Enhancing Climate Education Through Teacher Professional Development

Abstract:

While most teachers agree that climate change should be taught, over half of teachers surveyed for an NPR/Ipsos poll report that they do not cover the topic. Reasons for this include: climate change is not related to the subjects they teach, they lack understanding about climate change, and they lack the materials needed. Meanwhile, many teachers are required to complete professional development credits within STEM fields to maintain their certification, but are faced with limited choices to fulfill this requirement. As such, there is a rich opportunity to fulfill both a gap in the available professional development as well as meet the needs and interest of teachers by offering high quality professional development related to climate science. The authors developed a one-day, in-person workshop targeted at high school physics teachers in Washington State, using a combination of lecture, hands-on activities, and group discussions to develop participants’ understanding of key topics related to climate change. Project goals included familiarizing attendees with subject matter related to the physics of climate and ocean circulation and increasing comfort and confidence in teaching the subject matter to their students. The workshop was delivered once in-person, and then, in response to the spread of Covid-19, converted to an online format. In addition, the participants in both sessions of the workshop were not limited to high school physics teachers, but rather, participants consisted largely of elementary and middle school teachers as well as content area specialists in subjects outside of science. In spite of these unexpected challenges, the design of the workshop (both in-person and online) allowed for participants at all levels to gain access to high-level climate science content and reflect on how they could bring this content into their classrooms and schools. Attendees were asked to complete surveys before and after the workshop in order to assess the degree to which the workshop met the goals. Over 80% of attendees reported feeling more confident in teaching climate subjects as a result of participating in the workshop. Based on the feedback from participants, the authors think that there is considerable opportunity for expanding on this model to reach more teachers and enhance climate literacy at all K-12 levels.