Geo-education -- creating passionate learners | Jennifer Long | TEDxLangleyED

In an increasingly interconnected world, students must develop a greater awareness that all of our actions have global implications. Accordingly, they need to be equipped with an understanding of how human systems and natural systems interact at local, regional, national and global levels. My passion for the outdoors and beliefs were shaped by international trips that I have organized for my own students, two-years of teaching in the Cloud Forests of Monteverde, the Ecotourism class I currently teach and a recent expedition to Antarctica and Easter Island as a National Geographic Grosvenor Fellow. These experiences have heightened my belief that we, as educators, have the responsibility to provide students with opportunities to learn to love the natural world so that they become passionate about protecting it. We also have the duty to help our students to learn cultural sensitivity so that they seek to find respectful and sustainable ways of interacting with other people.



Jennifer Long is a biology and ecotourism teacher at Sardis Secondary School in Chilliwack, British Columbia. She has spent time working at an environmental school in the Cloud Forest of Costa Rica. She has organized student trips to Mexico, China and Costa Rica and she seeks to infuse her lessons with concepts learned from living abroad, helping to inspire a new generation of environmentally aware biologists and world travellers. Recently, Jennifer has returned from Antarctica where she was a part of an expedition as a National Geographic Grosvenor Fellow.

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