Digest #164: Sustainability and Climate Change in Education
By Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel
(Cover image by Takver from Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Climate change is a global challenge and a pressing issue that needs addressing. It affects us all in different ways and has life-threating consequences, particularly if we stay on our current trajectory. Hence, it is important to educate ourselves and our students about the factors and consequences of climate change. Sustainability is a topic that has found its way into the classroom and there are different initiatives that support educating and learning about these issues. In today’s digest, I present five resources that support sustainability and climate change education in the classroom.
Image from Pexels
1. Education for sustainable development, UNESCO (@UNESCO)
This is an excellent general resource that provides an overview of many aspects of the importance of sustainability in education. There are many stories from around the world with examples of climate change education. Resources on this website can be used as material in the classroom to engage students with this topic.
2. Sustainability in the Curriculum, Australian Education for Sustainability Alliance (AESA).
This website provides an abundance of information and resources to be used in the classroom to teach and engage students with the topic. Under the “Resources Portal“ you’ll find resources and activity ideas organized by school subject. This way you can introduce students to climate change knowledge within different disciplines.
3. Episode 65: Teaching about Climate Change with Protect Our Future, Lyndsey-Lee Dunwoody (@LyndseyDunwoody) of 1851 Trust (@1851Trust) with Althea Need Kaminske (@DrSilverFox) from The Learning Scientists (@AceThatTest).
A thought-provoking podcast episode on the Protect Our Future project that supports young people to understand the climate change crisis by providing information and resources. Young people are increasingly worried about climate change and their future and so this initiative is a great platform to direct students to.
Image from Pexels
4. Green New Deal: Sustainability in Education – A Summary, @TILEnetwork
In this talk, students and staff from the University of Glasgow give an overview of demands to higher education institutions on how to become more sustainable (while they use their home university as an example, the demands may apply to other institutions too). They also present a student-led course on “Introduction to Climate Change & Sustainability” to help other students understand the factors, challenges, and solutions of the climate change crisis.
5. Ecosia: Plant trees while you search the web, @Ecosia
Students and teachers use search engines all the time to look up information and find resources. Why not help plant trees whenever you search for something on the internet? Using Ecosia is a search engine that does exactly that: With every search you make, trees are planted around the globe where they are most needed. I used Ecosia as the search engine for putting together this digest. 😊
From time to time, we pick a theme and provide a curated list of links. If you have a theme suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Occasionally we publish a guest digest, and If you'd like to propose a guest digest click here. Our 5 most recent digests can be found here:
Digest #159: The Digital Divide
Digest #160: Neurodiversity Celebration Week
Digest #161: Guide to Effective Presentations
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