo’s NaturePlay Project which has the goal of significantly increasing the play opportunities available to the Zoo’s guests with dedicated play spaces and the addition of free choice learning concepts into guest experiences.
Elizabeth Boileau
Exploring the national scope of outdoor nature-based early learning programs in Canada
Elizabeth is a Ph.D. Candidate at Lakehead University and teaches early learning and childcare at Bow Valley College.
Kelly Brownbill
Journalism and Media Lead Education and Reconciliation
Kelly conducts countless cultural awareness training sessions across a broad range of service sectors including key staff from both the provincial and federal governments. Kelly’s training reaches numerous front line service providers. Kelly works with Aboriginal Indigenous communities, to develop healthy agency models and further develop counseling skills with Aboriginal clients.
Melissa Bulgutch
Outdoor Environmental Literacy; Through the Seasons
Melissa Bulgutch has learned from and taught kindergarten – grade 7 students in the TDSB since 2001. Melissa’s interdisciplinary program, Outdoor Environmental Literacy, makes the most of her degrees in psychology, education, and information studies. She shares her professional journey at conferences such as COEO and on Twitter @mbulgutch.
Marc Cadotte
Unpacking the communication of conservation science in urban environments
Dr. Cadotte is a Professor at U of T-Scarborough where he has been teaching and conducting research since 2009. He is the editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Ecological Solutions & Evidence and has over 200 scientific publications on a range of ecology and conservation topics.
Jill Carter
Exploring Indigenous Presence in the City with First Story Toronto
Jill Carter (Anishinaabe-Ashkenazi) is a theatre practitioner and researcher, currently cross appointed to the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies; the Transitional Year Programme; and Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto. She works with many members of Tkaron:to’s Indigenous theatre community to support the development of new works and to disseminate artistic objectives, process, and outcomes through community-driven research projects. Jill also works as a researcher and tour guide with First Story Toronto and facilitates Land Acknowledgement, Devising, and Land-based Dramaturgy Workshops for theatre makers in this city.
Emily Chan
Playground Medicine: Integrative Science in the Outdoor Classroom
Emily Chan is a long-time community educator with 13 years experience as an elementary teacher. She recently co-wrote two Indigenous Education curriculum resources for the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario. Her experience includes urban environmental advocacy and education with the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance.
Marika Chandler
Asphalt Stepping Stones to Wilder Places: Place Based Learning on Outward Bound Canada’s Urban Expeditions
Marika has been working with Outward Bound Canada (OBC) for the past 5 years as the Ontario Director. It has been an exciting role to work within a non-profit organization, ensuring everyone has access to both short and extended wilderness expeditions, to build community and see students learn just how much grit they have. Marika has worked within the non-profit industry for years, paddling along rivers with Boundless Adventures, building recreation programs for the homeless in Edmonton, supervising Girl Guide Camps in Ontario, and now with OBC. Initially after her undergraduate degree she had a brief career in the healthcare industry where she longed to be back outdoors where her first jobs had been. She went back to school and graduated from the Queen’s University Outdoor and Experiential Education program; she hasn’t looked back since shifting careers. Marika sits on the Fleming College Outdoor Adventure Program Advisory Council, has presented at conferences such as COEO and the Outdoor Collective, and has participated in international Outward Bound events.
Mélanie Chaput
Eco-anxiety and mental health challenges in the face of the climate crisis: Adapting our teaching practices to promote students’ well-being
Bio coming soon.
Joanna Chin
Food Forests as Educational Settings for Urban Schools
Being curious about the characteristics of human-nature relationships started Joanna on a doctoral journey to explore the rich embodied practices in spaces of non-formal environmental education. Joanna is a scholar-educator-activist who has worked on food sovereignty projects in the community from policy-making to building Food Forests.
Co-presenters from The Community Permaculture Lab (CPL)
Permaculture in a Living Community Laboratory
Brody Robinmeyer is a permaculture practitioner in Hamilton.
Deborah Boyd is enthusiastic about permaculture and is leading new permaculture projects in Dundas, Ontario.
Adrian Hodgson is a designer, facilitator and educator with “Design Jam Permaculture” working in Hamilton.
Harmony Cohen
How Experiences in Nature Can Shape Your Time and Teaching Practices as an Occasional Teacher
A graduate of York University’s Gender and Women’s Studies program, Harmony Cohen is an Occasional Teacher and Outdoor Educator in the TDSB, where she has been building shelters and making fires with students for the last six years. Harmony also serves as Chair of Obsidian Theatre Company, and as Vice-President of the Bain Apartments Co-operative.
Loraine Cook
Infusing ESD into Curricula: Influences on Students’ Understandings of Sustainable Development, ESD, and their Roles as Educators.
Dr. Loraine Cook is a Senior Lecturer in Research Methods and Educational Psychology at the School of Education, The University of the West Indies, Mona.
Isaac Crosby
Decolonizing Wild Rice
Isaac Crosby is a community educator from a small farming community south of Windsor called Harrow. He is proud to share histories of his Ojibwa/ Black Canadian heritage. Isaac studied Landscape Horticulture Tech at Humber College and is currently Program Coordinator/Urban Agriculture lead hand at Evergreen Brickworks, where he grows great crops, to teach others and do his part in saving the earth.
Maureen Curran
From SEEDs to SEEDLINGs
Maureen Curran, MSc, BSc (Hons) worked at TRIUMF before discovering a love of teaching. After 21 years instructing/learning in Coquitlam is now a Faculty Associate with SFU.
Ziad Dabaja
Exploring the national scope of outdoor nature-based early learning programs in Canada
Ziad has been involved in research studies on outdoor/environmental education with a focus on Forest and Nature School programs.
Karen Julien
Exploring the national scope of outdoor nature-based early learning programs in Canada
Karen is a former early childhood educator and current Ph.D. student at Brock University.
Sarah Daldoss
Earth Rangers – Programs that Generate Hope in Students
Sarah Daldoss is the Clubs Program Manager at Earth Rangers (The Kids’ Conservation Organization). She is a science educator and facilitator with over ten years of experience designing and teaching inquiry-based educational programs to students in K-12. She is excited to combine her passion for the environment and science education by joining the Earth Rangers Team.
Rodway Daniels
Black Canadian Experiences in Environmental Education
Rodway Daniels is an Outdoor Education Specialist in the Toronto District School Board who has been facilitating student inquiry for 22 years. As Rod shares what he’s learned from the land with students, he hopes to inspire them to deepen their connection to it. Once that seed is planted, the hope is that they, too, will learn to love and live with respect on the lands where they live. Rod loves the people he works with and is always looking to have a good time. He is fully himself outdoors, whether camping, biking, snowshoeing, backpacking, running trails or just sitting. Rod is captivated by his wife and finds joy as a daddy of a daughter and two sons.
Betty de Groot
The City as Classroom: Using Gillian Judson’s “A Walking Curriculum” in our Walkable Environment
Betty de Groot has led Eco Teams for at least half her almost 30 year career. Currently teaching Core FSL, Arts & Phys Ed, her biggest passion is for her environmental stewardship with her school’s Eco Team, and in her role as secretary for the Inter-School Stewardship & Sustainability Council and for ecoCaledon.
