In a thought-provoking initiative, students at Brooks Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois, were recently challenged to reimagine their city with sustainability in mind. This exercise, spearheaded by science teacher Laura Stamp, aimed to engage eighth-grade students in addressing carbon emissions from prevalent sources like food waste, fast fashion, and transportation.
Stamp’s students suggested practical solutions such as increasing bike lanes, bus lanes, and trolleys, aligning their proposals with Oak Park’s climate action plan. The class also explored how sustainability and equity can intersect, advocating for investments in housing and healthcare to enhance public transportation safety and usability.
“They could see [that] some of the changes are big and systemic, and some of the changes can be really made at a community level,” Stamp remarked.
Next year, Illinois public schools will be required to integrate climate change education into their curriculum, a result of a 2024 law inspired by high school activists and Climate Education for Illinois. This aligns with a national trend, with states like New Jersey, New York, and California already implementing similar mandates. Oregon joined the ranks with its own climate education bill this past summer.
The need for such education is underscored by the increasing climate-related events affecting Illinois, such as tornadoes, flash floods, and Canadian wildfire smoke, as highlighted by Abhinav Anne, a senior at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville. “Although we aren’t [on] the coastlines in California or Florida, we do see a lot more of the onset of climate change within these larger natural disasters that are happening more in the Midwest region,” Anne noted.
However, Illinois has not yet provided funding for the climate education rollout, and federal support is unlikely due to ongoing climate policy rollbacks. Nonetheless, education advocates are stepping up to provide necessary resources, as the state’s Learning Standards for Science already include climate change topics, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Helen von den Steinen, co-founder of Climate Education for Illinois, highlights that while climate education was previously limited to high school science, the new law mandates its inclusion across all subjects and grade levels. She suggests using climate change as a teaching lens, with practical applications in various subjects, such as using renewable energy data in math classes or exploring environmental metaphors in English.
The Illinois Climate Education Hub offers over 300 lesson plans that span all grade levels and subjects, and are aligned with state standards. This initiative is supported by SubjectToClimate, which provides free resources and has established hubs in nine states, including the recent addition of Illinois.
Katie Nahrwold, leading the Illinois hub, states that many lessons are tailored to the state’s regions, with topics related to the Great Lakes and rural farming. Lauren Madden from the College of New Jersey emphasizes the importance of regional specificity in effective climate education, noting, “Seeing the way climate affects our own places and our own communities is really important, too.”
While the hub aims to ease the burden on teachers by integrating climate education into existing curricula, von den Steinen acknowledges, “Teachers don’t have extra time or headspace to teach about climate change as a separate topic. They need it integrated into their day-to-day.”
Jeff Grant, a science teacher in DuPage County, believes teacher training is crucial for the successful implementation of the new law. He is organizing a climate-focused professional development day for teachers next February. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Moore, a fifth-grade teacher in Will County, stresses the need for time to gradually incorporate climate education into the curriculum.
Madden concludes that providing teachers with a variety of high-quality materials is essential, as they are tasked with selecting suitable strategies and resources. “Taking some time to really be purposeful and look at places where [climate education] makes sense—I think that’s the way we could have the most meaningful and engaging climate learning,” she said.
Original Story at insideclimatenews.org