2024 Fulbright Distinguished Teaching Award Final Project

Data, democracy, and Oikos - Communicating climate change challenges to students through the global language of mathematics.


TABLE OF CONTENTS:

  1. Review goals of project

  2. Final Products

    1. Contribution to the Literature

    2. Lessons on Sustainability

    3. Building a Network


1. Review of Project Goals

The goals of this Fulbright Distinguished Teaching Award research were: 

  1. to collect quantitative and qualitative data on how Mediterranean communities are responding to climate and sea level changes brought on by climate change
  2. to build a network of policy makers and educators between Mediterranean and Northeast US communities using public data to understand and address challenges to sustainable communities
  3. to create a resource for educators to help students to understand and address challenges to sustainable communities
This page will serve as a clearing house for the final products of this research.

2. Final Products

The research process focused on the above two essential questions, and the final product has a number of audiences. The Lessons on Sustainability unit described below is the main research product. This unit is for local and global math, science and data teachers interested in bringing relevance to their own curriculum. This data unit is available here on my own blog, and on the educational website, TuvaLabs.com.

Two additional research products described below are proposals for publication analysing the qualitative data collected over the course of the research. This includes student focus groups at over 25 Greek public schools on climate change education, as well as interviews with educators and policy makers from around the North of Greece, as well as Southern Aegean Islands. 

A. Lessons on Sustainability 

A Unit of Original Source Data Analysis

As a reminder, I teach math. And, as a reminder, I believe math should be used as a tool to solve problems. To that end, I've collected a variety of original data from meetings with municipal officials on four Greek islands, and created a unit of six Lessons on Sustainability. Several of these have been included in the library of educational software company, TuvaLabs. They are here at this link, and linked below.

B. Contributions to the Literature:

Best Practices in Greek Schools and City Halls, A Bias of Excellence 

Twenty-four small focus groups of public school secondary students provided a wealth of qualitative data about opportunities for climate change education in Greek schools. These interview sites were spread across Northern Greece, with Thessaloniki as a center, as well as schools around Athens. These were found largely through the network of Greek Fulbright educators, as well as Greek Ministry of Education environmental education programs. Initial results of this research are written about in another place on my blog, here, here, and here.

The second focus of data collection was a sample of municipal officials on islands in the Southern Aegean. These included interviews with Mayors, Vice-Mayors, Presidents and members of Municipal Council, municipal staff, and one Prefecture head. These sites were chosen through the Fulbright network, as well as islands demonstrating innovative ideas and demonstration projects in response to climate change challenges. These visits are described in my blog here, and here.

Both of these sets of data will be analyzed through the conceptual framework of transformational adaptation in two papers for publication, written in conjunction with Dr. Constantina Skanavis, Dean of Faculty of Public Health of the University of West Attica. Abstracts for both papers are presented, and linked below. Keep an eye on this space for details on final publication.

Draft: Climate Change Education in Select Greek Public Schools as a Catalyst for Transformational Adaptation.


Draft: Case Studies of Sustainable Policy as Transformational Adaptation on Four Greek Islands, Tilos, Astypalea, Skyros and Santorini.






C. Building a Network


As a 2019 alum of the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms, the 2024 Fulbright Distinguished Teaching Awards program, and a partner teacher to the ILEP program at Indiana High School in 2017, 2018, and 2022, I have had an wealth of opportunities to connect with teachers worldwide, and have used technology to bring our classes together. I'll continue to work with teachers in this network to identify opportunities to bring our classrooms together.

My position as a teacher at Indiana High School, which hosts 15-20 Fulbright teachers each year, puts me in a unique position to leverage this global network of educators to help provide my students with a global perspective. 

One of the most valuable assets this partnership creates is an opportunity for students to experience a more diverse population. As a member of our schools Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion professional learning community, I recognize that access to international perspectives is unique for rural school districts like ours.

Our school's Fulbright partnership is a key component for teaching about justice, diversity and equity in my proposed presentation to our own faculty's math and science department. That presentation is linked here.







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