Climate Change Education can be Incorporated into Every Classroom. Here’s why you should teach it in yours.
When it comes to talking about the most difficult and complex challenge humanity might have ever faced, it sounds surprising to say that we should be having these conversations with the youngest among us. In reality, however, they are the future of the issue — both victims and problem solvers — who deserve a strong foundation in climate science.
Around the United States, curriculum requirements for teaching about human-caused climate change differ vastly. Some schools and districts require this information to be taught in public schools, while others offer no such guidance for teachers. In either way, it can be common for teachers to feel uncertainty about how they should go about teaching this complex topic. How can I talk to young children about such a big issue? What if I am not a science teacher? Will I be able to know if enough to answer students’ questions? Is it worth potential push-back from parents? All of these are common concerns among educators but should not deter them from teaching about this critical topic.
Approaching climate change with young children.
Teaching about climate change doesn’t mean that we have to open a lesson with a message of catastrophe about a doomed planet they are bound to inherit. In fact, they deserve to know quite the opposite. Even at an early age we can begin to teaching children about how they have an important role playing a part in keeping our planet healthy. Whether that is through a nature walk exploration, or raising plants in a classroom, from an early age students can learn about what it means to have a healthy earth.
Teachers might consider including books in their classroom about the climate or the local area. Yale Climate Connections offers a helpful list of books that might help bring this conversation into your classroom. You could also find inspiration from starting to talk about recycling. Giving children basic knowledge about how they can make a difference by learning what it means to reduce, reuse and recycle can not only grow their knowledge but help inspire their actions.
From this young age, we can foster a passion for the natural world that could inspire them to connect with their science education for years to come. Part of the job of an educator is to inspire lifelong learners and talking about climate can be a great way to connect kids who love the outdoors with a passion for science. By teaching them early about the actions they can take, they will begin to see how they can make a difference.
Everyone can teach climate change.
But what if I don’t have a background in earth or climate science? How can I begin to approach such a complex issue, especially with older secondary school students?
Although a common concern, it is important to think beyond fundamental STEM education when talking about climate change and environmental issues. Climate science can be integrated through art at literature too. And it should be. Such an important issue that will effect everyone should be accessible to students of all interests and talents.
For example, students who may love to read novels and explore writings themselves might love to engage with climate fiction (or “cli-fi”). In a middle or high school language arts classroom, you may find that you can start meaningful and relevant discussions by picking books related to climate and the future. This doesn’t mean that you have to know every answer to the in’s and out’s of ocean acidification or global temperature rise, but you can begin to connect students to the topic and inspire their critical thinking and discussion.
You may choose to challenge students to create art through using recycled materials. Students will get a chance to get hands on experience by engaging with the material in a way they wouldn’t otherwise experience though simple textbook readings.
Even small things such as referencing climate as examples in your word problems you assign as math homework can continue to spark awareness about the issue.
No matter what you teach, there are opportunities to begin this conversation in your classroom.
The why.
As an educator, it is important to not only help students learn facts and figures, but inspire them for their years of learning ahead of them and throughout the rest of their lives. When it comes to an issue like climate change, students will be hearing about it and facing the effects for the rest of their adulthood. Although it might seem intimidating at first, teaching them about this critical issue can help build their foundation for future inquiry and activism. They can becoming empowered to know that they are able to learn and help solve problems of even the largest issues. Climate science should not be pushed off to another science classroom at another time. Students deserve to grasp that power now and in every classroom to come.