Susan Debreceni
Creating a waste free tomorrow: How the U of T Trash Team brings waste literacy into the classroom
Susan is passionate about connecting
individuals with meaningful opportunities and spent 10+ years supporting a national volunteer with the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, delivering public presentations to a varied audience and educational workshops to elementary students. She now leads the development of outreach programming with the UofT Trash Team.
Cristina Delgado Vintimilla
Researching pedagogical climate activisms with young people in colonial places and spaces
Dr. Cristina Delgado Vintimilla is a pedagogista and an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at York University. Her research addresses the ethical question of living well with others by problematizing prescribed practices in education, and by unsettling pedagogies that are based in human supremacy and instrumental-managerial logics.
Jonathan Deshman
Start with a Seed: How education can link stewardship actions big and small
Jonathan Deshman is the Education and Community Program Coordinator at Downsview Park. Jonathan is an educator and facilitator with a decade of experience enthusiastically building and delivering shared outdoor experiences through exploration, curiosity, and dialogue. Themes of these experiences include: biodiversity, food security, water, heritage, and community.
Marie-Élaine Desmarais
Enriching our teacher education programs: Looking to environmental and sustainability education and the universal design for learning to respond better to the needs of all our students.
Marie-Élaine Desmarais teaches in the faculty of education at the Université de Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She researches inclusive education and universal design for learning.
Maurice DiGiuseppe
Environmental and sustainability education in teacher education: Canadian perspectives
Dr. Maurice DiGiuseppe’s research focuses on the ways in which science is represented in print and digital teaching-learning materials such as textbooks.
Liliane Dionne
Accueil équitable des étudiants internationaux dans les campus universitaires: pistes de solutions par la pensée design pour le développement durable
Liliane Dionne est Professeure agrégée à la Faculté d’éducation de l’Université d’Ottawa. Ses intérêts de recherche se concentrent sur les pratiques en enseignement des sciences et en éducation environnementale. Elle s’intéresse à la pensée design comme processus de problématisation face à des enjeux d’éducation environnementale et de développement durable. Elle possède une expertise dans les méthodes de recherche participative et en particulier avec les communautés d’apprentissage.
Briann Dorin
The Pollinator Paradise Project: a community collaboration to protect Hamilton ON’s native pollinators
Pursuing her passion for wildlife conservation and environmental stewardship, Briann Dorin began a doctoral program at York University studying native bee conservation. As an activist and university teaching assistant, Briann has continuously developed her pedagogy through workshops, certificate programs, and community involvement; including volunteering with the Pollinator Paradise Project.
Robert Durocher
Indigenous Food Sovereignty within the Urban Context
Robert Durocher is a Métis educator, artist and bird lover. He is currently an Instructional Leader of Indigenous Education at the Urban Indigenous Education Centre TDSB. Previously he worked as a K – 12 Learning Coach (TDSB) and as seconded faculty at York University’s Faculty of Education.
Ryan Dyment
Tracking collective impact in schools from coast to coast to coast
Ryan Dyment, Director, Finance and Administration, EcoSchools Canada – Ryan is a Chartered Accountant and has almost 18 years of experience in the accounting and finance sector. Ryan’s role on this project is to manage the budget, provide strategic direction and work with project partners across the country. Prior to joining EcoSchools, Ryan worked as an auditor with KPMG for 6 years and has had leadership roles in the non-profit/charitable sector for 12 years. Ryan currently serves on the Board of the Recycling Council of Ontario and has previous Board experience at Wildlife Preservation Canada, Planet In Focus and the Institute for a Resource-Based Economy.
Educators at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study (JICS) Laboratory School, OISE-UofT
Lighting the Fire: A Laboratory School’s Journey Towards Nurturing Reciprocal Relationships with the Natural World
This team of educators will be co-facilitating a virtual tour of the green spaces at the JICS Laboratory School, an internationally renowned Nursery to 6th Grade school based at the University of Toronto.
Doug Anderson is an Indigenous educator that supports the JICS Lab School. He is an advisor to the Natural Curiosity Program and co-authored Natural Curiosity 2nd Edition: A Resource for Educators: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in Children’s Environmental Inquiry.
Chriss Bogert is the Vice Principal at the JICS Lab School and is an advisor to the Natural Curiosity Program.
Haley Higdon is the Program Director of Natural Curiosity, an environmental education program for educators, housed at the JICS Lab School.
Norah L’Esperance is the Nursery educator at the JICS Lab School.
Rosa Na is the Program Manager of Natural Curiosity.
Raadiyah Nazeem is the Grade 1 Teacher at the JICS Lab School.
David Osorio is the Grade 2 Teacher at the JICS Lab School.
Krista Spence is the Nursery educator and supports Indigenous Education at the JICS Lab School.
Paul Elliott
Environmental and sustainability education in teacher education: Canadian perspectives
Leadership practices in environmental and sustainability education in pre-service teacher education: A collaborative action research project
Dr. Paul Elliott is a professor in the School of Education at Trent University with research and teaching interests in environmental, sustainability and science education.
Thomas Falkenberg
Are we on the right track? Case study results examining the efficacy of environmental and sustainability education approaches in teacher education
Thomas Falkenberg is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba. His current research focus is on sustainable well-being in and through school education.
Xavier Fazio
Schools and communities: Affordances for interdisciplinary teaching and learning
What’s in a Name? The Signifiers and Empty-Signifiers of ‘Environmental and Sustainability Education’: Implications for Teacher Education
Dr. Xavier Fazio is a Full Professor of Education at Brock University. His research and teaching is focused on science and environmental sustainability education.
Therese Ferguson
Infusing ESD into Curricula: Influences on Students’ Understandings of Sustainable Development, ESD, and their Roles as Educators
The Jamaican National Standards Curriculum (NSC): A content analysis of its readiness to support climate change education
Dr. Therese Ferguson is a Lecturer in Education for Sustainable Development at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica, and Coordinator of the ESD Working Group.
Ellen Field
A Canadian climate change curricula analysis: Key findings for teacher educators
Highlights of the Canada, climate change and education survey for teacher educators
Empowering Learners in a Warming World: Transformative learning strategies for teaching climate change in a secondary classroom
Dr. Ellen Field teaches in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University and holds a SSHRC post-doctoral fellowship investigating climate change education among Canadian teachers, students, parents, and the general public. She facilitates professional development workshops for LSF on integrating climate change education through inquiry and developmentally-appropriate instructional strategies.
Miles Finlayson
Video and Urban Habitat – Sharing Success Stories
Miles Finlayson is an award winning filmmaker with over twenty years experience working on a wide variety of film and video projects. He is the director of Pinegrove Productions’ Woodland Caribou and Sharing Our Habitat educational series as well as the documentary Eco Highway; A New Approach.
Bruce Ford
Validating and supporting experiential and place-based pedagogies in education for sustainability: The case of teacher education
Bruce Ford (B.Ed., M. Ed) is a proud husband, father and teacher. Bruce brings his passion for sustainability, education and leadership to Metro Vancouver School and Youth Leadership Programs. Through his ongoing and collaborative work with local school districts and UBC and SFU teacher education programs, Bruce supports and equips K-12 teachers with the tools and inspiration needed to make education for sustainability personal, local, action-oriented and fun.
