Teaching Climate Change in K-5 Classrooms

Ready or not… Learn how (and why) to meet the new climate change standards in your K-5 classroom and have fun doing it!

Ready to teach climate change? This program is designed to support K-5 teachers in incorporating the new climate change standards into your already-tight curricula. We will model an interdisciplinary and participatory approach that reflects the pedagogies of inclusion and equity in formal and informal learning environments. This workshop will help you understand the basic science of how climate change occurs and the way it affects society differently. The causes and effects of climate change will be explored through art, literature, and other media, as well as an easy nature hike. Workshop activities will include climate change modeling, an interpretive hike, water quality assessment (by land and/or canoe), and analyzing and interpreting data. We will be working both indoors and outdoors (rain or shine) on the beautiful campus of the New Jersey School of Conservation. Whether you teach in a classroom or in an informal setting, you will gain skills and strategies to enable you to address this important issue. Follow up support will be provided!

Your instructors are Liz Carletta and Rae Cade.

Liz is a formal and informal science educator. She has taught environmental/conservation education at Jenkinson’s Aquarium and the Bergen County Zoo, as well as high school biology and forensic science in Newark, NJ. Liz earned her MAT from Montclair State University (certified K-12 biology and students with disabilities teacher) and is currently pursuing a PhD in Teacher Education and Teacher Development. Her research interests include the partnerships between formal and informal educators and education, teaching with an equity lens, and science teacher retention.

Rae Cade is a doctoral student and teaching assistant at Montclair State University in the Environmental Science and Management department. She has a Bachelor’s degree from William Paterson University where she double majored in Earth Science and Anthropology and a Master’s degree in Sustainability Science from Montclair State University. While her thesis explored the beliefs and perceptions of climate change and sustainability amongst millennials who are non-environmental science majors, her current research focuses on the interactions between water quality and environmental racism.