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.
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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