We will post AMSTI/TEAMS approved teacher professional development information here. Join the Alabama Climate Change Educators Facebook Group and stay in touch! Scroll down for our favorite resources that we recommend, including books, articles, newsletters, and educational activities. Our core group of Fall 2024 Climate Capstone educators also share their Lesson Plans -- see their presentations to learn how they implemented sustainability and climate lessons in their classrooms!
Prerequisites: Must have already been enrolled in a prior University of West Alabama Black Belt STEM (BBS) Education Institute climate-focused teacher PD ~or~ part of the Stemming the Tide project and Gulf Shores School System AND been invited by a UWA or Montevallo STEM mentor.
Format: 6 meetings total at 3 week intervals, including 1 hour synchronous meetings + 1 hour homework. All meetings will be over zoom. Teachers will be expected to be full collaborators and must join from a computer or ipad with the ability to type, interact, and speak.
Dates: Tuesdays 4:00-5:00pm
January 14th - Intro to the Youth Climate Summit; HW: Map Needs in Your Community
Feb 4th - STEMMing the Tide, Youth Climate Institute; HW: Develop Your Research Questions
WEDNESDAY Feb 26th - Grant Writing: HW: Worksheets on Impact Statement, Make a Budget
March 18th - Engaging, mentoring, and motivating students; HW: Identify Youth Leadership
April 8th - Helping Students Collect and Analyze Data; HW: Draft Poster/Presentation
April 29th - Group Feedback on presentations; HW: Final Poster to Print
Completion Requirements: Must engage in all meeting times and homework assignments. Must lead students through a citizen environmental science or social studies project and have students create a final poster or presentation showing this process that could be presented at the Youth Climate Summit. Completing this PD will guarantee that you will be able to bring at least 1 student to the Youth Climate Summit May 9th-11th.
Activity: Build Your Own Ice Core Activity from The Ohio State University Byrd Polar Research Center
CLEAN Network activity database for climate and energy education
Activity from California Academy of Sciences: Carbon Cycle Role Play
Activity: The Carbon Journey Game: (Paper based game , Scratch version to play the game online, 6th grade AL version (instructions and game board)
Carbon Capture and Sequestration Video Series from Josh Revels, NASA IV&V
Activity from NASA JPL: Impacts of Melting Sea Ice vs Land Ice
Activity from UC Berkeley: Understanding Global Change Activity
What is YOUR Carbon Footprint? Also see: Carbon Footprint Coloring Activity
What is Earth Overshoot Day?
Six Americas SASSY Survey
Yale Climate Opinion Maps: What do Alabamians think?
Article: Social dimensions of climate change from World Bank
Climate change impacts on children from World Economic Forum
Play the Cranky Uncle Game
Civic Online Reasoning by Stanford University https://cor.stanford.edu/
Alabama Interfaith Power & Light: www.alabamaipl.org
Evangelical Environmental Network: creationcare.org
IPCC Special Report Global Warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius
Mitigation vs Adaptation summary from NASA
Stabilization Wedges Concept, paper-based game and web-based game online version)
Energy Flowcharts from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Energy Information Administration www.eia.gov
Climate internships and jobs resources:
Climate and Art:
Energy Alabama energyalabama.org
The Biomimicry Institute, and Sharing Biomimicry with Young People Guide
Regeneration Project and The Waggle Newsletter
Imagining the Future activity by Suzanna Kassouf (see her article)
K12 Climate Action Plan from the Aspen Institute
Alabama Energy Transformation Initiative and UA collaboration
School Composting Resources:
Organizations that empower Youth Voice:
Civic Engagement Activity: Writing a Position Statement on Climate Change
Activity from the CLEAN Network: The Young People’s Climate Conference
Young Voices for the Planet YouTube short video clips
West Virginia Climate Change Public Service Announcement competition winners
Climate Superpowers Quiz
[Coming soon]