Climate Literacy in the Classroom: Supporting Teachers in the Transition to NGSS

Abstract:

In an effort to address gaps in scientific achievement identified in international testing, eleven states have now adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Climate change is currently not incorporated systematically across K-12 classrooms, but is prominent in middle and high school NGSS. The Maryland Delaware Climate Change Education, Assessment, and Research project (MADE CLEAR, a member of the NSF Climate Change Education Program Alliance) is working with Maryland and Delaware State Departments of Education to ease this transition. MADE CLEAR is identifying appropriate materials and providing professional development and classroom support as NGSS-aligned climate curricula are piloted, refined, and adopted by middle school science teachers across both states. Year-long professional development for middle school science teachers begins with a week-long Climate Science Academy that includes climate science content, hands-on experience with vetted classroom activities, familiarization with technology and online resources, and development of curriculum adaptation plans. We will highlight the characteristics deemed most critical for classroom teacher support as identified by the teachers from the first two cohorts, review classroom implementation challenges, and describe planned 2014-2015 school-year sessions. Data from the 2014 (second) cohort of teachers will include pre- and post-assessment data from the Climate Science Academy and impacts of the project on the first cohort (2013) of teachers. Scale-up plans for both states will also be presented.