As a topic, climate change is often confined to science class, but it should be considered an interdisciplinary issue that spans subjects and grade levels, educators and experts say.
That line of thinking hasn鈥檛 caught on with all teachers, though: When a nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey asked why they haven鈥檛 addressed climate change or issues related to it with students, 26 percent of teachers said they can鈥檛 think of any way it is related to the subject they teach. Nine percent said they think their students are too young to learn about it.
New Jersey made headlines last year for becoming the first state to require that climate change be taught in all grade levels and subjects. But for the most part, it鈥檚 up to individual teachers to decide whether they want to broach the subject in class鈥攁 tall order, considering the complexity of the science, the strong emotions it raises, and the lack of training in how to teach it.
Enter , a nonprofit with the goal of encouraging more teachers to teach about climate change. The organization, which launched in August 2021, has compiled hundreds of resources on climate change for every grade and nearly every school subject. It also pays teachers to create lesson plans on how climate change can be taught in every classroom. So far, there are more than 100, in subjects ranging from art and physical education to math and social studies.
In a conversation with Education Week, co-founder and chief operating officer Margaret Wang shared some examples of lessons and spoke about why it鈥檚 so important for climate change to be an interdisciplinary issue. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What is the mission of SubjectToClimate?
Our vision is for all teachers鈥攁ll grade levels, all subjects鈥攖o teach about climate change to inspire the next generation for climate action. It鈥檚 a lot to ask for teachers to add another thing onto their plate with everything that鈥檚 already going on. What our organization does is simply make it easier for teachers.
When we first started this organization, teachers were like, 鈥淵eah, I care about climate change, but I don鈥檛 see how this relates to what I鈥檓 teaching so I don鈥檛 know if I鈥檓 going to actually teach it.鈥� Our end goal is to just show teachers, 鈥淗ey, you鈥檙e already actually teaching about it. You can teach it really easily. Here are ways that we can support you to do that.鈥�
I鈥檒l give you an example: that we worked with a math teacher to create. At its root, it鈥檚 about what you would teach in a geometry class, but it鈥檚 answering the question, 鈥淗ow much would sea level rise if Antarctica melted?鈥� which is really related to sustainability.
Can climate change be taught in grades as early as kindergarten? How?
It鈥檚 not a surprise that most sustainability-related resources are in science and [for] high school, and even middle school. Having said that, because we are constantly on the look for resources that fill in our resource gap, we are starting to see more people create resources in the elementary area.
I think there鈥檚 a lot of talk that yes, it can be taught as early as kindergarten, but it needs to be taught a little bit more carefully. So we鈥檝e worked with teachers in the K-2 [grades] to create lesson plans.
Some of the things that our teachers have recommended when trying to teach students who are younger is to focus on solutions, because it鈥檚 a really hard situation to grapple with, and it can cause a lot of climate anxiety.
Elaine Makarevich, who is a K-5 educator, how teachers choose to present the information will directly affect the students and how they feel. If the teachers are anxious when they share the global challenges, the younger students will tend to focus on the emotions of the teachers and less on the content at hand.
[Climate change is] something that鈥檚 important, and it鈥檚 hard to not show emotion toward it, but we don鈥檛 want to share too much of our worries鈥攖emper it appropriately for the audience. Share it through stories, games, and lots of opportunities to talk. That鈥檒l open up opportunities for empathy and understanding and build the resiliency one may need to teach about this.
Can you give an example of what a solutions-oriented lesson could look like?
In our K-2 database, there are a lot of lesson plans that use an inquire, investigate, inspire framework, which is like: get them interested in a phenomenon, investigate it using your disciplinary content鈥攚hether it鈥檚 math, whether it鈥檚 art, whether it鈥檚 language arts鈥攁nd then inspire. This section is the key thing to do. You鈥檙e either looking at how other people have addressed the problems or how you can. For example, one lesson plan has the student create a classroom waste management problem.
What鈥檚 an example of an art lesson about climate change?
This is . It鈥檚 actually a whole unit鈥攁t its core, it鈥檚 art and social-emotional learning, which is another way to help with climate anxiety.
In the first lesson, students are identifying their own emotions by responding to artwork. At first, you鈥檙e like, 鈥淗mm, this is not climate change,鈥� but they鈥檙e going to be doing this on climate change artwork. You need to lay a lot of foundations before you get really deep into climate change, oftentimes.
In the next lesson, they鈥檙e going to go a little bit more deeply into the colors and how colors relate to emotions. Remember, it鈥檚 K-2鈥攖hese are building foundations for them to really understand both art and climate change. First, they鈥檙e going to explore colors, match colors to how they feel, and then they鈥檙e going to create their own color artwork to demonstrate a feeling, which is a great way for them to understand and process emotions, especially when it comes to climate change.
Then, the third part of this unit is they鈥檙e going to actually use those foundational skills to engage in an environmental issue and use their artistic skills to create artwork about caring for the oceans. They鈥檙e going to read a very short story and then they鈥檙e going to talk about it鈥攖hey鈥檙e going to discuss the colors and the emotions, which is everything they learned in lessons one and two. Then they鈥檙e going to create artworks about oceans and display them around their local and school community.
What about high school English?
There鈥檚 [a lesson on] media literacy, which is a great thing鈥攈ow do other people talk about climate change, and how do you know which one鈥檚 true?
But let鈥檚 [look at] poetry writing. . At the end of the day, it鈥檚 really rooted in an English topic鈥攖hey鈥檙e looking at the difference between an ode and an elegy, and figurative language. They鈥檙e going to look at poems and learn about the topic of deforestation. After, they鈥檙e going to share their [own] poems and investigate possible solutions to deforestation.
I think the one about speech writing is also really great, because a lot of times in English class, you might be teaching a unit on public speaking and speeches. In this one, they identify and discuss the communication disconnect between climate change scientists and everyday people, which is a real issue. And looking at, why is there a disconnect?
They鈥檙e going to watch videos of different climate scientists trying to communicate and then evaluate their communication strategies, and that鈥檚 going to help them to deliver a more effective way of informing others about climate change.
OK, one more. How could climate change be incorporated in a foreign language class?
We predominately have Spanish for foreign language. If you think about your Spanish classes or any language classes, you are already reading about things, and it鈥檚 about changing up the content for it to be a little bit more realistic to maybe what you would talk about.
, and it gets into plastic as a result. They鈥檙e going to watch a music video鈥攁nd this is all in Spanish, by the way. They鈥檙e identifying actions, and then they鈥檙e learning about the connection between plastics and climate change. And then they鈥檙e going to look at the the efforts in different Spanish-speaking countries to reduce plastic consumption.
They鈥檙e learning how to converse about daily routines [in Spanish]. They鈥檙e watching a music video, and the Spanish teacher is asking questions about it, so there鈥檚 some comprehension involved. Afterwards, there will be discussions, which is helping them question and and answer.
What is the benefit for students to hear about climate change in all their classes?
If they keep on hearing something over and over again, it鈥檚 going to click for them, and they鈥檙e going to be able to see it outside of their classroom. If you only hear about the quadratic equation in your math class, you don鈥檛 see it outside the walls of your math class. But if you start to hear about it in multiple subjects, you actually see it as something real.
The more that teachers can bring current events and what鈥檚 happening [into their classroom], the more that students will understand what鈥檚 happening right now and what they can do about it. I think there鈥檚 an argument that if you only kind of integrate it in some subjects, they鈥檒l never reach a level of depth [in their understanding]. But at the same time, students learn a lot from outside of the classroom. If they keep on hearing about something, they鈥檙e going to develop their own interests on it, and they鈥檙e going to read about it on their own.
