EarthLab Climate Action Park

A 4-acre experiential environmental educational space for the youth and families of the Chollas Creek Watershed.

D Y N A M I C P A R T N E R S H I P :

Groundwork San Diego

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UCSD Center on Global Justice

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Millennial Tech Middle School

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San Diego Unified Lincoln Cluster of 13 Schools

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Groundwork San Diego • UCSD Center on Global Justice • Millennial Tech Middle School • San Diego Unified Lincoln Cluster of 13 Schools •

By linking technology and science (reason), ecology and conservation (empathy), and culture and arts (expression), the EarthLab Learning Method aspires to integrate siloed forms of learning, and promote circulation between the formal classroom and the environmental design labs and outdoor activities that comprise Community Station programming.

EarthLab Learning Method

The EarthLab Method operates as a portfolio of lessons and activities designed to improve the scientific, ecological, and cultural literacy of students.

Through experiential focused STEAM activities, students learn in dynamic ways:
Like a scientist - They reason using evidence.
Like an ecologist - They experience the knowledge of nature and cultivate a desire to conserve valuable resources.
Like an artist – They are inspired to translate cultural indigenous traditions into practical tools for today’s environmental challenges.

The UCSD Community Stations embrace a collaborative model of engagement, in which the university and the community relate as partners both contributing knowledges and resources, and actively participating in collaborative research, learning and problem solving, with the result of co-producing new knowledge and solutions.

The EarthLab Community Station is committed to a model of experiential learning for undergraduates and for the K-12 students who participate in the EarthLab mentorship and environmental educational programs. Educational programming for K-12 students is based on the EarthLab Learning Method, designed by UC San Diego Sociologist Bud Mehan, in collaboration with the nonprofit Groundwork San Diego and the San Diego Unified School District.

The UCSD undergraduate internship programs immerse multi-disciplinary student teams at EarthLab, and train them to:

  • analyze societal challenges through intersectional lenses.

  • communicate across disciplinary languages and knowledges.

  • engage in collaborative problem-solving with each other and our community partners.

Through this experiential model, both UCSD and K-12 students become the civically-engaged, problem-solvers of the future.

Any UCSD Faculty or Students please contact UCSD Center on Global Justice Assistant Director of Education, Amy Soler Knight, (a2knight@ucsd.edu), for partnership opportunities with Groundwork's  educational programming at EarthLab.

  • We believe that education should open doors for our children to see themselves reflected in our environment, understanding that the care for nature resembles the care for each other.

  • We link indoor and outdoor learning, connecting academic and experiential education, and integrating science, arts, humanities and socio-emotional learning, all mobilized through social and environmental empathy:

  • To form a new integral person, capable of confronting the challenges of our changing world, with strong ethical values.

  • To motivate family and teacher engagement to participate in these processes

  • To mobilize the community voice to increase collective capacity for climate action

  • To advance neighborhood-based green solutions to tackle climate change

  • To develop new collaborations across sectors, new learning coalitions between our schools and civic partners

  • To advance mentorship programs with UCSD, and other colleges and universities.

The San Diego Unified School District, MTM and the Lincoln School Cluster, Groundwork San Diego, and the University of California San Diego Center on Global Justice continue a strong partnership to support social, educational, and environmental equity, and climate stewardship at EARTHLAB.

All lessons are tied to NGSSS and Common Core Standards to extend learning beyond the classroom while solving real world problems.

Master Plan

By late 2027, the Millennial Tech Middle School (MTM) campus will be transformed into an Environmental and Climate Science Education Hub. A new Climate Action Design Lab is one of the key buildings of the site modernization project. The Climate Action Design Lab will be the new entrance to the EarthLab, Together, these spaces will provide students an outdoor living lab along with classroom discovery empowering students to take climate action.

The vision is to continue integrating MTM with EarthLab, so that outdoor school-day, after-school programs AND SUMMER Camp can be further enhanced for the benefit of our children.

With Lincoln cluster elementary and high school students also accessing the EarthLab to experience STEAM climate focused hands-on activities, the EarthLab has become an essential part of educating and empowering students and the community on taking climate action.

Join our partnership to further this vision and development of the EarthLab to support social, educational, and environmental equity; and climate stewardship for Chollas Creek Communities.