In Mid-January, our 5th grade class taught Chinese students visiting from Harbin and Dalian, about the 17 Goals for sustainable development. The 17 Goals are 17 problems around the world that the United Nations decided that need to be solved by the year 2030. Our experience teaching the kids was extraordinary. It made us think about how […]
Investigating The Conflict in Jerusalem Through the Lense of the Compass When we set out on the Jerusalem Week project at the Eastern Mediterranean International School (EMIS), we wanted to gain real life experience of the issues faced on a daily basis in the city of Jerusalem- one of the most contested, fought over, complex and desired cities in the world. The issues surrounding […]
In January, 2017, many teachers at Colegio Maya had the fantastic opportunity to attend a two-day workshop run by our director, Michael Johnston, one of Compass Education’s master trainers, with assistance from several teachers who had previously completed the Level 1, Compass Practitioner training. I’m so glad I was able to participate and walked away […]
The Grade 4 unit of study, Goods and Services, was a unit which had historically centered around seeing how businesses run and the main ideas behind what businesses need to make a profit. It culminated in a ‘market day’ where student sold their own products that they had come up with and made to the school community at lunchtime. This year […]
The Sustainability Compass model was shared with the students in the Dorm Leadership Council. These students make written proposals to the Dorm Administrators to make changes in the system. We had great discussions on why the Dorm Coordinator would not want to do some of the changes that the students want. It helped them realize other points of view as […]
Working with the Sustainability Coordinator, we identified our grade level trips as opportunities to utilize systems thinking on sustainability with students. As a result we created several lesson plans utilizing the Sustainability Compass. In the first lesson, all 6th grade students participate in the “HDB Condo Case Study” where they place the nearby construction of […]
In my 4th grade class at Wells International School, we are wrapping up a unit on settlement patterns around the globe and how geography shapes the lives of people and cultures. This seemed like an opportune time to incorporate what I had recently learned from a Compass Education workshop. For one of our unit projects, I decided to […]
The Compass model is an invaluable tool to help students become systems thinkers looking at the big picture of our world and its interconnections. As an educator with a degree in ‘Educating for Sustainability’ and teaching at a school focused on environmental and sustainable education, I have found the Compass model to be one of […]
Recently, International School Bangkok (ISB), became interested in the issue of dolphin captivity, particularly as it pertains to the capture and use of wild dolphins for aquariums. To understand this issue and the factors related to it, ISB’s Grade 3 classes (age 8) used the Sustainability Compass as a lens to explore and investigate this […]
I try to go through Compass with all Junior grade levels as often as possible, but at least twice a year. With the younger ages, to review the Compass Points I put four large (A3 size) laminated sheets on the floor with N, E, S, and W. I give each student a picture and have him or […]