Schools around the world are using their grounds to enhance hands-on teaching and learning, enrich outdoor play, and improve the ecology of their neighborhoods. Sharon Danks will present a vibrant slideshow that takes us on a journey to explore the growing movement toward "green" school grounds. Along the way, we will “visit” some of the world's most innovative green schoolyards including schools with: edible gardens with fruit trees, vegetables, chickens, honeybees, and outdoor cooking facilities; wildlife habitats with ponds or forest ecosystems; schoolyard watershed models, rainwater catchment systems, and waste-water treatment wetlands; renewable energy systems that power landscape features or the whole school; waste-as-a-resource projects that give new life to old materials in beautiful ways; curriculum connections for a wide range of disciplines from science and math to art and social studies; and creative play opportunities that diversify school ground recreational options and encourage children to explore the natural world while they run, hop, skip, jump, balance, slide, and twirl. The talk will also ground these examples in a practical framework that schools can use to make their schoolyards more comfortable, enjoyable, and sustainable, and describe a participatory design process to engage school communities as stewards of their own public spaces.

Suitability:  All formal and non-formal youth educators, school administrators, parents, environmentalists, and design professionals