WHO WE ARE
Our Mission
Our Vision
To make learning relevant, purposeful, and impactful by collaboratively creating opportunities for learners and educators to understand and solve real-world environmental and sustainability problems by applying STEM* knowledge and skills locally.
Educators around the world are creating experiences for learners to actively applying their STEM* knowledge and skills to solve real environmental and sustainability problems locally and globally.
What We Believe
When people CARE, they want to learn.
When people LEARN something personally relevant, they want to respond.
When people RESPOND, they make an IMPACT that changes the world.
LAURA SANDERS ARNDT
Culturally-relevant & Purposeful STEM Creator,
Founder & Executive Director
Laura Arndt grew up playing in the woods of mid-Missouri, working at children’s outdoor camps, and traveling with family to explore other natural ecosystems and immerse themselves in other cultures. This was the beginning of her life-long curiosity about, celebration of, and respect for the environment and for people of all cultures. She has called a place in a ponderosa pine forest south of Denver, Colorado, home for her adult life. It’s on this ancestral land of the Ute, Cheyenne and Oceti Sakowin where her two sons grew up, and the vision of Global GreenSTEM took form.
Laura’s goal, with anyone she works with, is to create bridges of understanding and empathy between people and their natural environment through active learning and positive action. She customizes educational experiences to local environmental issues, to targeted STEM concepts or skills, and to the learners’ culture, interests, and concerns. By simultaneously teaching and modeling effective instructional strategies based on research, Laura sparks curiosity, excitement, and motivation to understand and solve real problems by applying STEM knowledge and skills.
Laura consults with educators in diverse formal and non-formal settings: Schools, school districts, museums, zoos, state parks and nature centers, organizations, forest service and wildlife agencies. Her consulting is enriched by fifteen years of teaching high school science and elementary science/ GreenSTEM. Laura also spent two decades working with several international mountain gorilla organizations developing and implementing conservation education programs and curricula. Her Global GreenSTEM focus is also influenced by the beginning of her career as a Colorado state park education ranger, a keeper/researcher/volunteer at Brookfield and Denver Zoos, and a volunteer for an organization that cared for permanently injured raptors and created opportunities for them to be bird educators.
Global GreenSTEM elevates STEM education to a new level of purpose and impact that sparks curiosity and empathy in participants while reinforcing teamwork and communication skills. We work with educators to transform materials-based STEM activities and programs into real-world projects with personal connections to the learner. Learners, community, and the natural environment all benefit when academic learning merges with real world understanding and impact.
Global GreenSTEM works with formal and non-formal educators, organizations, agencies, and learners of all ages in both indoor and outdoor settings around the world. Our professional learning, curriculum development, program planning, presentations, and innovative partnerships also incorporate effective instructional strategies and can be aligned to Next Generation Science Standards, UN Sustainable Development Goals, Education for Sustainability Standards, and other targeted education standards.
We believe that…
When students CARE, they want to learn.
When students LEARN something personally relevant, they want to respond.
When students RESPOND, they make an IMPACT that changes the world.
Global GreenSTEM experiences connect learners' hearts (care) and minds (learn) to inspire action (respond) that makes a positive impact. Learners who see a real purpose and connection to what they are investigating will actively seek out knowledge and skills to gain greater understanding. This understanding can empower them to investigate and solve real-world problems that affect themselves and others. This educational experience can propel these active learners to become active lifelong citizens and leaders, to pursue higher educational opportunities and to aspire to careers that fit their passion.
*STEM: An interdisciplinary learning approach that applies science, technology, engineering and math to investigate and solve problems.