Sierra Frank
Tracking collective impact in schools from coast to coast to coast
Sierra Frank, Director, Programs, EcoSchools Canada – Sierra brings over 15 years of experience working in the environment and education sectors. Over the past five years, Sierra has worked with EcoSchools Canada to develop programming and resources to support action-oriented and eco-literate school communities. Sierra loves crafting, reading non-fiction, and exploring outside with her toddler and dog. Sierra has a BES from York University, as well as a BEd from the University of Toronto.
Jason Gale
Reviewing the Realities of Recycling
Jason Gale is an Environmental Coordinator with Cascades Recovery+, a Canadian leader in material recovery and division of Cascades Inc., paper and packaging manufacturer focused on giving a new lease of life to recovered materials. Jason graduated from the University of Waterloo in Geography and Environmental Management and has been working in the waste and recycling industry since 2014 in both municipal and private settings. Recently, he’s been a participating member of the National Zero Waste Councils Plastic Advisory Panel, and a member of a UN Global Compact Network Canada industry working group focused on plastics circularity pilot. Day-to-day, Jason works on improving the quality of recyclable materials to ensure they can be turned back into something new.
Lark Gamey
White racial(ized) consciousness work (WRCW)
Lark Gamey identifies as a settler Canadian, descended from Irish and Ukrainian immigrants. She is motivated by the sincere desire for more authentic relationships between Indigenous Peoples and settler groups. Her research on white racial consciousness work was nominated for a University of Manitoba and the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies Distinguished Dissertation Award in 2020.
Giidaakunadaad (Nancy Rowe)
Conference Opening
Indigenous Education: Working Together to Create Change
Giidaakunadaad (Nancy Rowe) is a Mississauga, Ojibwe of the Anishinaabek Nation located at New Credit First Nation, ON. Nancy holds an honors BA in Indigenous Studies and Political Science. She is an educator, consultant and a Traditional Practitioner of Anishinaabek lifeways, views and customary practices and is currently completing a Master’s degree of Environmental Resource Studies at the University of Waterloo. She is an avid volunteer who coordinates Akinomaagaye Gaamik, a grassroots initiative to provide educational opportunities for all peoples interested in Indigenous perspectives of life, health, education, history and the environment.
“Education is the doorway through which we all can create a common ground and understanding of not only Indigenous Peoples but also, and more importantly, our environment.”
Nancy Gillis
Beyond Reflection Journals: Making Meaningful Cross-Curricular Connections to Outdoor Learning Experiences Back in the Classroom
Nancy Gillis teaches Grade 3/4 at a Cresthaven P.S., a Platinum EcoSchool in TDSB. She has presented about ways to engage students in environmental stewardship at TDSB EcoSchools events and at the Forests Ontario annual conference. She received the NAAEE Environmental Educator of the Year award in 2015.
Lisa (Diz) Glithero
Understanding and Elevating Ocean Literacy in 1 Canada: the building of an evidence-based national strategy
Lisa (Diz) Glithero, PhD. Diz’s work as an interdisciplinary educator, social science researcher, and project leader specializes in ocean, climate, and sustainability learning and civic engagement.
Ryan Godfrey
Building biodiversity with WWF: miniature gardens with a big impact
Ryan Godfrey is one of WWF’s foremost experts on native plants. With an MSc in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ryan is helping to lead specialized projects focused on native plants and restoration primarily in WWF’s In the Zone, Living Planet @ School, and Living Planet @ Campus programs.
Monica Green
Uniting community stakeholders for sustainability and environmental education in an urban/industrialised/regional setting in Australia
Monica Green has been a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Federation University Australia for over a decade. She is Chair of the Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development (RCE Gippsland) in Victoria Australia. Her teaching/research interests include children as learners, environmental/sustainability education, community- and place-based pedagogies and university-school partnerships.
Kyla L. Greenham
Conservation, Sustainability, and Guest Engagement at the Toronto Zoo
Kyla is the Manager of Conservation Programs & Environment at the Toronto Zoo overseeing the Zoo’s movement towards carbon neutral operations. She focuses on Zoo operations to meet their Green Plan objectives by 2027 implementing renewable energy projects, resources conservation practices, and employee and visitor engagement in sustainability. Kyla is currently working on her PhD in Invasive Species Ecology and Climate Resiliency at the University of Toronto Scarborough. During this session, Kyla will lead you on a virtual tour of how the Zoo is reducing its ecological footprint to help protect wildlife and wild spaces.
Rafaela Gutierrez
Creating a waste free tomorrow: How the U of T Trash Team brings waste literacy into the classroom
Rafaela is a social scientist who over the past decade has used multi-approaches to evaluate social challenges. In Brazil, she worked on projects to empower communities suffering from economic social disadvantages. In Toronto, she evaluated a food waste campaign and now is developing the assessment program with the UofT Trash Team.
Yovita Gwekwerere
Leadership practices in environmental and sustainability education in pre-service teacher education: A collaborative action research project
Dr. Yovita Gwekwerere teaches Science and Environmental Education at Laurentian University. She researches science inquiry, environmental knowledge, and environmental and sustainability education in Teacher Education.
Debra Harwood
Embracing entanglements in the forest: Teaching children with GoPros, garbage, and pinecones
Exploring the national scope of outdoor nature-based early learning programs in Canada
Debra Harwood is an educator and researcher working in the field of ECE nature pedagogies and sustainability curricula. Her most current research projects are described in the journals NorDina, and IJECEE, and books the International Research Handbook on Childhood Nature: Assemblages of Childhood and Nature Research, and (forthcoming) Research in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability: International Perspectives and Provocations.
David Hawker-Budlovsky
Excellence in Outdoor Environmental Education Programming
David Hawker-Budlovsky has worked in the Toronto District School Board for since 1998 and has had many roles including classroom teacher, Outdoor Education teacher, elementary Vice-Principal and Principal. For the last 6 years, he has been in central roles overseeing the Outdoor Education Programs in the TDSB.
Patricia Heibein
Reconnecting with nature: action research on nature-based learning in the Kindergarten Program
Patricia Heibein has been a teacher in the TDSB for 17 years and holds Specialists qualifications in Reading, Special Education and Environmental Education. She has been conducting action research into how nature-based learning deepens children’s nature connection and creates attitudes of stewardship and sustainability in young children.
Haley Higdon
Natural Curiosity: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in Children’s Environmental Inquiry
Haley Higdon is a guest on Turtle Island and is the Director of Natural Curiosity. She was the managing editor of Natural Curiosity, 2nd Edition. Haley has extensive experience in supporting educators with incorporating environmental inquiry into their practice.
Carol Hordatt Gentles
Infusing ESD into Curricula: Influences on Students’ Understandings of Sustainable Development, ESD, and their Roles as Educators
Dr. Carol Hordatt Gentles is a Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education and Teacher Development in the School of Education, UWI Mona, Jamaica.
Sidney Howlett
The Flood:Ed Challenge
Sidney Howlett is the Engagement Manager at GreenLearning where she is the primary point of contact and support for teachers implementing GreenLearning’s energy and climate education programs in their classrooms. She is a former Ontario teacher with a passion for creating positive social change and a sustainable future through education.
