Your Name and Title:
Roxann Riskin, M.S.Ed., MCP Instructional Learning Experience Designer and Mindfulness Educator
School or Organization Name:

Independent Learning Experience Coach/Mentor and Mindfulness Educator   

Co-Presenter Name(s):

Area of the World from Which You Will Present:

USA, CT

Language in Which You Will Present:

English

Target Audience(s): "2019Teachers"  educators grades 5-12

Short Session Description 

“Try to leave the Earth a better place than when you arrived” Sidney Sheldon

Mindfulness has become a familiar term or practice for educators, however, only in recent years research studies are more focused on how mindfulness practices are benefiting students, specifically in reducing anxiety, increasing attention, enhancing responsible decision making, and promoting positive social-emotional learning.  Today’s session brings attention to the importance of the human to nature relationship, through the exploration of global environmental issues using mindfulness practices. "Research has begun to examine mindfulness in the domain of pro-environmental behavior, and documents positive relationships with connectedness to nature, and engagement in pro-environmental behavior." 

“Despite biophilia and the growing evidence of nature's benefits, connectedness with nature seems to be diminishing.” (Kesebir & Kesebir, 2017; Schultz, 2002). This study reveals a statistically significant decline in using nature words in books, songs and film.  As educators, it’s important to model for students the importance of being and learning to be good stewards of the earth. This mindset can be nurtured by participating and cultivating environmental mindfulness using educational resources referencing nature and pro environmental behavior. 

Today’s mindfulness experience focuses on strengthening global environmental awareness and making connections for promoting responsible behavior using mindful actions and mindfulness practices.  Keeping this in mind, mindfulness experiences can also be embedded into formal educational curriculum programs.  It can be taught to students by teaching and scaffolding mindfulness practices within learning projects across the curriculum.   “Restoring or improving human-nature relationships will likely depend on promoting opportunities for more frequent experiences in nature.” (Kellert, 1997).

In this learning experience, noticing and making observations about human-nature relationships, will be introduced, using poetry, in a mindfulness listening practice. After the mindfulness listening practice, the online climate pledge will be recommended as a primary resource for the identification and selection of one area of intentional personal environmental awareness action. And lastly, one online global environmental social media activity will be included using Twitter.

Learning Goals

1. To use mindfulness practices to increase global environmental awareness using mindful breathing and mindful listening
2. To make human, nature and environment connections using poetry
3. To use social media to create awareness in human-nature-environmental advocacy/climate pledge areas
4. To identify research articles supporting the important connections between mindfulness, pro environmental behavior and nature.

Full Session Description

1. To learn mindfulness practices that promote and increase global environmental awareness.

After a brief introduction and a short mindfulness demonstration, the first learning activity will be actively engaging the participants in an introductory mindfulness breathing practice.

2. To make human, nature, and environmental connections using poetry

The second learning activity will be to identify personally with one environmental area and set an intention for creating awareness for a specific area of the earth’s environment and/or including affected species/inhabitants after the mindful listening practice using poetry. (see below example: Trinational Intervention for the Monarch Butterfly). 

3. To use social media to increase awareness driving important human-nature-environmental advocacy

In this third learning activity, participants will be evaluating the climate-environmental pledge and selecting one area that corresponds with an environmentally challenged area and/or including affected species/inhabitants.

Then the participants will be developing a global mindful environmental awareness social media post. (see below example: Trinational Intervention for the Monarch Butterfly). This part includes designing a global mindful environmental awareness social media post. The learning outcome will be a strengthened connection using the climate pledge, between self and the environment, increasing awareness of human activity and the environment, and an awareness of global earth stewardship leading to an increased thoughtfulness, respect and gratitude for all life on earth.

Next, the participants will be composing one social media post on Twitter including a comment similar to the following sentence, “I completed the Global Environmental Mindfulness Experience.”  The goal of the post is to influence and stimulate short, collaborative discussions in global environmental challenge areas.

Using Twitter compose one post and include one copyright free image or creating an image that reinforces the pledge area to bring global awareness to action empowering pro-environmental behavior(s) aligned with the Climate-environmental Pledge. The environmental impact areas include air, water or land and/or affected inhabitants. Specific environmental concern areas can also include deforestation, ocean, river or lake pollution, land pollution, air pollution, climate challenges and include the affected species/ inhabitants etc.

Perform a Google search and add one URL identifying the global environmental area of concern and, or affected species/inhabitants

Example Social Media Post:

Websites / URLs

Research Websites are included in the attached document file

Mindfulness Poem

I Sit and Think JR Tokien

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/j__r__r__tolkien/poems/1856

Pledge Website

https://www.massaudubon.org/get-involved/live-sustainably/climate-p...

More Resource Websites

https://climate.org/saving-the-monarch-butterfly/

https://act.audubon.org/onlineactions/0EPoKcqEQUKWG9udCA_77g2

https://www.mindful.org/how-mindfulness-can-save-planet/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plogging

https://blog.peacerevolution.net/ecological-mindfulness/