Teaching about climate change is by no means easy, but it is a challenge worth tackling for all those involved — communities, schools, teachers, and students alike. As an interdisciplinary issue, climate change can open young minds to deeper avenues of thought and reinforce learning in social science.
More than that, real climate change education confers onto students an appreciation of the role they play in their environment — both their physical, changing environment and their civic environments.
“If schools want to create deep-thinking, engaged, and self-aware students, they should undoubtedly turn to climate change education.“
The purpose of the CC-EDU project is equipping students in having a holistic perspective over climate change and learn about collective responsibility toward environmental protection and prevention of further damaging situations. The aim of the project is preparing teachers to deal with the complexity of the topic, making it factual and with a view on local, regional, and international situations, using different approaches.
Novel contexts such as climate change education require novel methods of teaching and teachers needs to be supported in acquiring and developing innovative teaching and assessment methods using climate chance to increase all-around students’ active citizens and transversal skill in students.
It is a multi- and interdisciplinary problem closely linked to the natural and social sciences, morals and technology. Understanding and comprehending this complex topic can be difficult for a teacher.
Furthermore, there are many challenging questions: How should such a complex topic be approached in schools? How much should be explained, based on the age of the students? How can teachers create hope instead of anxiety? On one hand, teachers have to be sensitive and prepared to deliver the contents, on the other, students have to be aware and develop skills to contribute to solve the situation.