Every 4th Grader in Hadera, Israel, took part in Green Mapmaking in 2021, resulting in a funded wishlist of sustainability priorities, empowered youth and greater eco-literacy.

The challenge

Dr. Lea Atzmon Mordoch set out the eight-month project with the goal of motivating children toward community activism in the field of sustainability. Her role in the ICT Department of the Ministry of Education in the Haifa District gave her access to educators throughout the Municipal Education Department of Hadera Israel, where various school options serve diverse community members. 

A place-based value partnership was developed with a dedicated team connecting the principals and teachers in public, religious, democratic and special ed schools. The city became the classroom, and each class took a different approach to experiential education that included consideration of ways to address problems they discovered.  

What we did

Hadera’s Green Map program included both online and in-person training, a new website and videos that shared the exciting processes and outcomes with the whole community. Green Map System was happy to provide guidance on managing the Platform with a large team representing all the schools and to take part in their culminating event, which celebrated the city’s 130th anniversary.

Twenty schools participated, mostly outdoors and around their facilities. Most classes made their own maps, gaining critical assessment and media skills as well as adding to the citywide interactive map, all in Hebrew. Stewardship, heritage and sustainability were mixed into this hands-on project, and there’s a charming video on Dr. Atzmon’s report where you can see the creativity of each school’s process and the students at work. 

Outcomes

This is the first non-alphabetic Green Map made on the new Platform and the first to involve youth who mapped under supervision (as per child safety terms of use). It was an exciting, grounded way to reinvigorate learning in year 2 of the Pandemic. The team created a plan to extend the work, which officials and the community appreciated. 

“Already, the 4th graders have made an impression on the Mayor, who fully funded three of the projects outlined in letters written as part of the mapping experience and symbolically participated in all the initiatives the students put up!” Dr. Atzmon Mordoch also noted, “The mobilization of schools for the project is heartwarming, and it is evident that the teachers and students do so out of an understanding of its values ​​and the desire to promote the quality of life in the community.”

What we learned

Giving young students a voice and the ability to communicate through Green Maps that share their perspectives is essential. 

Dr. Atzmon Mordoch added, “My wish is that the Green Map program will be distributed to all elementary schools in the district and even throughout the country. This is a leading program for the goals of the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030. “