Earthwatch Education

Roald Dahl’s much-loved books don’t just spark imagination — they also provide powerful entry points for exploring sustainability with learners of all ages. Each story is full of lessons that connect directly to how we treat our planet:

We are sharing ….

sustainability concepts in Roald Dahl’s stories linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 🍫
Fairness, food systems, waste
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Matilda 📚
Education, resource sharing, empowerment
SDG 4: Quality Education
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

James and the Giant Peach 🍑
Biodiversity, ecosystems, interdependence
SDG 15: Life on Land
SDG 14: Life Below Water
SDG 13: Climate Action

The BFG 👣
Needs vs. wants, sustainable consumption, ecological footprint
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 13: Climate Action
SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy (if linked to using resources wisely)

Fantastic Mr Fox 🦊
Food security, land use, fairness, resourcefulness
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
SDG 15: Life on Land
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

The Twits 🐒
Pollution, waste, cruelty vs. kindness, regeneration
SDG 15: Life on Land
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

George’s Marvellous Medicine 🧪
Safe vs. unsafe chemicals, pollution, natural alternatives
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being

Together, these stories cover the “big ideas” of sustainability:
✨ Fairness & equity
✨ Consumption & waste
✨ Food systems & farming
✨ Biodiversity & ecosystems
✨ Education & empowerment
✨ Resourcefulness & creativity
✨ Chemical use & pollution
✨ Kindness & responsibility

Across Roald Dahl’s books, learners explore sustainability through storytelling while touching on at least 8 of the 17 SDGs — making them perfect for linking local classroom activities with global citizenship.

By combining storytelling with hands-on sustainability activities, we can help learners see how Dahl’s magical worlds connect directly to real-world challenges — and inspire them to imagine a fairer, greener future 🌍🌻💚

Find out more here 👉The Sustainables Academy

We invite you to join our LinkedIn Earthwatch Europe Educators community! 🏫👩‍🏫📖

This group is a space for Teach Earth alumni, teachers, and informal educators connected with Earthwatch to share, learn, and collaborate. Our aim is to foster two-way communication and create an active community where ideas, experiences, and resources can flow freely.

Rules

Our tone:

• Supportive & respectful – every member’s contribution is valued. 💚

• Open & collaborative – we learn best when sharing experiences and listening to others. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

• Professional yet friendly – we want this to feel like a trusted network, not just another feed. 👩‍🏫

What we expect from members:

• Engage and share – Comment on posts, ask questions, share your own experiences and ideas. 🤳

• Stay relevant – Keep posts and discussions focused on education, environment, and opportunities connected to Earthwatch’s mission. 🌍

• Be constructive – Feedback is welcome, especially on resources and opportunities, but keep it solution-focused. 💪

• No promotion or spam – This group is about learning and collaboration, not advertising. 🚫

• Respect confidentiality – If schools, colleagues, or learners are mentioned, please share responsibly and without sensitive personal details. 🦺

Together, we’ll make this group a place where alumni and educators can connect, exchange ideas, and support each other in bringing environmental education to life.

Click here to join 👉 Earthwatch Europe Educators | Groups | LinkedIn

What's in your water? Live is an engaging, curriculum-linked live lesson for KS2 pupils that brings science and geography to life through real-world action. Developed by Earthwatch Europe, this interactive session immerses young learners in the world of fresh water, environmental threats, and the Great UK WaterBlitz a UK-wide citizen science project.

Aligned with national curriculum and timed to support World Monitoring Day (18 Sept) and Great UK WaterBlitz Week (19th–22 Sept) this session empowers pupils to become scientists for a day — and environmental champions for life.

Get your class involved in the autumn Great UK WaterBlitz - sign up here (sign up will shut on 7th Sept): Great UK WaterBlitz -Org signup - Earthwatch Europe

Find out more by clicking the link below 👇

What's in our Water? LIVE Flyer(375 KB)

The new term is almost here and what better way to kick things off than with World Literacy Day (Sept 8th)? Literacy isn’t just about books indoors… the outdoors is FULL of stories waiting to be told. 🌳🐦✍️

🌟 Why outdoors?

Being outside sparks curiosity, conversation, and imagination. A slug on a log, a bird call, a rustling tree are all perfect prompts for reading, writing, and storytelling.

