Around the United States, middle school science standards have minimal references to climate change and teachers on average spend just a few hours a year teaching it.
In mid-October, just two weeks after Hurricane Ian struck her state, Bertha Vazquez asked her class of 7th graders to go online and search for information about climate change. Specifically, she tasked them to find sites that cast doubt on its human causes and who paid for them.
It was a sophisticated exercise for the 12-year olds, Ms. Vazquez said, teaching them to discern climate facts from a mass of online disinformation. But she also thought it an important capstone to the end of two weeks she dedicates to teaching her Miami students about climate change, possible solutions and the barriers to progress.
"I'm really passionate about this issue," she said. "I have to find a way to sneak it in."
That's because in Florida, where Ms. Vazquez has taught for more than 30 years, and where her students are already seeing the dramatic impacts of a warming planet, the words "climate change" do not appear in the state's middle or elementary school education standards...
In the world beyond classrooms, thinking about climate change involves much more than merely understanding climate science and the greenhouse effect. It's about changing our energy systems and preparing for waves of climate migration. It's also about solutions, coming up with policies to adapt to extreme weather events and decarbonize large parts of our economy.
Which is why climate education is now expanding into areas like the arts and humanities, and social studies. Beginning this year, New Jersey is incorporating some aspect of climate change's effects, as well as solutions, into its standards for every grade band and in every subject area. National organizations representing English and social studies teachers have called for greater engagement with climate change in their classes.
These developments are a heartening and necessary step forward, Ms. Vazquez said. Teaching about climate change gets at the heart of what school is ultimately for: Helping kids make sense of the world around them, while preparing them for the future... nyt
It was a sophisticated exercise for the 12-year olds, Ms. Vazquez said, teaching them to discern climate facts from a mass of online disinformation. But she also thought it an important capstone to the end of two weeks she dedicates to teaching her Miami students about climate change, possible solutions and the barriers to progress.
"I'm really passionate about this issue," she said. "I have to find a way to sneak it in."
That's because in Florida, where Ms. Vazquez has taught for more than 30 years, and where her students are already seeing the dramatic impacts of a warming planet, the words "climate change" do not appear in the state's middle or elementary school education standards...
In the world beyond classrooms, thinking about climate change involves much more than merely understanding climate science and the greenhouse effect. It's about changing our energy systems and preparing for waves of climate migration. It's also about solutions, coming up with policies to adapt to extreme weather events and decarbonize large parts of our economy.
Which is why climate education is now expanding into areas like the arts and humanities, and social studies. Beginning this year, New Jersey is incorporating some aspect of climate change's effects, as well as solutions, into its standards for every grade band and in every subject area. National organizations representing English and social studies teachers have called for greater engagement with climate change in their classes.
These developments are a heartening and necessary step forward, Ms. Vazquez said. Teaching about climate change gets at the heart of what school is ultimately for: Helping kids make sense of the world around them, while preparing them for the future... nyt
No comments:
Post a Comment