Compass Education

What if one simple tool could help learners make sense of complexity? 🌱

Our FREE Sustainability Compass course introduces educators to a practical framework for exploring sustainability through multiple perspectives, supporting deeper inquiry, informed decision-making, and meaningful action.

Designed to fit busy schedules, the course offers ideas and tools that can be applied immediately in classrooms, projects, and whole-school initiatives.

Learn the tool • Explore connections • Inspire action

➡️ Start the free course: https://ow.ly/s3A150ONmzr

How can students explore food security beyond a single perspective?

In this lesson plan, Lachlan Morton invites students to examine food security through the Sustainability Compass, encouraging them to consider its social, environmental, economic, and personal wellbeing dimensions. By exploring the connections between these perspectives, learners can develop a deeper understanding of this complex sustainability challenge.

Read the lesson plan:
https://ow.ly/twyU50Zaial | Wesley College

This lesson is one of many created by educators who have completed Compass Education's Level 1 certification. As part of becoming a Compass Practitioner, participants design and implement their own learning experiences using systems thinking tools such as the Sustainability Compass and Systems Iceberg, demonstrating how these approaches can enhance student learning in diverse educational contexts.

Explore more free lesson plans, classroom resources, videos, and tools created to support sustainability and systems thinking in education:
https://ow.ly/9U6l50Zaian

Interested in bringing these tools into your own practice? Learn more about our workshops and courses:
https://ow.ly/e7Zm50Zaiam

🌎✨ En Compass Education creemos que la educación tiene un papel fundamental en la construcción de comunidades más sostenibles y resilientes.

Por eso nos alegra compartir la convocatoria 'Maestros Que Dejan Huella' – 4ª Generación 2026, una oportunidad para docentes universitarios de América Latina que desean fortalecer sus capacidades de innovación social junto a sus estudiantes.

A través de un proceso de formación, mentorías, herramientas prácticas y una comunidad de aprendizaje, las y los participantes desarrollan iniciativas que responden a desafíos reales de sus contextos, convirtiendo el aula en un espacio de participación, creatividad y acción.

Si eres docente universitario y te interesa impulsar experiencias de aprendizaje con impacto en tu comunidad, esta convocatoria puede ser para ti.

📅 Convocatoria abierta hasta el 15 de julio de 2026.

📩 Informes y contacto: [email protected] | Impulsera.org

During our recent Systems Thinking for Sustainability in the Classroom & Beyond Europe Cohort, one educator shared how her students used the Systems Iceberg to explore a topic they had chosen themselves: teenage alcohol consumption.

Rather than focusing on symptoms alone, students examined the patterns, structures, and mental models that contribute to the issue. Their conversations led them to explore ideas around social status, belonging, and identity—assumptions that many of us recognize from our own experiences. From there, they challenged those assumptions and imagined alternatives, considering how different ways of thinking might create different outcomes.

For the educator, the experience was a reminder of what can happen when students are given the space to investigate complex issues together. A topic that is often difficult to discuss became an opportunity for reflection, dialogue, and shared problem-solving.

Stories like this remind us that systems thinking is not only about understanding complexity. It is also about helping learners recognize that they can influence the systems they are part of and identify meaningful opportunities for action.

A special thank you to Nicole Swedlow for facilitating the cohort and to Dominic Verwey for supporting the learning experience.

Interested in bringing systems thinking into your school or organization? Explore Compass Education workshops and learning experiences at compasseducation.org/workshops

How can education help learners make sense of complexity?

"It’s been said that systems thinking is one of the key management competencies for the 21st century. As our world becomes ever more tightly interwoven globally and as the pace of change continues to increase, we will all need to become increasingly ‘system-wise.’"

If today's challenges are interconnected, then learning needs to help students understand connections too.

This introduction to systems thinking explores how looking beyond isolated events and examining patterns, relationships, and underlying structures can help us better understand the world around us. For educators, it offers valuable perspectives for supporting learners in navigating complexity and uncertainty.

Explore the full volume by Daniel Kim :
🔗 https://thesystemsthinker.com/introduction-to-systems-thinking/

Explore how Compass Education supports systems thinking through professional learning, workshops, and courses:
🔗 https://compasseducation.org/learn-with-us/

SustainableHabitsOfMind | LOOK FOR LOOPS

What happens when we stop seeing challenges as isolated events and begin noticing the connections between causes and effects?

This habit encourages learners to move beyond linear thinking and explore the patterns, relationships, and feedback loops shaping the world around them. By identifying what drives continuity and change, students can develop a deeper understanding of complex systems and discover opportunities to take meaningful action.

In sustainability learning, looking for loops helps learners recognize that actions often create ripple effects — influencing communities, environments, and future outcomes in interconnected ways.

Try it in your classroom this week—invite students to map patterns, trace relationships, and explore how one action can influence many parts of a system over time.

🔗 Explore the Sustainable Habits of Mind: https://compasseducation.org/sustainable-habits-of-mind/

Every time educators engage with the Sustainability Compass and Systems Iceberg, the conversations take a different shape — shaped by context, experience, and the challenges communities are facing locally.

In our recent ICT Global Cohort for Asia, educators explored complex sustainability challenges through systems thinking, collaborative dialogue, and creative problem solving. Through activities and mapping exercises, participants examined how topics connected to housing, social equity, environmental impacts, wellbeing, and community resilience can be explored from multiple perspectives.

What stood out throughout the cohort was the depth of reflection and the diversity of approaches shared. Participants explored how these tools can support meaningful learning experiences that are grounded in local realities while helping students think more analytically about interconnected global challenges.

A special thank you to Nicole Swedlow for facilitating the cohort and to Owen Haywood for supporting the learning experience.

Interested in bringing systems thinking into your school or organization? Explore Compass Education workshops and learning experiences at compasseducation.org/workshops

A compass can help us find our way. The Sustainability Compass can help learners explore the many interconnected factors shaping complex global challenges.

Through the lenses of Nature, Economy, Society, and Wellbeing, students can explore topics such as government subsidized housing and the many factors connected to reducing homelessness. From sustainable construction resources and environmental impacts to healthcare costs, safety, community trust, and economic opportunities, the Compass encourages learners to think analytically and make meaningful connections between ideas.

By exploring how systems interact, students can better understand the relationships between housing, wellbeing, sustainability, and social change — while developing deeper systems thinking skills grounded in real-world challenges.

🔗 Learn more about the Sustainability Compass: compasseducation.org/the-compass-education-toolkit/