Check out our idea of using Hello Mr World for a Role on the Wall activity. Kids describe what the planet (Mr World) thinks and feels—and add labels like carbon dioxide using phonics. This combination of storytelling, vocabulary-building, and empathy smashing makes literacy come alive.Earthwatch Education

Other resources:

• Twinkl → fun outdoor literacy games (word hopscotch, nature riddles) 🏃‍♀️🌿 See ideas

• HMH → ready-to-use Literacy Day activities for all ages ✨ Activities here

• Learning Through Landscapes → sharing tips, lesson ideas, and guidance for literacy outdoors 📖 See website

📝 Quick ideas for Sept 8th

✨ Set up reading/writing “stations” under the trees
✨ Try outdoor word games (chalk, treasure hunts, rhymes)
✨ Do a “scientist for a day” activity—students log observations like researchers
✨ End with a story swap or poetry circle outside 🌞

World Literacy Day is the perfect excuse to get outside, read, write, wonder, and share stories together. 📚💚 Let’s make literacy this term something your students can feel, see, and experience—not just read about.

Applications are now open for your school to become a Green Earth School in academic year 25/26!

Transforming school grounds into nature-rich spaces for exceptional outdoor learning and play.

Through our Green Earth Schools programme, we collaborate with schools to create the optimal nature features for their grounds to support outdoor learning.   

We help students build a strong connection to nature and use their voices to drive solutions-based approaches to environmental challenges. These skills and experiences are essential in creating inclusive pathways to the green careers that are needed to tackle the climate crisis. 

Our Green Earth Schools approach is centred on: 

Empowering students to create a quality green space in their school grounds that they can access and enjoy on a daily basis, and enabling them to take positive action for our planet. 

Building a lasting green legacy as these living science labs will be maintained for future generations of pupils to enjoy. 

Equipping teachers and educators with the tools they need to take learning outside, inspiring their children and young people to build curiosity of the natural world, create solutions-focused thinking and build a foundation of strong scientific knowledge of the environment. 

This year, we are looking for schools in Sunderland, Peterborough, West Drayton, London, and South Wales (Cardiff, Swansea & Port Talbot) to sign up for our fully-funded Green Earth School Project this academic year!

Register Your Interest here!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact our team at education@earthwatch.org.uk.

Bridging Classroom Learning with Real-World Research

Young learners often experience science as predictable or abstract—experiments with known outcomes and limited real-world relevance. This is where citizen science comes in: it transforms classrooms into gateways for authentic, meaningful research where students’ observations really count.

About the Course

Designed for educators across all levels—primary, secondary, teacher trainers, and beyond—this MOOC invites participants to:

• Discover what citizen science is and why it matters for scientific literacy, societal impact, and student engagement.

• Evaluate existing citizen science projects for classroom suitability.

• Explore how these projects align with the European Union’s five Missions: climate, cancer, oceans, smart cities, and soil.

• Design learning scenarios that harness the scientific inquiry process and connect students directly to meaningful data collection and real-world challenges.

• Complete and submit their own Learning Scenario, and participate in peer review to earn a certificate (95% passing grade required).

Why It Matters for Earthwatch Educators?

• Deepened Engagement: Citizen science turns students from passive learners into data-driven investigators.

• Multidisciplinary Connection: Whether tracking biodiversity, monitoring air quality, or examining soil health, these activities spark cross-disciplinary exploration.

• Global-Local Linkages: By aligning with EU Mission goals, you can help your students understand how local actions feed into global challenges.

• Certification & Recognition: Besides the EUN certificate, participants in certain regions (e.g. Galicia, Emilia-Romagna, and Ireland) may be eligible for additional official CPD recognition.

Ready to Take Action?

If you're passionate about bringing real-world scientific inquiry into your classroom—empowering your students to make meaningful contributions—this MOOC offers structured support, community, and recognition. It’s a unique opportunity to help shape a more engaged, empowered generation of citizen scientists.

Let’s make it happen. Start your journey from classroom to impact!

Find out more here: Addressing societal challenges with Citizen Science | European Schoolnet Academy

Looking for simple, meaningful ways to spend time outdoors with your family before summer slips away? TreeSisters has put together a beautiful collection of free nature connection activities designed just for families—and they're perfect for all ages!

