Module 3: Best Practices for Climate Justice Teaching

Making the Case for Climate Justice Instruction

Many teachers are worried about navigating pushback from parents or administrators when approaching topics of climate justice in the classroom. Climate justice can be considered a controversial topic depending on your school and community.  Unfortunately, climate justice has become an overly politicized issue even though it is a factual, scientific, and human issue. 

On pg.1 of the “Starter Guide to Teaching Climate and Environmental Justice,” there is an excerpt that might be useful for you in making the case to parents and administrators about why you are tackling these topics in your classroom. 

“Climate justice and civic engagement can provide a foundational framework for a real-world, culturally relevant context to advance disciplinary learning objectives, especially in STEM areas (Docette et al., 2023). With a student population that is more diverse than ever, and more aware of climate change and social injustice, climate justice issues can provide a meaningful way to teach and learn more abstract skills common in STEM disciplines.” 

TASK: Read the article by Dr. Deb L Morrison  Teaching Climate Change- Parents and Communities Support You and then explore this research-based Framework from the Book Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues (Pace, 2021)

Principles for Teaching Climate Justice

As we have explored, climate justice is a multi-faceted, deep-seated issue spanning many disciplines and topic areas. Moreover, such topics might be difficult for some students and even educators to grapple with. These feelings are valid and a natural response to the weightiness of these themes. Herein, you will explore some best practices for teaching climate justice that address these potential concerns. 

TASK: Read the article: Teaching for Climate Justice: My Top 10 List by Bill Bigelow.

SECTION 2, ASSIGNMENT: In your COURSE JOURNAL, pick one of the principles of teaching climate justice described in the article. Please describe an activity or idea on how you might incorporate or integrate one of these principles in your own teaching.

Deeper Dive Resources (not required)

• Book: Teach for Climate Justice A Vision for Transforming Education

Ecoemotions and Social/Emotional Learning

It is imperative to recognize that climate justice and its associated topics are weighty issues. Thus, it is essential to support teachers' and students' social and emotional well-being while exploring climate justice topics. For teachers, finding peers who are also teaching climate justice topics is a great way to find support. For students, making sure they have similar peer groups for processing emotions is also critical. One of the potential negative emotions students and teachers might grapple with when diving into climate justice is a heightened feeling of climate anxiety.  Herein, we explore this feeling more, how to identify it, and how to work through it.

The following are the best practices for reducing climate anxiety in our students from NAAEE’s “Educating for Just Climate Action: Guidelines for Excellence”.  When addressing climate anxiety appropriately your students will….

• Recognize that past experiences with climate impacts (such as severe weather events, wildfires, flooding, and other upheavals) and climate injustices may prompt emotional responses. 

• Recognize that negative emotions related to climate change and climate injustices, like loss, grief, and guilt, are a healthy response to the climate crisis, are important components of humans’ emotional ecosystems, and can catalyze individual and community responses to climate change.

• Acknowledge and address climate anxiety. Know that feelings of climate anxiety are real and can lead to feelings of helplessness.

• Access resources for addressing climate anxiety, despair, and trauma. Provide space for themselves and others, including educators, to maintain their own mental well-being and develop coping strategies. 

TASK: Read or listen to the following articles: 

•  “Climate Anxiety: The existential threat posed by climate change is deeply troubling to many young people”

• Finding Hope in the Face of Climate Change: Why Some Teachers Focus on Solutions.

Deeper Dive Resources (not required)

2019 Article from Cleanet: “Controversy in the Classroom: Strategies for managing climate change discourse”

SECTION 3, ASSIGNMENT: In your COURSE JOURNAL, develop a 200-word response reflecting on the following from the articles you just read:  

• What surprised you? 

• What wasn’t surprising? 

• What helps you feel grounded hope or motivation to counter climate anxiety in your life? 

• How might this information impact your teaching about climate justice? 

Identity and Climate Justice Instruction

As explored in previous modules, one's identities and proximities to systems of oppression may make them disproportionately affected by climate issues. The same logic applies to climate justice education and instruction. For both students and teachers, their identities may make receiving and or delivering this instruction more difficult. As such, the best pedagogical practice is to be cognizant of how our identities might affect our teaching and ensure we think about how our students’ identities might impact their receiving the information. 

SECTION 4, ASSIGNMENT: Create a concept map (see examples here) reflecting on the video clip and questions below. Once your concept map is complete upload it or upload a picture of it into your COURSE JOURNAL.

Taking Action with Students–Civic Engagement, Climate Action, and Hope

As explored in the previous sections, it is expected that students may grapple with complex feelings about the climate crisis and its associated social issues. However, there is much hope that comes from taking action and being civically engaged in one’s community. In other words, civic engagement provides a remedy to climate anxiety and other associated feelings. In this section, we will explore the nexus of civic engagement, climate action, and hope. 

SECTION 5, ASSIGNMENT: In your COURSE JOURNAL, develop a written response (750 words or less) or draw an illustration (ensure to upload a photo to your journal) reflecting on the environmental education and civic engagement lessons you learned about through the articles. How might you take the lessons learned to develop a climate justice project to lead in your classroom? What kinds of action-oriented student-led projects might be possible in your school or community? How will you ensure that justice and community are centered in the initiative?