Transformative Climate Education: Identifying a “pedagogical core” that empowers teachers and students

You are invited to join for an informative talk on Transformative Climate Education from Professor Mark Windschitl, Professor of Science Teaching and Learning at the University of Washington.

Abstract: Climate change education has been described as a “wicked” problem – a complex and multidimensional challenge that defies consensus about the nature of the work to be done and impossible to solve without re-centering our work around children’s futures. My presentation will prompt the audience to think critically about the pedagogical core of transformative climate change teaching, which includes radical shifts in curricular aims and the face-to-face work of instruction. The audience will be asked to consider three questions: Among other socio-ecological crises humanity faces, why are climate change and its impacts so important for young people to understand? What are underlying commonalities in the ways that research literatures characterize transformational climate change teaching and learning? How might members of the university and local practitioners generate knowledge about ambitious forms of climate teaching, and perhaps more importantly, about systems-level processes and commitments that sustain such work? 

Biography: Dr Mark Windschitl is a professor of Science Teaching and Learning at the University of Washington, and a former secondary science teacher. He recently authored Teaching Climate Change: Fostering Understanding, Resilience, and a Commitment to Justice (2024, Harvard Ed Press). Recent speaking engagements (in-person and virtual) about the challenges and promise of becoming a leader for climate change education have been with audiences at UC Santa Barbara, Harvard, The Exploratorium in San Francisco, the National Science Education Leadership Association, UC Irvine, and others. He is currently collaborating with the American Natural History Museum in New York City to create an online course about teaching climate change at the K-12 level. He received the AERA Presidential Award for Best Review of Research, is the lead author of the chapter on Science Teaching in the AERA Handbook of Research on Teaching, and a member of the National Research Council Committee on Strengthening and Sustaining Teachers. He is also lead author of Ambitious Science Teaching (2018, Harvard Ed Press).

Please register your interest here.