As The Center for Learning With Nature wraps up the second of two 3-year projects training professional development providers in the European Union, it’s worthwhile taking a moment to reflect on how the practice of education can evolve. Six years ago, after seeing the curricula on the LWN website, an educator from an organization in Hungary reached out to our director, Sam Stier, with an invitation to join a proposal for the European Union to fund bringing the practice of Nature-inspired innovation to EU schools. The proposal was successful. Sam subsequently trained the professional development staff of five different organizations across Europe. These teacher educators subsequently trained hundreds of teachers across five different countries in the EU. And these teachers are now bringing what they learned to their students. A wonderful example of this entire process — from LWN to professional development providers to teachers to students — is evidenced in the following video, which depicts students in a class in Slovakia making iridescent chocolate as an engaging way to learn about how Nature creates color without using toxic pigments or dyes.
Other teachers who were recipients of the project’s training are posting additional videos of how they now teach their students using Nature-inspired innovation.
