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Inspiring Student Leadership Development to Address Mitigation and Adaptation: “Edventure” Learning Through PaddleSport. Cynthia L. Tomovic, Ph.D. Professor, STEM Education and Professional Studies, Darden College of Education Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA ctomovic@odu.edu.
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Inspiring Student Leadership Development to Address Mitigation and Adaptation:“Edventure” Learning Through PaddleSport Cynthia L. Tomovic, Ph.D.Professor, STEM Education and Professional Studies, Darden College of Education Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA ctomovic@odu.edu
What Does the Public Think about Climate Change? • About 65% of Americans believe that climate change is happening and that it is human caused - stable over last 5 years; only 13% have very strong views on occurrence and 13% have very strong views that it is not • Who do they expect to take action? – The business community, government, ordinary Americans – but question their level of commitment • What do they want to see done? – Clean energy, clean air & water, better health Yale Project on Climate Change Communications and George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communications (2015). Climate Change in the American Mind.
Social Science Driven Process Model of Communicating Sea Level Rise
How do we excite our children and young adults about the challenges and opportunities of adaptation and mitigation related to climate change and sea level rise?Encourage STEM disciplines in context!
National Science Foundation Adventure Engineering (1999) – design centered, inquiry based approach to improve middle school (grades 5 – 9) science and mathematics education by developing and offering fun, effective, team-oriented project-based activities.
Tell them stories and give them real-world problems to solve!“Story telling (that enforce a belief system) and scenario planning are tools for ordering our perceptions about alternative future environments in which today’s decisions might be played out.” National Academy of Engineering (2004). The Engineer of 2020.Harari, Yuval N. (2015). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind.
Challenge? Encouraging Children to Think about the Application of STEM in Adapating and Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
British Canoe Union Partnership with Public Education Paddle-Sport: System of LearningDavid W. TrainFormer British Canoe Coach
Paddle-Sport ProgramSystem of ActivitiesDavid. W. Train • Children’s stories and accompanying stuffed animals • Bell and Liberty Bell Boating • Paddle for Life • Main Festivals for Earth
Children’s Books“Gran Marr, Walter, Winnie” The Secret of the Silent Bell and Special Cell: A Vision for Great Europe (1999), David Train. • Gran Mar – flying tortoise • Walter – tortoise • Winnie – hare Gran Mar discovers on her flights how sick mother earth is and invites Walter and Winnie to help her to communicate and educate the people on earth about what they can do to change their behavior to save her.
CommunityVersity Partnership: Leadership and Team Development in Support of Mitigation and Adaptation
Sword and a Shield “How can we turn a sword and a shield, symbols of conflict, into a symbol of cooperation?”
“Paddle for Life” • Symbolic for cooperation • ….so we can “pull together”
Leadership Qualities Friendship Common sense Effort Responsibility Cooperation Organization Courage Initiative Patience Curiosity Problem solving Perseverance Caring Integrity Flexibility Sense of humor Resourcefulness
Main Festivals for Earth Means to draw public attention to issues of sustainability Built around Bell Boats and Liberty Bell Boats, Paddle for Life, in safely designed water games and regattas, and voyages
Progress to Date in U.K. • Over 400 Bell Boats distributed • Proto-typed “Liberty Bell Boat” • Over 100 regattas and Paddle for Life events held annually via Main Academy Global; over 5,000 participants involved • School teachers, environmentalists, British Canoe Union involved in curriculum development • Relays down major rivers in Germany, England • Bell Boats being sent to India, China, US, Pakistan
National and International Figure Heads • Most British MPs signed Trophy Paddle for Life • President, Wal-Mart Europe • Mayor, Beijing • President Purdue University, Martin Jischke • Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty • Will Steger , Polar Explorer and Mountaineer • Minnesota and Indiana U.S. Senators Franken, Klobuchar, Lugar • Lord Nicholas Stern, Stern Review – 700 page report on effect of climate change and global warming on world economy • Jose Manuel Duras Barroso, President, European Commission ; former Prime Minister, Portugal • Tony Blair, former Prime Minister, England • David Cameron, Prime Minister, England • Wawng Anshun, Mayor of Beijing, China • President Dailia Grybauskaite, Lithuania
“Paddle for Life”Liz Lynne, Jose Barroso, President of European Commission and David Train
Progress to Date in U.S. • Liberty Bell Boat • 4 boats constructed: 3 with community leaders and teens-at-risk, 1 as university freshmen engineering project • Paddle for Life • Elementary school: over 120 kindergartners and 25 American teachers • Middle school: over 1000 children, third and fifth graders, 14 American teachers • Teens at Risk – working with juvenile court system • University: 180 college students • Main Festivals for Earth • 20 festivals in Indiana and Minnesota Major purpose of activities is to inform and excite participant interest in STEM disciplines, and about importance of leadership and team development in creating personal commitment and community action required to address local and global environmental challenges. • International Figure Heads • Will Steger, Polar Explorer • Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, US Senators – Minnesota • Tim Pawlenty and Mark Dayton, Governors of Minnesota • Richard Lugar, Senator of Indiana
“Paddle for Life” Minnesota ReggataWill Steger – Polar Explorer/Mountaineer
Future Events • Develop curriculum with input of U.S. teachers • Map activities and learning outcomes to national/state mathematics and science standards, ITEEA technology literacy standards • Add CAD • Add Modeling and Simulation component • Conduct more workshops, collect and analyze data, disseminate results • Work with interested foundations and agencies; MARI • Conduct Main Festivals for Earth, regattas, relays with public officials – President Obama and family on the Potomac River
British Partnership • Environment Agency • British Canoe Union • Teachers interested in using water sport to meet curriculum needs
BRAINSTORMING Hampton Roads Partnerships • Who would be interested? Stakeholders • How to proceed? • Process?
SAVING THE BLUE PLANET WITH A “PADDLE FOR LIFE”CommuniVersity Partnership Hampton Roads State of Virginia Public Schools Nauticus ODU Chesapeake Bay Foundation Education Engineering and Technology Sciences Arts and Letters Business and Public Administration Health
