Join host Chris Carlton and Dr. Ian Matheson as they dive into an exciting primary school-wide environmental project. Discover how researchers, teacher candidates, primary students, and community partners came together to create vermicomposting systems that transformed classroom learning and connected to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. From hands-on worm bins to a red-carpet film premiere, this episode showcases the power of collaboration, innovation, and student engagement in environmental education. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation on how small actions in the classroom can lead to big global change!
Resources:
- Winston Churchill Public School Vermicomposting School Wide Project Video
- Vermicomposting Farms - a Step Toward a Better Future
- A Worm-derful project between the Faculty of Education and Winston Churchill Public School
Learn More about UN SDG 11:
- To get to know Global Goal 11 and its targets, visit Global Goals.
- Watch a short clip ‘Understand Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities’ from Participate - a free community-learning platform that combines best parts of social media and online learning.
- Watch United 4 Social Change video ‘Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities - SDG Series.’
Learn about processing organic wastes using earthworms:
- Learn the specifics of vermicomposting.
- Example of a poster [PDF 401 KB] from the collection produced by BEd students that includes books available for all within the Faculty of Education - each book has to do in some way with vermicomposting and/or soil health.
Take action:
- Start your own vermicompost with The Box of Life.
Learn more about all 17 UN SDGs on the UN’s Student Resources page and what you can do to get involved.
Transcript
Theme Song:
Talking about innovation in teaching and education, Popular Podagogy discussions that are topical and sometimes philosophical, Popular Podagogy, Popular Podagogy.
Chris Carlton
Hi there. Thanks for joining us and welcome to another episode of Popular Podagogy - where we try to bring big ideas and teaching and education to life. I'm your host, Chris Carlton, and this podcast is being brought to you by the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. Welcome to our podcast. In this episode, I'm excited to be speaking with Dr. Ian Matheson, Queen’s University's own associate Professor of special education. Ian is a certified elementary school teacher and has worked as an occasional teacher as well as an instructor in specialized programs with adolescents who struggle with literacy. He spent a year as a faculty member and inclusive education at the University of Regina. Prior to coming to Queen’s University, and he is a member of the Canadian Research Centre for Inclusive Education. But today we're going to talk with Ian about an exciting environmental school-wide project that he and I initiated here in Kingston. Ian, welcome to the podcast.
Ian Matheson
Thanks for having me, Chris. Looking forward to this chat.
Chris Carlton
We are too. I know that Erin will be cutting us off, so we'll try to keep it as succinct as possible. And this episode is really exciting for me because you and I had so much fun with the students at Winston Churchill Public School, and I always look forward to talking to you about it with you to give our audience a quick background on what the project was all about and where it took us. I thought we could do a quick. Who, what, when, where, why? How ? about our project. But I want to inject one thing before we start talking and that is the one of the many reasons why I enjoy working with Ian so much is every time I come to him with an outreach or project idea, I not only get incredible insight and advice from him, but I get the most important input from him and that's his automatically saying how can I help? And that's how these great educational adventures always start. And that's also why so many people want to work with Ian. So, and let's start with the why behind our thinking what do you remember when we first got together and started planning the school wide Environmental project? What was the why behind it?
Ian Matheson
I think it was what I remember was your excitement, Chris. I remember that you said I've got my new thing and you every year in the what we would call the off season you come up with a new idea or approach that you want to try out with your Bachelor of Education students. And this particular approach was about them. Composting of course you wanted. To. Work with worms and soil health and you were thinking about the United Nations SDG. And so I just remember you coming to my door and saying I think I've got an idea. What do you think of this? And you just you laid it on me and I think a lot about how in teacher education we say that, you know, students always remember when their teachers are excited about things and the best teachers are always really excited about their craft. And that just describes you to a tee. And it describes this project you said. You know, I want to connect students to the global curriculum and I want the TC's the teacher candidates to be able to get some experience connecting students and being a part of that. So that's that's top of mind for me in terms of what I remember with the genesis of this.
