A key goal of education is to create informed citizens. Students bring into the classroom their lived experience, their concerns, and their ideas. Education contributes to the foundational building blocks and concepts that help students expand and develop their ideas. Integrating these two components helps to empower students and gives them the ability to influence challenges important to them at home, in school, in their community, and their larger world—including climate change challenges.
According to a 2021 Brookings Report, 80 percent of parents support teaching climate change in school. Eighty-six percent of teachers believe climate change should be taught in school. Teachers and school administrators are eager to take up the challenge, but feel they need more training and relevant learning materials to do so.
The addition of climate change or sustainability lessons to the classroom day does not have to come down on the backs of teachers if approached in a way that allows educators to integrate the topic as part of their daily lessons—not in addition to. Below we outline a couple of methods.
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