Today, June 8th, is World Oceans Day - As the challenges to the ocean continue to grow, so does the need for novel solutions and the people driving them. To that end, the theme of UN World Oceans Day 2020 is 'Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean.'...
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Join Us At SXSW EDU 2020: Meet Co-Panelist James Edward Mills
This week we’d like to introduce James Edward Mills, explain how and why he’s such an education hero, and give a few great reasons to join him and the panel discussing ‘Sustainability & Social Justice in K-12 Schools’ at SXSW EXU.James’s career spans...
Connecting With Educators and Thought Leaders At EdSpaces
Our design team and account managers are spreading their wings over the next week as they attend and present at two very different education and thought leadership conferences.First stop is the EdSpaces conference, held this year in Milwaukee, WI. This is one of the...
How Young People Feel About The ‘Green New Deal’
A ‘Green New Deal’ (GND) has been proposed in the US by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey. It has many facets, but one of the main aims of the proposal would be to achieve net-zero greenhouse emissions by creating millions of green jobs...
Celebrating Green Ribbon Schools
You may have heard the term ‘Green Ribbon Schools’. The Green Ribbon Schools prestigious awards program was created by the U.S. Department of Education in 2011 with the aim of recognizing select K–12 schools, K–12 districts and postsecondary institutions...
Heavily Decorated Classrooms Disrupt Learning
Researchers intentionally set out to discover whether classroom displays affected children’s ability to maintain focus during instruction and to learn the lesson content. “Young children spend a lot of time — usually the whole day — in the same classroom, and through...
Research: How Satisfied Are Educators With School Renovation Projects
When educators were asked how intentionally planned school construction or renovation projects were evaluated, the largest percentage groups of note, at 30%, said they were evaluated most often for whether they attracted more students. An additional 30% of teachers...
Research: Considering Pedagogical Goals When Designing Learning Spaces
'Intentional design' means taking into consideration how students learn when designing learning environments to enable their success. The following research looks at whether there should be learning goals associated with planned projects; if pedagogical goals were...
Research: How Do Teachers View Completed School Renovations?
Teachers who work in schools where recent construction or renovations were completed were asked to grade the outcome of the changes through various focus areas: the impact on school culture, student retention, student engagement, staff relationships, classroom...
Research: Do Teachers Want Flexible Collaborative Classrooms?
For a classroom to foster 21st-century learning styles, it needs a 21st-century classroom design with multi-purpose spaces and connected learning areas that support movement, student choice, and a collaborative environment. Educators were asked to rank the importance...
Recent News & Stories
Our CEO Is A Panel Speaker At SXSW EDU 2020!
Our very own Bridgitte Alomes, the CEO and founder of Natural Pod, is a panel speaker at the next SXSW Edu in Austin 2020. Her panel colleagues are some incredible movers and shakers in the education world as you can see below, and this session is sure to have many...
Project Profile: High School Learning Environments
The High School years are often when the most flexibility is needed within education environments to support the many different learning styles of students. It’s also the time in young people’s lives when they spend the most time at school and...
This Stunning Learning Centre Shares Indigenous And Western Perspectives
Collaborating on incredible projects like this is extra special to us, and this one is quite unique.A new multi-use Learning Centre called the “Aki Centre”, or “Land Centre”, for short, (full name is Ozhaawashkwaa Animikii-Bineshi Aki Onji Kinimaagae’...
Giving Tuesday Was A Great Success, Thanks To You!
As you may know, Natural Pod, VMDO Architects and ShawContract came together on Giving Tuesday in supporting the Green Schools National Network (GSNN) to raise funds for the work and research they do to further the green schools movement and accelerate student...
New Community Rooftop Childcare Centre Transforms Learning
The Natural Pod team is still talking about how incredible our visit to the first Vancouver rooftop childcare centre was. It was the grand opening of ‘The Village’, the sixth childcare program implemented by Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House. The Village...
Grab A Great Deal On Bundles Of Play Manipulatives!
These bundles of sustainable made play manipulatives are a favorite of early learners, and we're offering significant discounts for educators and learning organizations. Get in touch with our team to learn more about the bundle options and discounts. If...
Giving Tuesday – Help Us Create Greener Schools with Matching Donations.
Join Natural Pod, VMDO Architects and ShawContract on Giving Tuesday while we each match donations up to $2500 USD for the Green Schools National Network (GSNN) to raise funds for the work and research GSNN do to further the green schools movement and accelerate...
Sustainability In Schools Isn’t Just About ‘Green’
When talking about teaching environmental and sustainability literacy in schools, we mostly mean educating students to be environmentally responsible. But there is a bigger, deeper meaning here. In order for our future generations to be fluent in...
Give to a ‘Green Schools’ Future for Giving Tuesday
At Natural Pod, we are deeply committed to creating better, sustainable education environments. Our goal is always to honor this by producing healthy, natural, and beautiful play and learning space furniture using environmentally responsible practices and...
Bringing Biomimicry to Oak Park: One Approach to Integrating Biomimicry into the K-12 Curriculum
I first fell in love with biomimicry while attending a county-wide science leadership meeting in February 2017. I was there in my capacity as science department chair at Oak Park High School in California’s Oak Park Unified School District. It was toward the end of...