Students participate in a climate-based lesson during a workshop at CU Boulder.听Photo credit: CIRES/CU Boulder
When experts from around the globe gather in Boulder next month for the Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit, teachers and aspiring teachers will be in the audience, looking for stories to bring back to the classroom. They鈥檒l be crafting meaningful lessons around the themes of the conference鈥攊mpacts, obligations, and solutions鈥攁nd working with an created at CU Boulder to help their students understand how climate change is impacting people and communities and how they can help.
鈥淢y goal is to support the aims of the conference by helping teachers establish a human rights perspective on climate change,鈥� said CIRES Education & Outreach Associate Patrick Chandler. 鈥淕rounding climate change education in this human rights perspective, with a focus on people and places鈥� it can make taking action feel more urgent and more possible for students.鈥�
鈥淚t can also decrease student and teacher anxiety and grief around climate change,鈥� said his colleague, Gina Fiorile, who is also part of the CIRES Education & Outreach team and Coordinator of an award-winning collection of climate education resources. Helping teachers and students figure out how to participate in solutions to climate change, at the level of their schools or in their communities, is a 鈥減roven way to help with climate anxiety,鈥� Fiorile said.听
The educator鈥檚 guide that Chandler built for the climate change and human rights summit draws from well-established and reviewed lesson plans designed to inspire action as well as understanding. They鈥檙e all available for free through , a nationally renowned online clearinghouse that features more than 800 high-quality climate and energy resources peer-reviewed by both scientists and teachers for accuracy and classroom readiness and provides to bring climate topics into their classrooms.听
Classroom and pre-service teachers are encouraged to apply now to be part of the conference Teacher Workshop, which runs concurrently with the Summit, December 2-4 at CU Boulder. These in-person spots are limited to individuals who are engaged and excited about working together to bring human rights-centered climate change education into classrooms. Participants will work in pairs or small groups to develop lesson plans that can be shared widely with others.
鈥淭eachers right now, especially after COVID, are exhausted,鈥� Chandler said. 鈥淭he idea is for them to not do more, but rather build on content already out there. If we do this well and give educators guides and creative lesson sets, they get a push of energy added to their classrooms, something that鈥檚 fun and new and different.鈥�
Anne Gold, Director of the CIRES Education and Outreach program, said she鈥檚 excited to have her team engaged with the high-profile international conference which is 鈥渞eally focusing the world鈥檚 attention on action and empowerment and youth.鈥� The opportunity to engage with educators, virtually and in person, is powerful, she said: 鈥淲e know that teachers are multipliers in getting these empowering messages out in classrooms and communities across the country.鈥�
Classroom teachers earn one GRTE credit hour for participation; pre-service teachers are offered a $75 stipend. Applications are due November 16 and will take most people less than 20 minutes to complete. Decisions will be announced within days after that deadline.
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