Overview

Improve K-12 students’ understanding of climate change by promoting it as a standards-based content area within science curricula and incorporating it into other disciplinary curricula and teacher certification standards. Use the occasion of the state reviews of science standards for this purpose, which are being prompted by the states’ need to comply with the Fall 2007 start of highstakes science testing under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Recent posts | Participants | News | Objectives | Related Iniatives  

Recent posts

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News

AAAS Project 2061 is developing a new Atlas of Science Literacy map on weather and climate. Frank Niepold, project participant and Climate Education Fellow at NOAA is assiting AAAS in this process and would appreciate any thoughts and suggestions for the new language/edits to the selected benchmarks. This new map will be in the second volume, please click on this link to take a look. If you would like to be involved in this process, please email Frank Niepold asap at: frank.niepold@noaa.gov

Objectives

  • A valuable window. Teachers are increasingly obligated to concentrate on high-stakes exit exams and other standardized tests as a result of the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. In fact, after an initial focus on mathematics and reading testing, the NCLB law will require state testing on science starting in the fall of 2007, which adds new priority to the improvement and application of state science standards. State preparation for this new accountability on science education provides a valuable window of opportunity for promoting the incorporation of climate change content.
  • Develop content standards. Funding should be secured as soon as possible for the specialized task of developing climate change content standards and promoting their incorporation into the state science standards.
  • Design climate change curricula. Climate change scientists should be recruited to work with a selected group of leaders and instructional designers in the K-12 curriculum field to design curricula that fulfill the proposed new climate change standards.
  • Recruit educational leaders. Major educational leaders and organizations should be cultivated and recruited to this effort. Organizations like the National Science Teachers Association, which promotes national standards, are currently reviewing the quality of the state science standards and helping states to prepare. The U.S. National Research Council has set up guidance for use by states in developing their assessment system. The ongoing reviews reportedly accomplished a great deal in 2005 and will continue through the start of the high-stakes testing in the 2007-2008 school year and for at least a couple of years after that.
  • Engage professional associations. Leading professional associations must also be engaged specifically to understand and promote the climate change standards. One such association is the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states. The Council is well suited for this task, given its mandate to develop member consensus on major educational issues and express their views to civic and professional organizations, federal agencies, Congress, and the public. Another association that could be pivotal to success in advancing climate change standards, if cultivated effectively, is the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that represents 175,000 educators globally and includes superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.
  • Train the teachers on the climate curricula. Teachers should then be trained specifically to teach the proposed new standards-based climate change curricula, through on-going professional development and other means. It is also proposed that climate change be promoted for inclusion in the teacher certification process.
  • Earth sciences and climate. By way of background, the current state science standards address earth sciences but rarely blend in climate change. In some states, climate change receives parenthetical mention, but to ensure significant student exposure and understanding it needs to be woven in as a significant content or subject area. Making it part of the standards and the curriculum rather than an optional topic will mitigate the problem of science teachers avoiding it due to concerns that it is partisan and will provoke a parental backlash.
  • Strengthen science education overall. While the priority here is on making climate change more explicit and prominent as a subject area, resources should also be invested in remedying the quality of science education overall, especially the critical thinking and analysis skills so often missing in K-12 programs. These foundational skills are important in paving the way for a sound, contextual understanding of specific issues like climate change. Evidence suggests that there is substantial room for improvement. The science standards used today in most states are inadequate for reasonable science literacy, and continuing efforts to promote application of the National Science Education Standards should be supported. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation published a 50-state review called the State of State Science Standards 2005, showing that the reworking of state science standards in a majority of U.S. states over the past five years has not gone far enough, but that more involvement by bench scientists, better editing and emulation of the best state models could still yield appreciable benefits.
  • Go beyond science to history, social studies, etc. While the appropriate focus of this recommendation is on incorporating climate change into science standards, the issue is inherently multidisciplinary and should also be actively considered for incorporation into history, social studies, economics and other curricula. This broader approach is consistent with the Conference’s overall emphasis on moving climate change out of its customary silos of science, environmentalism, and insider policy debate.

Related Initiatives

  • AAAS Project 2061 is developing a new Atlas of Science Literacy map on weather and climate. Frank Niepold, project participant and Climate Education Fellow at NOAA is assiting AAAS in this process and would appreciate any thoughts and suggestions for the new language/edits to the selected benchmarks. This new map will be in the second volume, please click on this link to take a look. If you would like to be involved in this process, please email Frank Niepold asap at: frank.niepold@noaa.gov
  • Earth2Class - Earth to Class (E2C) is a science/math/technology resource for K-12 teachers, students, general public, and geoscientists. It is a collaboration among researchers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, curriculum and technology integration specialists from Teachers College, Columbia University, and classroom teachers from the New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere. E2C centers around “Saturday Workshops for Educators” held at the Lamont campus in Palisades N.Y. One key feature to E2C is involvement of the LDEO scientists. Their availability through workshops, web site postings, and e-mail provide access for teachers and students to research which can be used to develop curriculum activities linked directly to “real world problems.” A second key are the resources available on its web site. This collection provides teachers, students, and others with access to up-to-date information about climate change.
  • Interfaith Climate Change Network (ICCN) - The Interfaith Climate Change Network (ICCN) is a national collaborative effort of the Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life. In order to support the efforts of congregations, communities, and families, they also provide many educational, programmatic, and action resources.
  • Missouri Coalition for the Environment - Missouri Coalition for the Environment works to preserve, protect, and enhance an environment that is livable, healthful, and sustainable through a comprehensive program of education, citizen action, and legal defense.In the past, MCE has been successful with citizen action in a range of campaigns. For example, the Coalition conducted a state-wide campaign to inform citizens of DNR’s plan to exempt 170 Missouri streams from new water quality rules. If exempted, sewage discharges into these streams would not be disinfected and they would not be safe to swim in. An outpouring of public opposition resulted in the denial of dozens of exemptions and demonstrated to DNR the strong public interest in clean water.
  • North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) - The professional association for environmental education. Members promote professional excellence in non-formal organizations, K-12 classrooms, universities (both instructors and students), government agencies, and corporate settings throughout North America and in over 55 other countries.
  • Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) - UCS is an independent nonprofit alliance of more than 100,000 concerned citizens and scientists. They augment rigorous scientific analysis with innovative thinking and committed citizen advocacy to build a cleaner, healthier environment and a safer world. UCS’s programs are the means by which they accomplish this objective.It is in the process of creating a curriculum guide to bring the findings of Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region: Impacts on Our Communities and Ecosystems to younger audiences, and hope to release this guide over the next few months.
  • Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education - The Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education is a part of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, College of Natural Resources. It collaborates and develops partnerships with agencies, organizations and institutions on the development, implementation, evaluation and recognition of environmental education.

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