Hongliang Hu
Reconnecting with nature: action research on nature-based learning in the Kindergarten Program
Hongliang Hu has been working 20+ years in educational settings, and holds a Master of Education and a Master of Arts; she has her Specialist qualification in Environmental Education. As an Early Childhood Educator, she has been conducting action research in nature-based and environmental education into the Kindergarten Program
Lauren Hudson
Data from the Deep
Lauren Hudson is a teacher with a passion for environmental education. As a K-12 Education Coordinator at Ocean Networks Canada, she loves continually learning about our incredible ocean. Lauren believes that exploring and connecting with the ocean are foundational experiences that will drive us to care for our planet.
Amanda Humphreys
Beautiful Ecologies: Deepening Connection to Place Through Relationship
Amanda Humphreys has been a classroom educator for many years. She co-ordinates our school’s annual ‘Investigations and Expressions Symposium’ where investigations are shared by our staff to audiences from around the world interested in inquiry-based and Reggio-inspired work.
Hilary Inwood
Growing an Integrated Approach to Professional Environmental Learning in Inservice and Preservice Teacher Education
Natural Collaborations: Exploring Teachers’ Action Research in Environmental Education
Integrating in-service and pre-service professional learning in ESE.
Leadership practices in environmental and sustainability education in pre-service teacher education: A collaborative action research project
Dr. Hilary Inwood is a teacher educator, researcher, and artist who leads the Environmental & Sustainability Education Initiative at OISE, and coordinates a large-scale collaboration with the TDSB EcoSchools Program. Her research focuses on developing teachers’ knowledge and skills in environmental literacy, and exploring the power of environmental art education.
Miguel Ison
The Jamaican National Standards Curriculum (NSC): A content analysis of its readiness to support climate change education
Mr. Miguel Ison is an Assistant Lecturer in Science Education at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, and teaches the Environmental Education course for Undergraduate students.
Mike Izzo
Indigenous Land-Based Teaching & Learning
Mike Izzo is of mixed Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) and colonial heritage. He holds a joint BA (hons.) in Indigenous Studies and History as well as a B.Ed. in Indigenous Education. He is a former Instructional Lead for Indigenous Education and is currently serving as the Site Supervisor for Forest Valley & Warren Park Outdoor Education Centres for the Toronto District School Board.
Leah Japp
Exploring Water with Young Children
Leah is the General Manager of SaskOutdoors, the Saskatchewan host of Project WET. Leah has a B.Sc., B.Ed. and a Certificate in Ecological Education. Leah lives her values of local, land based, experiential education and conservation everyday on her small farm as she and her family strive to live lightly, grow food and appreciate nature.
Munizah Jeelani
Environmental Education – Holistic Approach of Learning
Munizah Jeelani has 15+ years of experience in educational institutions, and holds a Master of Education and a Master of Arts. She has her Specialist qualification in Environmental Education. As an academic researcher, she has been conducting an analysis of the role of religion in Environmental Education.
Jon Johnson
Exploring Indigenous Presence in the City with First Story Toronto
Jon is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, at the University of Toronto with a research focus on urban, land-based Indigenous knowledge in the GTA, with a focus on stories of Toronto’s Indigenous ancient and ongoing presence. Since 2003 he has worked with First Story Toronto, an Indigenous community-based organization, as a guide, consultant, and lead organizer.
Doug Karrow
What’s in a Name? The Signifiers and Empty-Signifiers of ‘Environmental and Sustainability Education’: Implications for Teacher Education
Doug Karrow is an Associate Professor of Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE), Department of Educational Studies, Faculty of Education, Brock University. (Doug.Karrow@Brocku.ca; https://brocku.ca/education/faculty-and-staff/dr-doug-karrow/)
Alysse Kennedy
Integrating in-service and pre-service professional learning in ESE
Alysse Kennedy is a doctoral candidate researching and writing about Environmental and Sustainability Education (OISE, University of Toronto). Her research is focused on how to make environmental learning accessible, relevant, engaging and meaningful. Outside of her studies, she works as a teacher within primary-junior and post-secondary education in Toronto. You can find more about Alysse’s take on eco-friendly living and learning through her website (alysseonlife.com) and she would love to connect on Instagram (@alyssekennedy).
Elaine Kenny
Play to Learn: Teaching the Effects of Climate Change through Active Games
Elaine Kenny has spent over thirty years, in a variety of settings, working with youth to empower them to become global citizens. She has worked with students at overnight outdoor schools, outdoor day schools and in traditional classroom settings. Elaine is presently a teacher at the Scarborough Outdoor Education School.
Konwanonhsiyóhstha (Callie Hill)
Stories from the Sandbox: Integrating Imaginative storytelling with the Development of Environmental Reasoning
Konwanonhsiyóhstha (Callie Hill) is Executive Director of Tsi Tyónnheht Onkwawén:na Language and Cultural Centre (TTO) and has dedicated much of her professional life to revitalizing Mohawk language in her community. In her role she has overseen the development of multiple levels of language programming, including full-time immersion programs for nursery, K-4 and adults.
Dan Kunanec
Embedding EcoSchools Programming into Secondary Education
Dan Kunanec teaches Green Industries, Technological Design and Hospitality & Tourism at Don Mills CI. His 20 year journey as an educator connects his past experience in industry with the current and future successes of his students. Urban possibilities, local Indigenous connections and an overall sense of community wellness and well-being drive his classroom pursuits.
Catherine Kurucz
Adventures in Citizen Science
Catherine Kurucz is a secondary science and geography teacher in the Toronto District School Board and formerly the Environmental Education Coordinator for the Thames Valley District School Board. She was involved in the design and implementation of EcoSpark’s Nature Academy program. Catherine is passionate about outdoor learning with her students.
Bella Lam
Community Mapping: A tool to explore local sustainability issues
Bella is the Director of Programs at the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada. Roots & Shoots is a JGI Canada program that empowers young people to take action on sustainability issues and develop compassionate leadership skills. Bella has over two decades of experience working in sustainable development overseas and in Canada. She holds a Master of Science in Environment and Development.
Anne-Marie Laroche
Exploring the use of design thinking in environmental education: An approach to environmental problem-solving in post-secondary civil engineering students
Bio coming soon.
Vanessa LeBourdais
3 ingredients for transformational (digital) water education
Since her grandmother taught her to love one piece of land in Anishinabewaki, Mississauga, and Huron-Wendat Territory, Vanessa has had a deep and profound relationship with the land, which, along with her theatre practice, has taught her most of what is in this article. She’s an Ashoka Fellow, a lifetime recognition for global leaders in social change. She’s a youth engagement expert, having created award-winning programs on climate, water, waste, and emergency preparedness that have reached over a million kids in over 150 cities across Canada, the US, and India. Her programs are rooted in being, play, presence, creativity, love, and fun, which is of course why 97% of teachers say they love and recommend them. For more information, go to www.PlanetProtectorAcademy.com.
