Classrooms

Urban Green Lab’s Classrooms Division is all about turning classrooms into spaces for exploring and demonstrating sustainable living early in life.

Sustainable Classrooms

Are you a teacher or a school interested in making sustainable living education a priority? At Urban Green Lab, we work together with you to create a plan for teaching the basics of sustainable living that inspires, empowers, and moves your students to lifelong action. No matter your grade or subject, we organize, train, and connect cohorts of 3-5 teachers in K-12 public and private schools known as “Sustainable Classroom Professionals” who explore how best to integrate sustainable living principles into the fabric of your curricula year-round, but also into the mission, values, and culture of your academic institutions.

Classrooms includes regular teacher professional development for schools and districts, personalized cohort trainings, access to standards-aligned sustainable living curricula, and year-round guidance. The Division also includes our own Sustainable Classrooms Curriculum, created in partnership with Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education, and a digital app for students to investigate their own household waste prevention opportunities with their families. Classrooms is a crossroads of project-based learning, social emotional learning, civic leadership, and the four “Cs” of STEAM education.

Urban Green Lab also partners with the U.S. Green Building Council to certify teachers as Green Classrooms Professionals, helping advance their careers, credibility, and confidence.

Interested in training for you, your school, or your district? Click here or contact Diana Andrew at classrooms@urbangreenlab.org and see current offerings below.

November Teacher Training

Complete Home Investigations

Sample Curriculum & Home Investigations

Below are samples of the pilot edition of the Sustainable Classrooms Curriculum and student Home Investigations. Participants in the training receive the full curriculum and all materials.

Classrooms Steering Committee

Denise Baker

Transportation Program Supervisor

Tennessee Department of Transportation

Sue Ballard

Assistant Director, College of Arts and Sciences

Tennessee State University

Jennifer Berry

Director of STEAM/Science

Metro Nashville Public Schools

Brian Caine

Science Coordinator

Office of Content & Assessment Design

Tennessee Department of Education

Gabrielle Chapman, PhD

Research Associate

Peabody Research Institute

Vanderbilt University

Nancy Dorman

Manager of Outdoor Conservation/Education

Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation

Cherifa McDowell

MSPA Coordinator

Metro Nashville Public Schools

Teri L Horsley

Environmental Scientist

Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation

Kelly Tipler

Waste Reduction Manager

Metro Nashville Public Works

Chris Vanags, PhD

Director of Research Initiatives

Peabody College of Education

Jenny Wiedower

K-12 Education Manager

U.S. Green Building Council

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