014 Nature and environmental education
June 6, 2019
Geoffrey Bishop describes nature's classroom, how he was drawn to Montessori, and how teacher's can build nature into the classroom and parents can build nature into their children's lives.
Guest: Geoffrey Bishop
Geoffrey Bishop hails from the bush in North West NSW, Australia. After his childhood spent on the sheep station he went to an agricultural boarding school for five years then to University in both Sydney and Melbourne where he Studied Horticulture and Landscape Architecture.
For the next 10 years he traveled the world, visiting over 100 countries, where he spent most of his time trekking in rural areas, learning cultures and understanding his place in the world.
In 1996 Geoffrey started Nature’s Classroom Institute Environmental Education program. NCI is a residential program serving Montessori schools in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Texas, California and Florida. Nature’s Classroom Institute program helps students understand the natural environment, participate in ecosystem exploration and study, and work together with their peers and teachers as a community. The program serves over 4,000 students a year and includes over 90 Montessori schools.
After developing a strong academic and environmental outdoor based curriculum, he formed Nature’s Classroom Institute Montessori School in 2002 that models the core philosophy of Montessori with a marriage to his environmental principles.
Nature’s Classroom Institute and Montessori school is based on 140 acre property in a small rural community of Mukwonago, WI. Geoffrey’s focus over the past years has been on organics and sustainability in schools and promoting getting children back outdoors and helping adults understand the importance of instinctive play in the nature world.
Geoffrey has lectured throughout Asia and across the United States, he is Chair of the Montessori Life Editorial Advisory Board for AMS and past chair of the Wisconsin Montessori Association. His works have been published in professional publications and his nature and outdoor curriculum “Montessori Science for the Elementary” is used in both public and private Montessori schools across the country.
Contact Information:
Email Geoffrey@nciw.org
Phone 262-363-2815
Websites www.nciw.org, www.discovernci.org