Michel T. Léger
Exploring the use of design thinking in environmental education: An approach to environmental problem-solving in post-secondary civil engineering students
Dr. Léger holds a PhD in Education (2012) with a focus on the development of environmental action in the context of family. His research interests center around the affordances and limitations of technology in environmental education. He has published several articles on the topic as associate professor at Université de Moncton.
Michael Link
Education for Sustainable Well-Being: Experiential Learning Opportunities in the Outdoors
Michael is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Winnipeg. Michael served as an educator in Surrey, B.C. for 10 years. His research interests include ecojustice education, education for sustainability, and student well-being. His PhD research explored the link between outdoor education and student well-being.
Stuart Livingstone
Unpacking the communication of conservation science in urban environments
Dr. Livingstone received his PhD from the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at U of T-Scarborough (2016). He has published extensively on a variety of conservation and ecology subjects. He currently holds a Lecturer position at U of T-Scarborough and is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto.
Beka Ly
How Experiences in Nature Can Shape Your Time and Teaching Practices as an Occasional Teacher
Rebeka Ly is an Outdoor Education Specialist, Supply with the Toronto Outdoor Education Schools. She was a Primary-Junior classroom teacher for 5 years and a graduate of OISE/UT’s Masters of Teaching program. She is currently on an Action Research team for Environmental Education.
Brit MacDonald
Room to Grow: Exploring Climate Change Through Garden-Based Education
Brit MacDonald is National Program Director of Little Green Thumbs, a non-profit that helps teachers connect to garden based education through offering equipment and resources. She has an extensive background in gardens and soil-based education, and is based in Saskatoon, SK.
Zabe MacEachren
Stories from the Sandbox: Integrating Imaginative storytelling with the Development of Environmental Reasoning
Zabe MacEachren is the Outdoor & Experiential Education Coordinator at Queen’s University Faculty of Education. Her research focuses on the ways craft making is a pedagogy for environmental awareness. She is a Waldorf handwork instructor, storyteller and has taught and lead camps in isolated First Nations in the Treaty #3 area.
Chandra Maracle
Six and the City: Expressing Environmental Philosophy in an Urban Setting, Six Nations Style
I am a mother, educator, artist, PhD student, Buffalonian, Six Nations resident. I have been learning from and engaging with the Thanksgiving Address for 30 years and developing it as a methodology for the last 7 years. I am exploring relationships between food, art, people, technology, language, and land.
Kathleen McFayden
Urban Neighbourhoods as Learning Spaces: A Study of Kensington Market
Live Streaming – Programming for Urban Ravines
Kathleen McFayden is an outdoor educator with the Toronto Urban Studies Centre, part of the Toronto District School Board. She has been connecting student learning to the city for almost 20 years! A master of ideation, this teacher sees exploration opportunities and beauty in both natural and human built spaces.
Isabel Menezes
Connection with nature: Visions of Environmental Education in formal contexts
Isabel Menezes, Centre for Research and Intervention in Education, FPCEUP.
Pam Miller
Growing an Integrated Approach to Professional Environmental Learning in Inservice and Preservice Teacher Education
Empowering Middle School Youth to be Agents of Change
Pam Miller is the Instructional Leaders for the EcoSchools Program at the Toronto District School Board. Her work involves supporting youth, educators and K-12 EcoSchools to take action on environmental issues and foster sustainable communities.
Kevin Milne
Journalism and Media Lead Education and Reconciliation
Kevin leads the 4Canoes team and spends months within Indigenous communities and facilitates the relationships between, elders, community members, councils and educators within the communities. Kevin also teaches journalism and photography in each location. Kevin uses the knowledge and relationships gained to lobby for change for cultural and environmental change.
Erin Moir
Learning with the Lake: A Lake Superior Teaching Guide
Erin Moir has been a Program Coordinator with EcoSuperior Environmental Programs for 6 years. Since graduating from Lakehead University with an Honours in Outdoor Recreation, Parks Tourism and a Bachelor of Natural Science she started in the field of environmental education in 2006. She has worked as a naturalist, zone ecologist intern, a heritage interpreter, and outdoor educator. She loves to explore the outdoors with her young family and continues to learn the importance of connecting our youth to landscapes and wild places.
Juli Mori
Changing the Lens: Reimaging and redesigning Environmental Education for the Communities We Serve
Juli Mori currently teaches in TDSB’s Virtual Secondary School and has experience in Geography, Environmental Studies, Civics and History. With her passion for pollinators, social justice, and sustainable urbanism, she has worked with multiple community groups and non-profit organizations to take learning out of the classroom for children and youth. In Summer 2020, she completed the final part of the three-part Environmental Education Additional Qualification Program for Teachers at OISE.
Émilie Morin
Conditions à mettre en place à l’école pour développer le sentiment de pouvoir agir de jeunes du secondaire face aux changements climatiques
Émilie Morin est doctorante en éducation à l’Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR). Sa thèse porte sur le sentiment de pouvoir agir de jeunes Québécois du secondaire face aux changements climatiques. Elle est professionnelle de recherche et chargée de cours en éducation depuis 2007.
Mathieu Morin
Integrating Education at the High School Level and Providing Enriched Opportunities for Environmental Learning – The Boussole Experience!
Mathieu Morin started his career as an environmental engineer before transitioning into the education sector. He has worked for Ontario EcoSchools and for the last 6 years, has been teaching at École secondaire Ronald-Marion, where he launched a Grade 11-12 environmental specialist program that has now become Boussole.
Erin Mutch
GREEN Environmental Learning Initiative
Erin Mutch has been a Learning Coordinator for the TVDSB for the past five years. Her area of focus is Environmental Education, Science, and Experiential Learning for K-12. As part of her role, Erin supports community partnerships, coordinates the board’s four Environmental Education Centres, delivers Professional Learning sessions, and supports their EcoSchools programs. Erin has undergraduate degrees in Natural Sciences and Outdoor Recreation, a Bachelor of Education, as well as her Master’s in Education.
Rosa Na
Natural Curiosity: The Importance of Indigenous Perspectives in Children’s Environmental Inquiry
Rosa Na is a guest on Turtle Island and is the Program Coordinator of Natural Curiosity at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Laboratory School. Rosa is committed to working in solidarity with regional Indigenous partners to ethically bring Indigenous perspectives into the landscape of environmental education across Turtle Island.
Alison Neilson
Connection with nature: Visions of Environmental Education in formal contexts
Alison Neilson, Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences, FCSH, NOVA.
Narda Nelson
Researching pedagogical climate activisms with young people in colonial places and spaces
Narda Nelson is a PhD student in Western University’s Faculty of Education, Curriculum Studies and member of the ECPN and Common Worlds Research Collective.
Kathy Nguyen
Building biodiversity with WWF: miniature gardens with a big impact
Rencontrez un.e Leader pour une planète vivante du WWF qui utilise ses compétences pour construire un avenir durable / Meet a WWF Living Planet Leader who is using their skills to build a sustainable future
As Specialist, Engagement, with WWF-Canada, Kathy brings a multi disciplinary lens to the development and delivery of national engagement programs that engage Canadians directly in helping nature thrive in their communities. This currently includes the national and bilingual Go Wild School Grants, Living Planet @ School and Living Planet @ Campus programs.
