Teachers from all corners of the world met on first ever Teachers’ Climate Change Forum in November 26th, 2016 to share their good practices and innovative approaches on climate change education via inspiring video presentations and to learn from each other.
The Teachers’ Climate Change Forum is a virtual forum organized by LUMA Centre Finland. At the forum, teachers interested in climate change education have the opportunity to share their practical experience and learn from each other. Chair for the forum is Director of the LUMA Centre Finland, Professor, PhD Maija Aksela. Other experts for the forum are PhD Sakari Tolppanen and PhD Marianne Juntunen.
Adult education
Climate.now – new climate change education material for higher education
Laura Riuttanen, Finland
Climate.now is a new online material about climate change. It is aimed at higher education, including all disciplines. Based on the material, teacher can give a 2-5 ECTS course in any university.
Ecoanxiety and climate change – participatory working methods
Panu Pihkala, Finland
The role of psychological and spiritual matters in climate change education. Dealing with climate change education in religious communities and the possible contributions of spiritual dimensions for environmental education (for example, the role of ritual-type activities and silence).
Plantfulness – art educative breathing with plants
Verna Kuntsi, Finland
Plantfulness adress the need of feeling or thinking ecologically. How to do it? People surely know rationally how to make sustainable decisions, but it’s not that easy. They are not simply doing them or changing their lifestyle though it’s needed. Knowing is not enough – we cannot ignore our feelings and thoughs about climat change. It is scary, specially for the kids and youth. I believe that empathy is greatly needed. In Plantfulness we take first step to empathy and relaxation. Before making any other moves or decisions, it’s the best thing to do first. After that the best sustainable desicions are made through empathy.
Teachers’ online climate guide
Pinja Sipari, Finland
Teacher´s Climate Guide is a free and open climate education website for subject teachers working in secondary schools and high schools. It presents climate change separately from the perspective of each subject taught at school and also offers photo material, assignments and general information on climate change and climate education. At the moment the material exists only in Finnish, but it would be great to see it translated in other languages in the near future.
Upper secondary education (16-19 y)
Energy and culture – transmitting climate information through simple graphs and figures
Maria Luisa Roqueta, Spain
Adapting the scientific concepts associated with climate change at a simple level of understanding for students through simple graphs and figures that transmit better the information than the theoretical definitions and capture the student’s attention – in order to make informed decisions and not rely always on experts.
MoM: Matters of Matter – Future Materials in Sustainable Development Education
Annamaria Lisotti, Italy
The role of Materials Research and innovative (either new or revisited) materials in solving the related problems. Innovative materials may be one of the keys to mitigation and resiliency ranging from architecture to energy production, smart cities development, fresh water and food supplies, low consumption and low carbon mobility. In MoM – Matters of Matter project (www.mattersofmatter.eu) secondary students investigate physical and chemical properties of samples, design experimental protocols and implement them finally unleashing their creativity and innovators potential in devising new applications for such wonder materials.
RESEt (Research and Education Svalbard Experience) project focusing mainly on polar and climate system topics
Matteo Cattadori, Italy
RESEt (Research and Education Svalbard Experience) is an ongoing educational project focusing mainly on polar and climate system topics. RESEt project aims at driving a whole class through a set of activities focusing mainly on planning, organizing, funding, making and com- municating an authentic scientific polar expedition at the Svalbard is- lands (Arctic Ocean) in summer 2016.
Upper comprehensive education (12-15 y)
Call out the sun, get the energy – environmental course
Gordana Hajdukovi, Serbia
The Students Project “Call out the Sun, Get the Energy is realized with the aim to create and develop the research abilities of students by applying research methods (Inquiry Based Science Education-IBSME). The idea of the project itself was to get students through hands-in research work on climate change as well as the factors that affect the constantly increasing temperatures on our planet.
Eco-club – waste as a reason of climate change
Natela Bagatrishvili, Georgia
The video presents the new eco-club at the school in Georgia. It shows many different kinds of activities which protect the environment.
Explore the weather more by designing and building own weather stations
Sladjana Jovic, Serbia
In this lesson, students will design and build some of the instruments that meteorologists use than, make two school Weather Stations and placed them in different school yards so that results of weather parameters date can be follow during three months and be compared.
Micrometeorology and climate change
Dirceu Dias, Brazil
Students have an active role in all processes which involve among other things the installation of a mini weather station, the collection, analysis and processing of data related to time, establish correlations with the local urban time, the water collection rain and analysis, preparation of content on time and climate for placement on social networks and suggested actions for climate change mitigation in schools and in their communities.
The study of sea level rise and increase of the greenhouse effect through analogue modelling
Gonçalo Prereira, Portugal
The first activity explores the problem of sea level rise. A model of a coastal zone with different slopes is presented to the pupils. They develop the experiment analyzing the different effects of sea level rise due to the increase of temperature and the consequent melting of glaciers. In the second activity students explore the different increase in temperature in the earth’s system without and with two levels of greenhouse effect. With this learning situation students are expected to acquire not only scientific knowledge but also inquiry competences.
