TSL:SFN – Sustainable Schooling w/ Buffy Cushman-Patz (SEEQS)
Buffy Cushman-Patz is the founder and executive director of SEEQS (School for Examining Essential Questions of Sustainability) Charter School, where students are learning to become stewards of planet Earth and healthy, effective citizens of the world. On top of standard core learning in math, science, social studies, English, and the arts, students combine concepts with project-based experiences that allow students to apply what they have learned to real-world situations.
“Everything we do at SEEQS is with the intent of trying to create the kind of community that we want to be a part of. I work at SEEQS because I love this community of students, teachers, and ʻohana and the work we’re doing to try to make the world a better place for ourselves and for others.”
Buffy Cushman-Patz, SEEQ’s Founder and Executive Director
The SEEQS educational philosophy is based on decades of research on how people learn. We are guided by five core principles:
- Real-world situations and real-world contexts enable real-world learning.
- Learning occurs when learners take ownership of their learning.
- Everyone is a teacher; everyone is a learner, all of the time.
- A learning environment is composed of its community members, cultural values, and physical surroundings.
- Improvement of the organization requires consciously collaborative participation by community members.
Buffy Cushman-Patz, SEEQS’s Founder, has explored teaching and learning through the lenses of theory, policy, leadership, and through first-hand experiences as a teacher in both conventional and unconventional settings. Buffy completed her EdM in School Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in May 2012 , with School Development as her concentration. She earned an M.S. in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a B.S. in Geology from the University of Florida.
Find Buffy Cushman-Patz and SEEQS online:
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