How the changing environment shapes the success of students

Imagine a classroom where children are struggling to focus as temperatures rise to 80 degrees, the broken air conditioning of the school building aging does not match another heat wave record. Underneath the room, windows that have not been opened in decades trap the old air, while outside, a nature is not unused – a missed opportunity for learning that could transform both minds and hearts.

This is not a dystopian future. This is happening in America’s schools today. But within these challenges come great opportunities to review how and where our children learn.

What does it mean to create the best learning environment for students? This question is at the center of Dot connection: The impact of the environment on the success of studentsA rally recently hosted by Tennessee’s state cooperation to reform education (SCORE). At first glance, the event may sound like they are classrooms and curriculum. But talks have extended much more to health, a changing climate, extreme weather patterns, pollution and the wider natural ecosystems that young people learn and grow.

Education as a decisive factor of prosperity

Fifteen years ago, we set up the score in a simple but powerful insight: education is one of the strongest decisive factors in long -term health and prosperity. Research shows that people with a college degree live, on average, 11 years more of those who do not have a high school diploma. As I have seen in my own life as a heart transplant surgeon, a recipe or function can save a life, but a high quality training can extend it.

In the early 2000s, Tennessee’s K -12 education system fails, literally winning an “f” from the US Chamber of Commerce. Today, after years of reform and a steady focus on alphabetism, funding models, teachers’ support and post -secondary paths, the state has made historical profits. Students achieve levels they have never seen before, even after the loss of learning pandemic.

But in all this progress, a new challenge has become obvious: our changing environment.

The role of the environment in the success of students

Education and the environment are deeply interconnected. Air students breathe, the water they drink, the heat waves and the floods that close their schools and the failed HVAC systems and the aging buildings that spend over 1,000 hours a year – all is how well they can learn.

The data is disappointing:

• One in four US public schools are in a high risk zone for extreme weather conditions.
• Since 2011-2019, 83% Weekly school closure were related to weather conditions.
• Any increase in one degree in class temperature reduces learning by 1%.
• In Tennessee, schools They have already faced closures and disorders due to thermal waves, broken HVAC and flood systems.

In addition to academics, these environmental stressors weigh the mental health of students, fueling fears of the future and expanding inequalities for inadequate communities in urban heat zones.

Opportunity in the challenge

History is not just the danger. This is also an opportunity. For example, research shows exactly 10-50 minutes of nature -based learning One day it can significantly improve academic performance, mental health and social emotional skills. And there is an opportunity for future jobs. The workforce is rapidly evolving towards sustainability: more than 9 million New jobs are being promoted in the field of clean energy over the next decade and over 17 million existing jobs already require green skills.

Schools have the opportunity to lead, not only to the preparation of students academically, but also to their equipment with their tools, durability and knowledge to thrive in a rapidly changing world. They can serve as community nodes for climate durability and as a launch pillow for careers associated with sustainability and innovation.

Examples in action

THE Dot connection The event gathered teachers, researchers, healthcare providers and community leaders to explore how health and environmental challenges, including the changing climate, intersect with education – and how cooperation can lead to solutions.

Invest in infrastructure
Jonathan klein of Undauntedk12 He noted that about 40% of American schools were built before 1970, “integrated once again”. At least 9 million children, or “about 1 in 10 students this year … their school experiences and activities are disturbed by extreme weather”. Klein pointed to school infrastructure as part of the solution, citing the example of a federal tax credit available by 2034 that allows schools modernization of HVAC systems At a discount of 30-50%, reducing both costs and emissions.

Academy of Nature of Tennessee
Jay Renfro, Founder and Executive Director of Academy of Nature of TennesseeIt describes today’s youth as “the most disconnected generation that has ever walked on Earth”. He recalled the milestones of childhood such as walking in the woods or sleeping under the stars, experiences many students who are now missing. The Public School of Charter aims to change this and the results are clear: the students of the Tennessee Academy exceed nearby peers while learning outdoors throughout the year. When asked more, his wife, a teacher at school, prompted him to “talk about how happy The kids are. “Renfro added:“ Children belong out. Adults belong outside. ”

Dobyns-Bennett High School Burning Team
2024-25 Teacher of the year of Tennessee Bryan Kerns united his background as a firefighter and professor of mathematics to reconnect students with nature. “I was a Wildland firefighter … and then I was a math teacher for 17 years, and I thought they would never be combined,” he said. “But the more I saw, the kids need a connection back to the environment. It needed a hopeful path for a sustainable living, a job.”

Kerns founded the Pulaski Club and was prescribed a combustion team at the Dobyns-Bennett Gymnasium in Kingsport, Tennessee, training students in fire science and ecological rehabilitation and guided burns to restore rural shepherds and natural people. “We are very talking about, what are our impact on the environment, but I like to think about what the impact of the environment is on our children we have lost because they are no longer out.”

The very popular Burn Club has evolved into three levels of emergency science and services courses, with graduates moving to careers once unthinkable, such as the student who failed in Algebra 1, but now serves as a professional firefighter with the Elit. (Watch the pupils of Kerns who carry out a Advanced burning here.;

A call to drive

The stories we heard about how nature -based learning turns the life of students were inspired and the facts show that there is widespread support for more than this kind of learning.

More 80% of Americans You believe that children should gain climate knowledge and both Republicans and Democrats support schools as a place for this learning. Tennessee has historically presented national leadership in the reform of education as well as in environmental policy, by the leadership role of Senator Howard Baker in Clean Air, the pioneering documentary of Vice President Al Gore “An Unpleasant Truth” Senator Lamar Alexander. And starting this school year, Tennessee now It takes 40 minutes of daily unstructured physical activity for K-5 students who have been translated into a more consistent outdoor time for children. Students, parents and teachers are excited about this change.

Now, it’s time to implement the same leadership in tackling the increasing challenges that arise at this significant intersection of K-12 and the environment.

Dot connection

The DOTS connection conference was not just another gathering of experts. It was a first discussion that brought K-12 leaders and post-secondary education with climate and environment experts under a roof. In this way we created something powerful: a common understanding of what our schools should thrive in a rapidly changing world.

The message that emerged is both urgent and promising: we can no longer deal with environmental conditions where children learn as a mere scene in their education. These conditions are active forces that shape every child’s opportunity for success. But when we recognize this reality and work together to systematically deal with it, we unlock the excellent potential.

The question is not whether we can afford to redefine education for a changing world. The question is whether we can afford not to do so. Our children deserve schools that do not only house them from environmental challenges, but equip them with knowledge, skills and durability to resolve.

The dots are there, they wait to connect. The future is there, waiting to be built. And our students are there, waiting for us to give them the tools to create and participate in a world where both learning and life can bloom.

See a Symposium on September 4, 2025: “Connecting the End: How the changing environment shapes the success of students” here.

Senator Frist Chairs Score (State Cooperation for Education Reform) as well as the Nature Conservancy World Council.