Fikile Nxumalo
Researching pedagogical climate activisms with young people in colonial places and spaces
Dr. Fikile Nxumalo is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning at OISE, University of Toronto. Her research is focused on possibilities for place-based pedagogies to be situated within and responsive to the interconnected effects of settler colonialism, anti-blackness and environmental precarity.
Karen O’Krafka
A deep dive in Water Education for Action with GreenUP Wonders of Water – a 3 year evolution in in-class programming and student led water retrofits
Karen is GreenUPs Water Education Programs Coordinator. Karen holds a BAH with a focus on Sustainable Development and a B.Ed in Outdoor and Experiential Education. With Karen’s passion for environmental sustainability and education, she has spent two decades working with environmental NGOs, outdoor education centres, conservation authorities and schools.
Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw
Researching pedagogical climate activisms with young people in colonial places and spaces
Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw is a Professor of Early Childhood Education in the Faculty of Education at Western University in Ontario, Canada, and the co-director of the Pedagogist Network of Ontario and the British Columbia Early Childhood Pedagogies Network. My writing and research contribute to the Common Worlds Research Collective (tracing children’s relations with places, materials, and other species), and the Early Childhood Pedagogies Collaboratory (experimenting with the contours, conditions, and complexities of 21st century pedagogies).
Sybille Parry
Exploring Urban Elementary EcoSchools
Sybille Parry has been an educator for 30 years, in roles that include: Classroom Teacher (K-6), Teacher-Librarian, Special Education leader and Digital Lead Learner. Throughout all these roles, she remains a committed Curriculum Geek (an enthusiasm she shares with her co presenter, Diana). She has also co-taught the Environmental Education Part 2 AQ (with Diana Will-Stork!).
Alisa Paul
From SEEDs to SEEDLINGs
Alisa Paul has been working in teacher education at SFU for two years and her work focuses on creating explicit community resiliency in place-based education.
Monika Pelz
Data from the Deep
Monika Pelz is an Education and Engagement Coordinator with Ocean Networks Canada. Monika is a part-time teacher and full-time rabble-rouser, known for her dry wit and dedication to teaching and learning. Monika has taught in a variety of settings and enjoys connecting students to the wider world.
Adrienne Plumley
Indigenous Food Sovereignty within the Urban Context
Adrienne Plumley is a Mi’kmaw and Métis educator. She is currently an Instructional Leader for Indigenous Education with the Toronto District School Board’s Urban Indigenous Education Centre. Previously she was a classroom teacher at Kâpapâmahchakwêw (Wandering Spirit) School.
Jennifer Putland
Data from the Deep
Bio coming soon.
Heather Ray
A deep dive in Water Education for Action with GreenUP Wonders of Water – a 3 year evolution in in-class programming and student led water retrofits
Heather Ray is GreenUP’s Manager of Water Programs. Heather holds an BESH in Environmental Resource Management, Diploma in Environmental Assessment and Masters of International Public Policy. Heather is committed to joining a diverse range of people and perspectives, all with water and our environment as a common connection.
Julie Read
GREEN Environmental Learning Initiative
Julie Read is the acting Community Education Supervisor for the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority. She will be developing and delivering the GREEN Leaders education program for students in the UTRCA watershed this year, which includes coordinating a virtual Student Summit in June. Julie is passionate about empowering youth and inspiring them to become environmental leaders. Prior to her role at the UTRCA, Julie was the Community Programs Coordinator at the High Park Nature Centre in Toronto for four years. Julie is also a member of the Ontario College of Teachers and an Occasional Teacher for the Thames Valley District School Board. Throughout her career, Julie has led environmental education programs for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities and has also facilitated workshops on environmental education for colleagues, teachers and caregivers.
Giuliano Reis
Environmental Education – Holistic Approach of Learning
Giuliano Reis works at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. He studies environmental discourses in science education.
Adrienne Rigler
Natural Collaborations: Exploring Teachers’ Action Research in Environmental Education
Nurturing Local Water Education
Adrienne Rigler is a teacher-researcher at Ryerson Community School, a TDSB K-6 school in Toronto, who currently learns alongside a class of gr. 6 students. She has been researching effective practices of water education in her classroom for the past 6 years, working with university researchers in Canada and China.
Clementina Rios
Connection with nature: Visions of Enviromental Education in formal contexts
Clementina Rios, Centre for Research and Intervention in Education, FPCEUP.
Jessica Robertson
Food Forests as Educational Settings for Urban Schools
Jessica Robertson has designed public and private perennial food and sustainable water systems across Southwestern Ontario. She teaches workshops in foraging and permaculture design and has presented at conferences in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.
Patrick Robertson
Validating and supporting experiential and place-based pedagogies in education for sustainability: The case of teacher education
Patrick Robertson is a teacher educator in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia, where he co-leads the Education for Sustainability teacher education cohort. He also leads Syncollab Strategies, a consulting collaborative in B.C., is the current Chair of the Classrooms to Communities (C2C) Education Network, and serves as a Director for various other community organizations focused on sustainability, climate, teacher education and educational transformation.
Rhéa Rocque
Eco-anxiety and mental health challenges in the face of the climate crisis: Adapting our teaching practices to promote students’ well-being
Rhéa Rocque is a post-doctoral researcher at the Prairie Climate Centre, at the University of Winnipeg. Her research lies within the field of environmental psychology.
Jacob Rodenburg
Seasonal Nature Activities in the School Yard
Jacob is the Executive Director of Camp Kawartha, a year round environmental learning centre. He has taught outdoor education for more than 30 years. Jacob also teaches environmental education at Trent University. Jacob has published a number of articles on children, nature and the environment including the Big Book of Nature Activities
Carmel Roofe
Infusing ESD into Curricula: Influences on Students’ Understandings of Sustainable Development, ESD, and their Roles as Educators.
Dr. Carmel Roofe is a Senior Lecturer in Curriculum and Instruction in the School of Education, The UWI, Mona where she is also a member of the ESD Working Group.
Jeffrey Ross
Decolonizing Wild Rice
Jeffrey Kiyoshk Ross is Anishinaabe Ojibwe from Bkejwanong and St. Vincentian; he is an Ontario Certified teacher with over 20 years of communications, journalism, and marketing experience working with First Nation communities and organizations. From a community centred approach to social justice he continues to share his love of teaching (and books) to inform learning and relationship building on the Indigenous history of Canada.
Verne Ross
Land Acknowledgement (Research Symposium)
Verne Ross is from Cote First Nation, he is a Saulteaux Nation. Verne is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto (OISE) in the Indigenous Studies Program, where he also mentors students. He is also an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper, Social Worker and is in the PHD Program with CTL. He worked in the health field for many years. In addition to this, Verne is the founder of an Indigenous Health Program at the Pasqua Hospital in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Teresa Rowley
Validating and supporting experiential and place-based pedagogies in education for sustainability: The case of teacher education
Teresa Rowley is an environmental learning teacher with the North Vancouver School District and co-lead of the Education for Sustainability (EfS) Cohort at the University of British Columbia Teacher Education Program. Her childhood experiences exploring the temperate rainforest and coastal waters continue to inspire her work in place-based and sustainability education.
