Category Archives: research

Where do teachers find the resources for teaching Climate change?

19 January 2025climate, Project, research, schools, toolsKarl Donert

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and teachers play a crucial role in educating the next generation about it. However, with the vast amount of information available online, it can be challenging for teachers to find reliable and accurate sources of information on climate change.

Research undertaken in preparation for the TECCHED project showed that most teachers rely on television reports and social media to get information on climate change, however unbiased reporting is not very common on many new channels and there have been many disinformation and misinformation campaigns spread on social media.

FInd out more about these issues.

To address this challenge, many teachers turn to trusted sources such as government agencies, scientific organisations, and educational institutions. For example, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a website called Climate.gov that provides a wealth of information on climate science, including articles, data, and multimedia resources. Teachers can use this website to access reliable and up-to-date information on climate change to incorporate into their lessons. The European Commission has an EU Science Hub on climate change and has established the EU Climate Pact to encourage people to build a more sustainable Europe.

The Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe is Europe’s leading NGO coalition. It aims to fight dangerous climate change misinformation. It has more than 170 member organisations active in 38 European countries, representing in excess of 1.500 NGOs and more than 47million citizens, CAN Europe promotes sustainable climate, energy and development policies throughout Europe.

The European Climate Foundation (ECF) is a major philanthropic initiative working to help tackle the climate crisis by fostering the development of a net-zero emission society at the national, European, and global level. The ECF supports over 700 partner organisations to carry out activities that drive urgent and ambitious policy in support of the objectives of the Paris Agreement, contribute to the public debate on climate action, and help deliver a socially responsible transition to a net-zero economy and sustainable society in Europe and around the world.

Another source of information is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is an organisation that brings together scientists and policymakers from around the world to assess the state of knowledge on climate change. The IPCC produces reports that summarise the latest research on climate change and its impacts, which teachers can use to stay informed and incorporate into their curriculum.

Educational institutions such as universities and research centres are also valuable sources of information for teachers. They often have specialised departments or programs dedicated to climate science that provide access to cutting-edge research and resources for teachers to use in their classrooms.

In addition to these sources, there are also numerous non-profit organisations that focus on climate education, such as the Climate Reality Project and Action for Climate Emergency. These organisations offer a range of resources, including lesson plans, webinars, and professional development opportunities, to help teachers incorporate climate education into their curriculum.

By staying informed and up-to-date on the latest research and information, teachers can help their students understand the science behind climate change and the importance of taking action to address it.using the TECCHED interactive e-book

Find out more about learning, tools, resources and information from the TECCHED Learning Platform

Climate education in the curriculum

2 October 2024climate, publication, researchKarl Donert

The Royal Meteorological Society in the UK has put together a position statement regarding climate education to underpin a response to Curriculum Review and calls for evidence.

Their full statement, with evidence: https://www.metlink.org/curriculum/curriculum-review/

Report https://static.reading.ac.uk/content/PDFs/files/Planet/climate-education-in-curriculum.pdf

Key Messages From the Blog Post

All students should leave school with some climate literacy

Students should leave school with the ability to apply their knowledge, understanding and skills to the real world as it changes and develops as well as their personal situations and careers.

The curriculum should be flexible enough to adapt as understanding, technology, relevance and situation changes.

Climate education should make students concerned about climate change but hopeful, focussing on solutions and careers

Students should be able to synthesise their learning in different topics and subjects.

Climate change is a multi-disciplinary problem, impacting on all lives and careers, that requires a multidisciplinary approach to both solutions and learning. It should therefore be integrated, where appropriate, throughout the curriculum in all subjects which is holistic, strengthens and progresses, broadens learning and is not repetitive.

Maths, data and statistical skills underpin high quality climate education.

Teacher support and subject specific professional development is critical to develop both subject knowledge and subject pedagogy amongst the current and future teaching community.

All teachers should be able to access training to improve their climate literacy as well as their understanding of how to appropriately deliver climate education in their teaching.

Interactive enriched book on climate change published

11 May 2024climate, Project, publication, researchKarl Donert

The TECCHED project has designed and produced an technology-supported climate change enriched book dealing with the teacher training curriculum researched in partner universities and prepared earlier in the project.

The enriched book explicitly targets the development of character and values, while increasing the TPACK of faculty members for teaching climate change.

TPACK is a framework that emphasizes the integration of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge to enhance teaching and learning experiences

TPACK (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) is a model for thinking about teaching knowledge and how the different types of knowledge a teacher has about the content they are teaching, the ways they teach the content, and the tools they use to support how they teach.

The model seeks to go beyond all three “core” components (content, pedagogy, and technology). Technological pedagogical content knowledge is an understanding that emerges from interactions among content, pedagogy, and technology knowledge.

There are 4 chapter headings defined in the curriculum:
– Content knowledge
– Causes of change
– Effects of change
– Mitigation and adaptation.

A broad range of issues are covered from policy making to dealing with drought; human health to biodiversity loss; greenhouse effect and consumption; and carbon footprint to sustainable solutions.

With this book, the researched needs of faculty members are being met by the creation of open access teaching materials.

The enriched book content can also be used by teachers in their own classrooms and by pre-service teachers in their lessons at their internship schools, both in technology-supported face-to-face environments and through distance education.

This enriched book serves as interactive materials for educators to teach the topic of climate change.

Explore the enriched book

Online Argumentation Activities Increase Climate Change Awareness Among Preservice Science Teachers

14 July 2023Project, researchKarl Donert

The Tecched Project addresses the need for university university Faculty members to be better prepared to teach about climate change in their courses. The initial phase of the project involves engaging with teachers and students to determine the issues related to developing a technology-enhanced curriculum for university students.

Ege University researchers, Lokman Topbaş, an undergraduate student, and Associate Professor Bahadir Namdar, recently completed a project aimed at enhancing climate change awareness among preservice science teachers. The project, supported by Ege University Office of Scientific Research Projects, involved the implementation of online argumentation activities as part of a four-day online professional development program.

A total of 32 preservice science teachers from 22 different universities across Turkey participated in the program, which focused on increasing their knowledge and awareness of climate change. To assess the impact of the intervention, pre- and post-program surveys were conducted, and the online written arguments produced by the participants during the activities served as additional data sources.

The figure shows the results of participants’ collaborative online work on the effects of climate change in the Miro tool.

The results of the research demonstrated a significant improvement in the participants’ content knowledge of climate change. Following the online professional development program, the preservice teachers exhibited a higher level of justification and increased awareness of various dimensions related to climate change. This indicates that the argumentation activities effectively contributed to their overall understanding and awareness of this critical issue.

As recognition for their active participation, the participants were awarded certificates of completion at the end of the program. The project’s success highlights the potential of online argumentation activities as a valuable tool in enhancing climate change awareness among preservice science teachers, ultimately equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed to address this pressing global challenge in their future classrooms.

Meanwhile a questionnaire among 130 pre-service teachers was implemented at the University of Ruse “Angel Kanchev” (Bulgaria) showed that:
• 86% were convinced that climate change affects us all;
• 88% thought that global climate change can disrupt the balance in nature;
• 90% had not taken a course on climate change;
• 88% believed they have very low preparation for teaching climate change;
• Only 38% had used information and communication technologies to receive information about climate change and
• The most commonly used sources of information had been video materials, presentations, social networks, news, TV, virtual textbooks, etc.

The challenge for the project will be to establish ionnovative approaches to teaching about climate change while addressing ‘character and values’ that are considered a prerequisites for responsible 21st-century citizenship.

Find out more about the Tecced Project