Chris Carlton
And I agree that I think one of the reasons why we decided to focus on the UN SDG's, which were established in 2015, was because their stated goal was to provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet now and in the future. So how powerful is that for us to be able to take that message to our students, and not only show them the importance of the goals and, but to recognize that they have the power to impact on these goals, which was a huge thing for our project and you and I did a lot of research and we realized that soil health as you mentioned attaches directly to seven different UN SDGS. But then indirectly connects to every single one of the 17 goals, so that was where we took a look at Verma composting and one of the things that I always say to my students is you don't need to reinvent the wheel. You just need to make it better for your own students and you and I. That's one of the first things we did was we took a look at is this. Happening elsewhere - is verma-composting happening elsewhere and that's where we met Akeel from Box of Life, and he was a an integral part of helping us get this this project going, which was wonderful.
Ian Matheson
Yeah, you know, when you think about like, why this started, Chris too I I think about how you and I agreed to work together and we've done that before, but every single person you reached out to from our colleagues at the Faculty of Education to other employees at the faculty event, which we'll probably get into to community partners, everybody said yes. And so there was a why do we get started? But the why do we continue? Was just the momentum right and the excitement that everybody seemed to have that you brought into this.
Chris Carlton
And we seem to when we get something that is hands on and student focused. It just brings that that excitement to the table and and people want to get involved and you mentioned that we got our teacher candidates involved and our technology student teacher candidates involved as well. So we took the plan that Akhil had given us and you were in the workshop with us. We rebuilt a whole new design for the box of life, verma-composting farm and with our students and the technology. These students, we actually built boxes enough for every single classroom that we're going to go in and let the students experiment with, which to me was phenomenal. And then you and I and Brian Mcgilvery took them all apart and put them in the kits so that we could give them to the students to rebuild because we wanted that, that investment, so that they had a fingerprint on all the boxes that were there, which was incredible.
Ian Matheson
Yeah, it was big enough, Chris, that I actually forget steps along the way. I forgot about that day. We went in and we spent time. I think it was the grade sixes at Winston Churchill, right, that we did the build with them. So I that's a sign, I think, of a valuable project when there are so many pieces to it that that you can forget little bits that are valuable and important.
Chris Carlton
And just to sort of put this in context too, this wasn't a long time ago that we did this. This was last September that we did the project and we were able to connect with an incredible school. Winston Churchill Public School and their principal who, Joanne Borges, who allowed us access to the entire school. So we did from kindergarten right up to Grade 6. They don't have a grade 7-8. So we did the entire area. And I remember you and I were involved in the 1st assembly where we got all of the students together and the question was asked, how many students have ever touched a worm before? And if you remember, I think there was probably 20 of the almost 300 students put up their hand up. And then flash forwarding to the end assembly that we had with them and we asked the exact same question and every single student was able to put up their hand and say that they actually touched a worm, which to me was really, really powerful as well. What was it that you remembered about Winston Churchill that made it so special for this project?
Ian Matheson
Ohh yeah, that that's a great question. I I don't really know where to start. Maybe I could touch on a few quick points. 1 was the appetite with the teachers that I remember when we sort of pitched them on that staff meeting day. We were hoping that there would be uptake and really the only like if you can call them reservations were like how is this gonna roll out? Logistically, they wanted to do this work from the get go. They wanted an opportunity to engage their citizens, their their students, and global citizenship, that type of work. So there was a lot of excitement there. So I think one piece is just how welcoming Joanne was as the principal, but the whole staff, right, every member of the staff was incredibly welcoming and helpful to us. I think another thing that struck me was the nickname that caught on for you. The worm guy they started seeing in the hallway cause you'd often go in and make sure the kids were OK and you'd be teaching and that type of thing. So the reputation, at least you got. I know I was there not as often as you, but getting known in the school community was another highlight for me. Do you remember that feeling?