Linda Ryan
Adventures in Citizen Science
Linda Ryan is a secondary science teacher with the Peel District School Board and formerly the Toronto District School Board. As an EcoSchools Co-Chair, Environmental Science teacher and Envirothon Team mentor, she enjoys inspiring students in environmental learning.
Abhayjeet Singh Sachal
Fostering Environmental Empathy and Youth Involvement – Break The Divide
After travelling to the Arctic, Abhayjeet Singh Sachal co-founded Break The Divide Foundation, a non-profit that fosters environmental empathy through connection. Abhay has been a key presenter at numerous conferences to share environmental and educational knowledge. Abhay was recently named one of Canada’s Top 25 Under 25 Environmentalists.
Jessie Sawyers
Beautiful Ecologies: Deepening Connection to Place Through Relationship
Jessie Sawyers began her career as a teacher in 2017, after graduating from the Master of Teaching program at OISE. She volunteers with the Toronto District School Board on their environmental sustainability practices, and participates in an action research team with the University of Toronto focused on environmental sustainability education.
Pamela Schwartzberg
Highlights of the Canada climate change and education survey for teacher educators
Pamela Schwartzberg is the President and CEO of Learning for a Sustainable Future, a Canadian charity founded in 1991 to integrate the concepts and principles of sustainable development into education policy, professional development, and lifelong learning across Canada. Pamela was one of six members appointed to the Working Group on Environmental Education which Shaping our Schools, Shaping our Future.
Jacqueline Scott
Canoeing while Black, the Canadian Version
Jacqueline L. Scott is a PhD student at the University of Toronto, in the department of Social Justice Education. Her research is on the perception of the wilderness in the Black imagination. In other words, how to make outdoor recreation, and the broader environmentalism, a more accessible and inviting space for Black Canadians.
She is a fellow at the Safina Center. Jacqueline has written about her research for CBC, The Conversation, and the Greenbelt Foundation. She is an avid outdoor fan, and a hike and cycling leader for two outdoor clubs.
Twitter: @Blackoutdoors1
Tanya Senk
Indigenous Food Sovereignty within the Urban Context
Tanya Senk is a Métis/Cree/Saulteaux educator. She is currently the Indigenous Education Board Lead, Centrally Assigned Principal with the Urban Indigenous Education Centre and Principal at Kâpapâmahchakwêw– Wandering Spirit School, TDSB. She has been a secondee in the Faculty of Education, York University. As a PhD candidate, her research interests include Decolonizing and Indigenizing Education.
Gigi Shanks
Nurturing Local Water Education
Gigi is an educator of 14 years, is an Environmental Education Specialist and a member of the OISE Action Research Team. She integrates science, research and Visual Arts to teach from a systems perspective in a middle school STEAM program. She has co-taught P/J AQ Science and TDSB workshops.
Laura Sims
Are we on the right track? Case study results examining the efficacy of environmental and sustainability education approaches in teacher education
Enriching our teacher education programs: Looking to environmental and sustainability education and the universal design for learning to respond better to the needs of all our students
Integrating Indigenous Perspectives into Education by way of Close Collaboration with Local Urban Indigenous Community: A Non-Indigenous educator’s experiences.
Laura Sims, Ph.D., teaches in the faculty of education at the Université de Saint Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She teaches courses related to cultural diversity in education and integrating Indigenous perspectives into education. Her research focusses on education-for-sustainability in formal and non-formal learning contexts. She taught high school for ten years.
Erin Sperling
Food justice education as/for ecojustice education: Challenges and opportunities
Erin Sperling, PhD, OCT, instructs science and environmental education courses. She has taught in Ontario, the UK and Tanzania. She is a board member for Earth Rangers.
Gia Spiropoulos
A Canadian climate change curricula analysis: Key findings for teacher educators
Gia Spiropoulos is a recent M.Ed graduate in Environmental Education specializing in Climate Change Education, focusing on using an inquiry-based approach.
Karen Stelling
Embedding EcoSchools Programming into Secondary Education
Karen Stelling has been teaching with the TDSB for 15 years and is currently Assistant Curriculum Leader (Department Head) of Science at Riverdale CI. Karen has a broad range of experience teaching chemistry, science, geography and eLearning in grades 9-12. She is the leader of Riverdale’s EcoSchools program which is currently platinum certified. Karen enjoys taking secondary students outdoors, and is trying to incorporate environmental education in the new secondary teaching structure
Jenn Stevens
Empowering Learners in a Warming World: Transformative learning strategies for teaching climate change in a secondary classroom
Jenn Stevens holds a Masters of Child Study and Education from the Jackman Institute of Child Studies at UofT. She has worked to empower youth in various capacities through her work with LSF as Program Coordinator working to equip students with the tools necessary to create a more sustainable future.
Jenn Stevens
Empowering Learners in a Warming World: Transformative learning strategies for teaching climate change in a secondary classroom
Jenn Stevens holds a Masters of Child Study and Education from the Jackman Institute of Child Studies at UofT. She has worked to empower youth in various capacities through her work with LSF as Program Coordinator working to equip students with the tools necessary to create a more sustainable future.
Jeff Stickney
Place-based Environmental Education on the University of Toronto Campus
Jeff Stickney takes graduate students on this walk, for his OISE/UT Environmental Sustainability Education course. He has also led this session for TDSB teachers at OISE’s Climate Action conference last October, and at Oxford last March for the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain. He has his MA in Geography as well as his doctorate from the University of Toronto.
Taylor Tabobondung
Conservation, Sustainability, and Guest Engagement at the Toronto Zoo
Taylor is a member of the Beaver Clan from Wasauksing First Nation and has been working as a Conservation Steward for the Toronto Zoo since 2017. Through the Turtle Island Conservation Programme, Taylor works to protect Indigenous lands through the conservation of a community’s stories and culture. During his session, Taylor will be sharing information about the programs available at the Zoo which share the lessons learned from our Indigenous partners about living more sustainably and in-tune with our natural environments.
Gerald Tembrevilla
“Not elsewhere specified”: A case study of preservice teachers’ perceptions and practices of outdoor learning
Dr. Gerald Tembrevilla is a postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University.
Jimmy Therrien
Project-based learning through real world experiences in NB schools
Jimmy Therrien (M.ES) is a creative and dynamic educator delivering educational programs with The Gaia Project since September 2011. Prior to joining the team, he worked for 5 years as a research leader at UdeMoncton and gave his time to different community groups like Sentinelle Petitcodiac River keeper and The Great Challenge of the Héros du cœur with the goal to improve the health of communities in his region and their environment. Now Program Director at The Gaia Project, Jimmy is a well recognized and respected face in the education sector in New Brunswick, working in Anglophone and Francophone schools all across the province with his awesome program delivery team. Jimmy also believes that the overall impact of our behaviors on this planet is worth more than the sum of all individual actions. Because his wife and him like to preach by example, they have been composting at home for a long time and they adopted a strictly plant-based diet 5 years ago to help reduce their environmental footprint.
Floriane Tsering
How are district and school administrators enacting EE policies within a rural Ontario district school board?
Floriane Tsering is a masters student at the University of Ottawa and a teacher with the Ottawa Catholic School Board. She is currently on leave from the OCSB and teaching in Quebec’s arctic region with the Kativik School Board.
