resources for teaching

Crowd sourced, educator sourced, real resources for real educators in the classroom.

About Compass education good teaching and learning

Compass Education is committed to your success in the classroom. 

We work hard every day to share great ideas and provide quality, useful resources to facilitate teaching sustainability and systems thinking. We encourage you to explore our database of more than 200 teacher submitted lesson plans or view the videos, community chats and other resources that have been developed by our global team of educators and facilitators. 

Ready to try it out yourself?

Download FREE Sustainability Compass

Download FREE Systems Iceberg

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Compass Lesson Plans

High School Lesson Plans

Discover hundreds of lesson plans created for students of every grade and subject.   Search for projects that are student directed or teacher led including service group projects, school wide activities and student facilitated programs for adults.  Systems thinking is for everyone! 

Middle School

Dive deep into learning that connects curriculum with what is happening in the world. Use systems tools to help students gain new perspectives, practice empathy and take action. 

Primary School

Keep students engaged in active learning that is appropriate for every age and development level.  Build skills in complex thinking, communication and  problem solving.

Early Years

Developing skills in systems thinking in our youngest students will provide a foundation for future critical thinkers.  Connecting sustainability concepts to everyday activities develop habits of mind that contribute to positive actions and a better world.  

Lesson Plans for every subject

Wondering how you might use the Compass Tools in science, in english class, in math, economics or even in physical education?  Compass Education has hundreds of lesson plans sourced from Compass educators around the world.  The plans can be sorted by subject, grade level or Compass tool.   

Submit your Lesson Plan

Have you used the tools with success in the classroom?  Share your lesson plans with Compass Educators and support sustainability education across the globe!    

If you recently completed Compass Level 1 or Level 2 training, submit your lesson plan for certification.

Newest Resources

Grade 4 Sharing the Planet: Energy

Summary Grade 4 students inquire into how the use of energy impacts our environment and our lives. This lesson plan was completed in a diverse ...
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How Might We Understand and Build a Concept of Sustainability at Qatar Academy Sidra?

Summary In this lesson sequence, we will use Qatar Academy Sidra’s guiding statements and sustainability-focused strategic objective as a provocation to explore our elementary teaching ...
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Year 4 Sharing The Planet – Intro to the Sustainability Compass

Summary This plan is a ‘tuning in’ activity to a new unit of inquiry under the transdisciplinary theme ‘Sharing the Planet’. The Sustainability Compass is ...
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Learn the Basics. FREE.

The Sustainability Compass provides a shared language and framework to make sustainability accessible, personal and actionable. Take this 15 minute free introductory course to learn about the basics of the versatile Sustainability Compass!

Systems Thinking in Lobo

Apply Systems Thinking Tools to Community Investigation

Unlock the door to a world of knowledge in Service and sustainability. Get ready to explore the incredible community of Lobo in the Philippines and use Systems thinking to investigate the root cause of the issues within this community. This course is for FREE!

Our Recommendations

Books
Here is a collection of great books for every age that can be used to teach sustainability and systems thinking. For each book we have included a description of how you might utilize the compass tools in your classroom discussion and process.

Videos

There are many videos that help to teach sustainability and systems thinking to students or expand your own understanding. Here is a collection of our favorites and a few ideas how they might be used in the classroom.

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Other Organizations Doing Great Work

There are some pretty amazing organizations and resources out there to support your work in teaching sustainability and systems thinking in the classroom.
Here are some of our favorites.

The World's Largest Lesson

The World's Largest Lesson promotes use of the Sustainable Development Goals in learning so that children can contribute to a better future for all. They have a HUGE RESOURCE database. Check it out!

TED_ED

A complement to the popular Ted Talks, this is a packed resource for educators, parents and students. Search sustainability, systems thinking or anything!

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation

A spectacular organization that is dedicated to accelerating the shift to a circular economy. The resources are best for educators and older students.

Waters Center for Systems Thinking

The Waters Center has excellent visual resources to facilitate systems habits in educators and students. Check out the Thinking Tools studio for short lessons on each systems thinking tool.

Contribute to Sustainability Today

The Compass Educator community is the foundation and the future of the organization. We are driven to innovate and improve the Compass tools to contribute to a more sustainable world, recognizing our tremendous opportunity as educators and catalysts for a better future.

Since 2006, Compass Education resources have been designed, tested and improved by educators in the classroom and we invite you to contribute to our growing movement with your ideas, collaborations and best practices. There are many ways to participate and we hope that you do!
Improve Our Curriculum Database
Did you use the tools and create a great lesson or class experience. Did you use the tools with a particular book, concept or activity that you think others might love to learn more about. Share your written curriculum or make a short video of your experience. We would love to hear from you!

Write an Article or Create Vlog

Have you used the tools and learned something? Do you want to share your experience by writing a article that we will share on our social media outlets, in our newsletter, blog and with other educators. Submit your article here.
Share on Social Media

Share your use of the compass tools on social media. Have fun and use any of these hashtags to let us know, so that we can share it too!

#compass_ed #sustainabilitycompass #compasseducation

Compass for Profit?

The Compass Tools are licensed for non profit and educational use only… but our mission is to spread them far and wide and we would love your help! If you would like to incorporate the Compass tools in curriculum that you sell or use them in your consultancy or other for profit enterprise, please contact us. 

We’re making a difference 200+ SCHOOLS

Compass Education is on a mission to share our tools with 1 million educators by 2030. Join our community of dedicated educators and follow our growth on social media!
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