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Candid Conversations: Climate Change in Education & Supporting Youth Mental Health
February 15, 2022 at 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Join the Dean of Education, Dr. Jan Hare, for an online speaker series focusing on candid conversations that are engaging educators today, including taking up climate change matters in education and supporting youth mental health in school systems.
This dynamic series brings together researchers, practitioners, educators, youth, and you—the participants—to discuss how educators and students are making a difference every day, and explore how as a community, we can support and empower young people to face the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
About the Keynote
Dr. Ellen Field is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University. Her research interests are in policy and practice of climate change education in the Canadian K-12 system. Dr. Field has a strong background in survey development and implementation, educational tool development and stakeholder engagement. She is engaged with ministries, school boards, teachers and community members, and co-leads an online community on climate change education in Canada.
Dr. Field teaches Environmental Education (BEd) and Climate Change Education (MEd) in the Faculty of Education, and has engaged 800 teachers in professional development workshops. She is an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Environmental Education and co-chair of the Canadian Regional Hub of Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Change Education (MECCE). She is also a mom of a vibrant 5-year-old.
About the Educator
Mark Frank is the department head of science at Fraser Academy and a current Master’s of Education student at Lake Head University focusing on climate change education. Mark’s thesis focuses on environmentally conscious youth in BC and their views of what change should look like in regards to climate change education in the province.
Frank has worked internationally in multiple systems from private to public in England, South Korea and Australia. He has held multiple head of department posts and excels in curriculum design that meshes real world experiential learning with forward thinking project based education.
Since moving to BC in 2018, Frank has been heavily involved with climate change organizations within the province and has established himself as an intermediary between multiple initiatives seeking to bring climate change to BC k-12 education.
About the Student
Hannah Wicki is an 18-year-old climate activist residing on the land of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, colonially known as Vancouver. She organizes and coordinates with multiple community-based projects around food and social justice, and with the youth-led organization, Climate Education Reform BC (CERBC). CERBC is determined to see an educational system that adequately prepares students for the biggest and most defining crisis of our time: the climate emergency. Similarly, BC needs an educational reform that centers intersectional and justice-driven learning, while fully addressing how colonial violence is tied to the climate crisis. CERBC recognizes how climate change and its disproportionate damages on marginalized and racialized communities must be addressed through widespread education, which is why they launched the Reform to Transform campaign to advocate for the creation of this educational system to pave the way for creating our next generation of climate leaders.
About the Student
Chloe Nguyen is a grade 10 student at Windermere Secondary and has a passion for making a positive difference in the community. She has been a climate activist for a couple of years and has volunteered for other social issues as well. She likes to live her life by the motto “Leave it better than when you found it” and that includes the earth we walk on.