Veronica Uzielli
Play to Learn: Teaching the Effects of Climate Change through Active Games
Veronica Uzielli has enjoyed a lifetime of inspiring and engaging learners of all ages to make connections to the natural world to which they belong. She focuses on developing advocates for the environment through citizen science projects and a deep understanding of our impact on the earth. She is presently a teacher and site supervisor of the Scarborough Outdoor Education School of the TDSB.
Maria Vamvalis
Nurturing embodied agency in response to climate anxiety: Exploring pedagogical possibilities
Maria Vamvalis is a PhD Candidate in Curriculum & Pedagogy at OISE. Her research interests include pedagogies for the climate crisis, transformative citizenship education, and decolonial epistemologies.
Robert VanWynsberghe
Validating and supporting experiential and place-based pedagogies in education for sustainability: The case of teacher education
Rob is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC). His primary area of research studies meaningful articulations between classrooms and communities, especially as influenced by the social philosophies of pragmatism.
Jenn Vetter
Empowering Middle School Youth to be Agents of Change
Jenn Vetter is the Toronto District School Board EcoSchools Certification Specialist. Her central role is supporting students and staff in learning about, caring for, and protecting the environment starting right in their own school. She inspires the EcoSchools community through informative newsletters, well-crafted resources and connections to community partners.
Anna-Lee Vienneau
Project-based learning through real world experiences in NB schools
Anna-Lee has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the Université de Moncton in New Brunswick and has a passion for community development, social empowerment and working with youth. Her background is in non-profit organizations and project development. Through her experience working in a youth centre, she strongly believes that everyone has the potential to act on climate change and that it all starts with education. In her role as the Communications and Networking Coordinator, she’s especially excited to showcase green careers in highschool classrooms across the province. She has been hired to develop a program to help inspire youth to think about green careers through local mentorships and other activities. In recent years, Anna-Lee and her wife have developed a small homestead in the country, north of Fredericton, where they thrive to live harmoniously from the land and in sync with nature.
Franziska von Rosen
Video and Urban Habitat – Sharing Success Stories
Dr. Franziska von Rosen founded Pinegrove Productions in 1995. Since then she has produced multimedia resources on biodiversity, species at risk, invasive species, forest stewardship, urban forestry and more for educators across the country.
Rob Wallis
Asphalt Stepping Stones to Wilder Places: Place Based Learning on Outward Bound Canada’s Urban Expeditions
Robert Wallis’ (BEd.(OISE), DPhil.(oxon)) drive to put the outdoors into his teaching saw him join Outward Bound Canada in 2011, soon becoming Principal and Curriculum Manager. He’s kept (really) busy with 8 year-old twins and a 6 year-old, and his greatest pleasure is watching them explore and discover their natural world.
Alan Warner
Earth Adventures… Hold the Phone! Designing self-guided nature trails to be interactive and fun for children and families
Dr. Alan Warner is Professor Emeritus in Community Development at Acadia University and has been designing, leading and evaluating experiential environmental education programs with a wide range of ages for more than 35 years. He tries to add fun and a touch of magic to everything he does.
Matthew Webbe
Black Canadian Experiences in Environmental Education
Matthew Webbe is an educator of Afro-Latinx heritage who has worked in various areas within the Toronto District School Board since 2000. He has had many roles as an educator including classroom teacher, centrally assigned teacher (guidance), elementary Vice-Principal and Principal. Matthew is currently a member of the Ontario Principals Council’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (EDI) for the Toronto Region. He has taught various Additional Qualifications (AQ’s) courses in different subject areas and has been a part of AQ Guideline development teams for the Ontario College of Teachers for different courses. Matthew is passionate about Environmental Racism in the context of urban planning and places.
Peta White
Exploring the disconnect between theory and practice in environmental education
Peta White is a Senior Lecturer at Deakin University in Science and Environmental Education. Research interests follow three directions including: science and biology education; sustainability, climate change, and environmental education; and collaborative/activist research.
Diana Will Stork
Exploring Urban Elementary EcoSchools
Diana Will Stork is an advocate for inquiry and inclusive, emergent curriculum. Her passion for ecojustice and ecoliteracy is evident throughout her 23 years of teaching in a smorgasbord of roles from primary classroom teacher to special education to ESL to Reading Recovery. She spends her summer co-learning and co-teaching the Environmental Education Pt 2 AQ at OISE with Sybille Parry. She loves collaborating and learning alongside her eco-minded colleagues, and in her roles as TDSB teacher-library facilitator and digital lead learner. She believes in strengthening relationships between people, land and resources as a teacher-librarian, ESL teacher and FDK nature inquiry teacher at Huron Street JPS.
Alison Williams
Changing the Lens: Reimaging and redesigning Environmental Education for the Communities We Serve
Black Canadian Experiences in Environmental Education
Alison Williams is a teacher with the Toronto District School Board, and is currently working via the Virtual School platform. Always passionate about the environment, Alison has focused on making the outdoors accessible for her students and their families, regardless of where they live, their cultural background, or their prior experiences with the natural world. Alison is currently pursuing her Masters of Education part-time at OISE, focusing on Curriculum and Pedagogy. She has a deep interest in Science and Environmental Education, as well as community development at the local and international level.
Jodie Williams
Indigenous Education: Working Together to Create Change
Jodie Williams currently works as the Indigenous Education Consultant for the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board in Ontario, Canada, and is the Co-Chair for the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education Association of Ontario. She is also the lead on a provincial Community of Practice for Indigenous Knowledge and Mathematics which involves a collaboration with NASA, Maori educators from New Zealand, the Navajo Nation in the United States, as well as the Anishinaabek, Cree, and Kanyen’kaha:ka. Jodie is an instructor of Additional Qualification courses for teachers and has developed numerous resources in the area of Indigenous Education. Together she and her husband have 5 daughters and one granddaughter.
Deb Wilson Danard
Decolonizing Wild Rice
Dr. Debby Wilson Danard, (PhD, M.Ed, B.Ed) Anishinaabekwe, Ogitchidaakwe, sturgeon clan, and member of Rainy River First Nations. She is a Traditional Knowledge Practitioner, teacher, artist, water protector & Life Promotion Ambassador. Debby is currently holds a University of Toronto Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in Women and Gender Studies.
Adam Young
À quel degré? Une approche interdisciplinaire sur des changement climatiques: A Lesson Plan for Middle-Years | To What Degree? An Interdisciplinary Approach to Climate Change Education for Middle-Years
Room to Grow: Exploring Climate Change Through Garden-Based Education
Adam Young is a curriculum writer and developer of the To What Degree? lesson plans. He has over ten years of experience building curriculum and studying best practice in educating for sustainability. He is also a certified teacher, summer camp coordinator, university instructor, and Chair of EECOM.
David Zandvliet
From SEEDs to SEEDLINGs
What’s in a Name? The Signifiers and Empty-Signifiers of ‘Environmental and Sustainability Education’: Implications for Teacher Education
David Zandvliet is a Professor and UNESCO Chair in the Faculty of Education at SFU and the founding Director for the Institute for Environmental Learning.