Chris Carlton
It was fun when you and I and Brian walked in from the parking lot and they'd be out in the in the yard and they'd run up to the fence and say it's the worm guys. It's the worm guys. And it's the closest thing to a Rockstar I'll ever be. So I'll take it.
Ian Matheson
That's right. That's right. Me too.
Chris Carlton
Now we did a lot of work with our teacher candidates as well with this project, so you and I decided that we wanted to make sure this project. Was powerful for our students but didn't impact these teachers in terms of adding a lot of extra effort onto their end. So we scaffolded a lot of different projects so that we could go in and teach and we went in and talked with our teacher candidates as well. But also the teacher candidates put together incredible lesson plans and lesson ideas for every single grade. And if you remember, we were able to get those printed up on beautiful posters, and each classroom had a Verma composting around the classroom type of project ideas where they could take all of the different steam or steam activities and say this is what I can do in science with the worms. This is what I can do with language engineering, arts and math and it was a very powerful poster for both the teachers and the students to look at and I really commend our teacher candidates for putting that type of project together.
Ian Matheson
I remember a a colleague of ours, Tom Russell, who's now retired. Often he would talk to me about teaching and and how the most the most powerful way to reach our teacher candidates. And he used this analogy of like touching the stove that you can. You can learn a stove is hot by by looking at it and being told you know it's hot by seeing someone. Touch it and and thinking. OK, I see that it's hot. And then from touching it yourself and and when I think about. What what we were able to do and you organizing your science TC's teacher candidates is that you gave them a chance to quote unquote, touch the stove by saying not only are we going to tell you it's important to do outreach work and to do this type of stuff with students and not only will you see us do it because you are leading and doing some instructing yourself. But you got them involved in that stuff and I know students in our program at least always talk about the most powerful. Lessons and experiences they have at McArthur or when they get to teach when they get to do something, do a lesson and unpack it. And you were giving them more opportunities to do that. We were. But you you started that opportunity by bringing them into the schools when they weren't even on track, which was really, really powerful.
Chris Carlton
And it was so exciting to see how many people volunteered, and it was definitely out of their time that they were sharing. But we constantly were taking 2025 students into the school, which could seem overwhelming, but we broke them up into teams and that the game, as you said, the teachers were so welcoming and we'd go in and do lessons with them or just sort of touch ups or some special projects with all of these worms. And as we said. Every single classroom had a vermicomposting box, and every single classroom took those worms out and let the kids experiment and work with them. In all the different subjects, which was incredible. I do want to touch on and this will be highlighted in the resources on the podcast website, but we put together an incredible celebration video that let the students showcase their learning and allowed them to tell the audience what they learned and why it was important and that's posted on YouTube and I'm I'm gonna really encourage our our listeners to take a look at it and that was an incredible experience. You were there with us and we had students that for the entire day worked on a film, an feature film or feature short film. Actually, that was just so powerful and I I must admit, I've watched it probably about 10 times so far. And what do you? What was your take away from that video?
Ian Matheson
You talk about feeling like a rock star when we're going through the parking lot that that's also the closest, probably that we'll come to being like on a film, you know, being a part of it because we were a part of one there. Right and it was a long day it was a lot of organization and time went into it. Of course, the planning and what was going to be said and who was going to say it now I just I think what struck me the most was about how big it was, but how well it worked because everybody came together. You've already spoken to this a couple of times, but just how the teachers bought in and they selected the students that were going to be a good fit and they had them ready to go and the principal ensured the space was ready. We found locations very easily. And remember we had to make some pivots at times too, as things happened as they do throughout the day. So I I think it amazed me how fluid it was and and how efficient, efficiently everybody worked with that and and then also just how excited and students were to be a part of it and how special they felt. At the end, they know we'll probably speak to that end assembly as well, but I just remember thebuzz around it and then how excited the students seemed to feel and how important they were made to feel.