From creative crafts to mindful outdoor adventures, these activities are a gentle reminder to slow down, explore, and reconnect with the natural world together. Whether you're in your backyard, a local park, or on a camping trip, there’s something here to inspire curiosity and joy.

Check them out here: Nature Connection for Families

It’s a great way to get outside, get grounded, and spark some meaningful conversations with kids about caring for our planet. 🌍💚

Let’s make nature a part of our summer memories—together!

Photo credits: TreeSisters | charity

As schools close for the summer, we want to take a moment to recognise something too often pushed aside: the well-being of school staff. Across the UK, staff burnout, anxiety, and exhaustion are at an all-time high. According to Sec-Ed, 

45% of school staff report experiencing anxiety,
35% burnout,
and 28% symptoms of depression.

Behind these numbers are real people – teachers who are struggling to keep going while supporting the mental health of young people.
The truth is this: exhausted staff cannot support flourishing students.
Yet there is hope — and it doesn’t always come from more policies or hours in front of screens.

The Healing Power of Nature
Nature offers one of the most accessible, evidence-based, and nourishing paths to recovery. Time in the woods. Quiet connection. Movement, creativity, and community. These are not luxuries — they’re essentials.

At Circle of Life Rediscovery, they have worked with schools across the UK to design nature-based programmes and trainings that radically shift the wellbeing of both staff and students.

✔️ From CPD outdoor learning and nature connection courses to comprehensive Level 3 Forest School Training, learn everything you need to know about transforming education, health and family through nature-led learning

✔️ Develop the knowledge, skills and confidence you need to design and deliver best practice educational and therapeutic outdoor learning programmes

✔️ Use your new skills to have more fun in your work, and transform your career

Who are outdoor learning CPD courses for?

These outdoor learning CPD courses are suitable for:

• Teachers

• Health workers

• Outdoor practitioners

Who are the outdoor learning CPD course tutors?

All Circle of Life Rediscovery tutors have a background in education and sustainable schools. Also, knowledge and experience of nature connection, nature-centric models, the curriculum and the natural world

Why learn with Circle of Life Rediscovery?

They show you how you can teach outdoor experiences that connect individuals with nature and the wider community. 

Better still, you’ll learn practical and theoretical nature-based practice tools you can tie into the national curriculum or use to meet key health outcomes.

As a result, your students will:

• Appreciate their beautiful surroundings and understanding their place in nature and the world

• Learn social responsibility

Explore our outdoor learning CPD courses for teachers, health practitioners and outdoor practitioners here!

Upcoming Learning Lunch with Our Shared World and Professor Stephen Sterling

Date: July 22nd 2025, 13:15 – 13:45 GMT.

Our Shared World are excited to bring you the latest Learning Lunch, coming from Professor Stephen Sterling.

Professor Stephen Sterling is an Emeritus Professor of Sustainability at the University of Plymouth, President of SEEd and the foremost mind in Education for Sustainable Development. Having worked in environmental and sustainability education for 50 years, he has received numerous accolades, awards and achievements for his work.

With too long a list of accolades and achievements to mention here (find out more on his website here), this is an exciting opportunity to explore his insights into education for sustainability in the next Learning Lunch.

Structure:

13:15 - 13:30pm: Welcome and Presentation

13:30 - 13:45pm: Questions and Discussion

Get involved with this exclusive Learning Lunch with one of the top thought leaders in this wonderful field!

Secure your free ticket here.

What's in your water? Live is an engaging, curriculum-linked live lesson for KS2 pupils that brings science and geography to life through real-world action. Developed by Earthwatch Europe, this interactive session immerses young learners in the world of fresh water, environmental threats, and the Great UK WaterBlitz a UK-wide citizen science project.

Aligned with national curriculum and timed to support World Monitoring Day (18 Sept) and Great UK WaterBlitz Week (19th–22 Sept) this session empowers pupils to become scientists for a day — and environmental champions for life.

If you live near a fresh water source why not consider getting your class involved in the autumn 2025 WaterBlitz  - sign up here: Great UK WaterBlitz -Org signup - Earthwatch Europe

Find out more by clicking the link below 👇