Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) enhances our connection to nature by fostering mindfulness, empathy, and responsible decision-making. However, in many regions, droughts and natural calamities have skewed our relationship and mental space with nature.
This conversation will bring us the ground realities of contextualization of SEL used as a teaching tool. It will first start to explore the current barriers that grip using SEL as a teaching and learning tool. The conversation will then reflect on frameworks and practices that have shown the various pathways of using SEL for environmental education. While doing so, the interconnected nature of these pathways are also discovered.
Speakers will discuss using purposeful pedagogy, design for change and collective happiness frameworks. While others will bring examples of national initiatives (STEAM in Pakistan; Climate Integration in New Jersey) as implementation ideas. While there are others who reflect on nudges that could help to spread out powerful environmental messages/actions in the community. Others work on cultural attitudes and context as possible pathways. A common underlying theme is contextualising SEL needs to have underwritten by a justice lens. We do that by highlighting the barriers to implementing SEL and the possible solutions from the ground. Then we explore how these can be strategized to be scaled to be included in formal and non-formal curricula.
Panelists:
Camila Hadi Chaudhary: Role of SEL, climate, teaching, and learning
Ambreena Ahmed, Director, Teachers’ Resource Centre, Pakistan: SEL and Climate Education tool kit for teachers
Afia Aslam: Advocacy with teachers unfamiliar with the topic
Arya Karumanthra: Perspectives from India
Eshal Farooqi: Environmental Teaching needs to be Contextualized
Marvi Soomro: School Gardens and SEL: Potential of SEL in Teaching and Learning
Fozia Parveen: Teacher aids
Arooj Khalid: Case Studies from Pakistan
Discussant: Baela Jamil, ITA
Moderator: Radhika Iyengar, Columbia University