Chris Carlton
And I think that's it comes back to an authentic task which we gave them an authentic assessment which they provided on their own and then the authentic audience when we did the video release party, we had dignitaries there. We had politicians there, we had board representatives there, we had tons of parents there. And it was a celebration and and and we provided popcorn as well for all of the classrooms with. Ohh, that's right. We have the red carpet and the the people who were in the video came down with their sunglasses on and it it, it was spectacular. I actually just loved it. And I think the most important thing I loved is that everybody was invested in it.
Ian Matheson
He had a red carpet, right?
Chris Carlton
And it was a school wide success celebration. And when we did the recap at the end and we talked about what did we learn and where is the power, we realized, they realized that they have the power and I think that was the most important message that we were trying to get across that. Yes, UNSDG's are massive and they're global, but we can take a look at them. As students, you can take a look at them and see how do we act locally to affect global change. And I think that was one of our biggest goals, which leads me to the next question. And it's for both of us, but why do you think these type of projects are so important to bring into the classroom and I know we touched on a little bit, but what do you think? Why are eco projects so important?
Ian Matheson
So before I touch on the eco piece, I want to say that I think projects are important to bring into the classroom because it comes back to the responsibility that we have as a Faculty of education to our, to our local communities, to our schools, to others within the Community. And I think that's what drives you. And that's what drives me and many of our colleagues. We've talked about this before, but in, in terms of the eco piece, I think it's the fact that we are of course. Living through a crisis, things aren't going to get better without any action, and we've got a wonderful opportunity. You go into any classroom, probably in Kingston and beyond. And see how excited the students are to do better, to contribute to a better future. So when you've got these kinds of variables in place where you've got a big problem that's global, like you said, you've got willing students, you have really everything you need to get something going. And that's what you started and that's what. We ended up doing.
Chris Carlton
And 100% agree with you it. It's amazing when you talk to all ages of kids about environmental issues. Their eyes light up and the more we can provide them with opportunities to find solutions. I find that eco anxiety goes down because they realize that they have the power. And we're not going to solve all of the world's problems, but we can help solve ones that are in front of us and soil health was a big one for us and just to let our audience know that by the end of the project they had been feeding, we should have told us at the front, but would have been feeding the worms. Food waste for the entire year, so they fed them every year. They put in all kinds of greens and you'll see it in the video as well. But what came out of that was beautiful, rich worm castings. And then what we did with those worm castings, because we were talking about soil health. We then showed how powerful those worm castings were to help improve production of we use tomato plants in in putting them in the garden so they could see the direct effect they had. In taking the time to use green waste and and repurpose it and put it into the the worm bins and and show that decomposition. So it was such an inciting thing. And when you, as you said when you see the kids get excited about a project that makes it all worthwhile and I think one of my favorite all the classes were incredible, but I used to love going into the kindergarten class. Because these five year olds were asking me questions that I could not answer, and that to me is the amazing part of education where the students become the teachers and they start taking control of their own learning, which is amazing. This is one of the questions we always end up with and it says what advice would you give to teachers who want to try something like this in their own classroom? Because, as you said, we know that the need for talking about environmental issues is out there. We know that the UN SDG's are so important, and we've got to be talking about. But sometimes it's we know that teachers are overwhelmed with everything they have to do and that's why we did this project to try to provide a vehicle. So they didn't have to add on to it. But what would your advice be to us, a teacher that just wants to try something in their classroom that would have an environmental impact?
Ian Matheson
Yeah, I think I'd say try not to do it in isolation. I didn't even tell you this, Chris, but my son is in grade 2 at one of our local schools here and his teacher approached me the other day and said, you know who I had lunch with the other day. A good friend of mine, Danny Gencarelli, and I heard about this project that you did at Winston. And so word was getting around and they were asking, you know, would we be able to do something? Similar so. I think what my advice would be just focused on reaching out to others, which is what you did to get this started. You kept doing it and it turned into what it did, which I think was it was a great success for all parties involved. So think about how members of your community in in different areas can bring some expertise and can bring some support. That would be, I think, probably the biggest piece of advice I could think of.