New Book from NYC Science Teacher Strives to Reimagine Education in Urban Classrooms

Now, more than ever, educators, environmentalists, policy makers, and parents need stories from the classroom that can both inform and inspire. We all seek to address multiple threats facing our future—Earth’s climate crisis; our youth, disconnected from the classroom and the natural environment; and teachers burned out and demoralized, resigning faster than they can be replaced.

Learning Environment: Inspirational Actions, Approaches, and Stories from the Science Classroom by award-winning educator Dr. Jared Fox provides commentary and examples on a variety of projects, topics, theories, and strategies that schools and communities can immediately begin to utilize in order to reengage students, reenergize teachers, and collectively resolve local environmental and educational problems. It is both a powerful narrative and a practical guide, grounded in strategies for experiential teaching, local partnerships, and community-based science.

Readers join Dr. Fox and his students as they canoe on the Bronx River, hike the Catskill Mountains, peer into a sewer’s abyss, and advocate for their harbor’s health. Along the way, students reconsider, reimagine, and redefine what teaching and learning about one’s environment can and should be, and they are supported with actionable approaches of how to do similar work within their schools and communities.

Key ideas from Learning Environment include:

• How to design field trips as field work that drives learning outcomes
• Partnering with local experts and organizations to enrich curriculum
• Teaching science through the lens of environmental justice and activism
• Practical routines for student engagement in tech-saturated environments
• A joyful and honest portrait of teaching as both profession and calling

Each chapter is driven by narrative and real-life examples from Dr. Fox’s urban science classroom, detailing practical strategies and frameworks ready for immediate implementation. At the back of the text is an accessible guide that summarizes best practices for applying this pedagogy, which will serve as a resource for frequent reference and ongoing reflection.

Readers of Learning Environment will gain the inspirational impetus and practical know-how to empower themselves, our students, and their communities.

TEACH Magazine

TEACH is the largest national education publication in Canada. We support good teachers and teaching and believe in innovation in education.