INE participates in the 2nd Symposium on Climate Education and Society

Last April, Instituto Nueva Escuela (INE) participated in the 2nd Symposium on Climate Education and Society held at the Faculty of Education of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.

Its purpose was to promote dialogue around the issues of climate crisis and education and stimulate the search for solutions that advance our goal of building a more equitable society prepared for global warming.

As part of the INE's participation, the panel "The education we dream of: the benefit of contact with nature in today's education" was held. Through this panel, five guides were able to share how they address the climate crisis through the environmental project, “Enraizando”, in their schools.

Enraizando is an environmental project that is carried out in 20 public Montessori schools. The schools have projects such as orchards, butterfly gardens, nurseries and pollinator gardens. It has impacted 341 students.

During the panel, the educators shared their experiences in these spaces, how they contribute to the issue of the climate crisis that they seek to address, and their dreams with projects like these from public schools.

From the shared experiences it is noteworthy how much the students enjoy that time of contact with the land and nature, how effective it is that they can appreciate and experience topics that are given in the curriculum in a tangible way and recognize that our country produces what what we need to feed ourselves.

The educators agree that through these planting spaces, butterfly gardens, nurseries and gardens, students create awareness of taking care of the environment, their surroundings, not only for the now, but thinking about the future of how to contribute to the care of the environment.

“Our children are indeed the hope, that they can have a cleaner mind, that they can have a different conscience. May that connection with agriculture and the land inspire them that there are beautiful things about the earth,” said Yanilís Vázquez, agriculture teacher at the Inés María Mendoza Montessori school in Caimito.

This symposium, on Thursday 18th, was attended by 200 students from 8 public Montessori schools. They participated in the play “El Sentinela de Mango” by the theater collective Y no hay luz, they took a tour of the UPR RP Semilla Garden, and the students of the Alejandro Tapia y Rivera school attended conferences on different topics, such as : 'From artificial intelligence to agroecology: proposals for climate education', 'Presentation of the Pedagogy of the Earth guide', 'The pedagogical legacy of Dalma Cartagena Colón: A curricular invitation', and How is the magnitude of climate change estimated?' In addition, there was a discussion about the book 'Ecology my way' by Dr. Ariel Lugo.

“For INE, participating in the 2nd Symposium on Climate Education and Society meant supporting spaces for teachers and students to expand their knowledge about the climate situation and to equip themselves with tools that promote sustainable practices. Also, it gave the participants the opportunity to learn about initiatives and organizations that work with these issues,” shared Johanna Colón, Coordinator of Environmental Projects at INE.

The participation of Montessori public school students expanded the reach of these topics to younger generations and invited students to raise awareness about climate change and inspire them to care for our planet through very concrete practices such as planting.

Johanna also commented that this symposium has allowed INE to strengthen ties with other organizations that seek, like us, to promote a more equitable and empowered society through education.