SCH science teacher selected for Fulbright Iceland seminar

Posted 6/17/21

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy lower school science teacher and adventure seeker Anya Rose has been selected to take part in a Fulbright-Hays Seminar in Iceland this summer and will be on her way to the land of “Fire and Ice” on June 19.

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SCH science teacher selected for Fulbright Iceland seminar

Posted

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy lower school science teacher and adventure seeker Anya Rose has been selected to take part in a Fulbright-Hays Seminar in Iceland this summer and will be on her way to the land of “Fire and Ice” on June 19.

Participants were selected through a highly competitive process by the U.S. Department of Education, which funds the program. The seminar is designed by Fulbright Iceland to inspire participants to create innovative curriculum development projects, to the benefit of their students, schools, and communities back in the U.S.

A group of 16 outstanding K-8 educators from around the country will spend three and a half weeks in Iceland gaining insights and exploring topics related to Icelandic culture and history, the arctic environment, education, the arts, and equality. 

The group will have the opportunity to meet with experts, leaders, and educators, visit environmentally and culturally important sites and forge local connections to increase mutual understanding between the U.S. and Iceland. 

Fulbright Iceland describes the focus of the seminar as twofold. First, it will introduce Icelandic culture and allow participants to gain insights into Icelandic history and contemporary society. Through the lens of these topics, participants will explore themes surrounding education, equality, and social issues. 

Secondly, participants will explore Icelandic nature firsthand, discovering the natural diversity of the island, geothermal energy and more. These explorations will allow the program to address environmental issues, climate change and sustainable development in Iceland and the Arctic.

In her application for the Fulbright, Rose wrote, “science is about how we understand and interact with the natural world, and how our cultural practices inform the way we move through the world. Do we enter a forest with the intention of taking? Do we view water with the goal of making money from it? What are the ways in which Icelandic people move through the natural world? How does their culture influence how they view and value natural resources?”

Rose hopes to return with a better understanding of Iceland’s systems of natural resource management, and how the country has handled equality, within the context of their history and their natural resources. She will explore these questions and more for the lesson plans which will spring from the experience. “Ultimately,” she says, “it is my goal to help my students recognize their power, privilege, and influence, and how their own actions and decisions affect others.”

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy