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Climate Change Education in Formal Settings, K-14 A Workshop Summary (2012) / Chapter Skim
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6 Closing Discussion: Major Messages and Parting Thoughts
Pages 63-70

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From page 63...
... FOUR CHALLENGES Challenge 1: Preparing for sustained efforts in the nation and in formal schooling. Brian Reiser discussed the importance of learning progressions as a basis for the framework for the new national standards, Anderson noted.
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From page 64...
... Currently missing, in his view, are the crosscutting concepts and the related practices. Eddie Boyes, in turn, identified the "zone between the things nobody will do and the things everybody will do as the natural place where education can be effective -- suggesting that that's what schools should focus on." While these ideas may converge, they do not at present suggest a complete consensus about the conception of or priorities for climate change education, Anderson remarked.
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From page 65...
... "They can't imagine the scientists who contribute to those reports violating those values in a systematic way." These scientific values need to be taken into account, he added, in discussions of interdisciplinary climate change education. Many at the workshop advocated interdisciplinary approaches, but, he suggested, the disciplines are where those values reside.
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From page 66...
... Workshop participants provided comments and engaged in discussion, followed by closing remarks by James Mahoney, Climate Change Education Roundtable chair, and Martin Storksdieck, director of the Board on Science Education and of the Climate Change Education Roundtable. This section is organized around the major themes that emerged during this discussion.
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From page 67...
... The new framework and standards, one participant pointed out, build students' awareness and sophistication level gradually, "to the point where reasoning can come to bear and questioning can be pertinent." Michael Town stressed the role of states in promoting and sustaining environmental and climate change education. In Washington, he noted, they have implemented state standards and programs that support sustainability education -- creating a position in the office of the superintendent, an endorsement for teachers who specialize in environmental sustainability, an environmental literacy plan, and classes that prepare noncollege-bound students with job skills for the green economy.
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From page 68...
... pointed out that the current Climate Change Education Partnership Program at the National Science Foundation is designed to foster the development of partnerships among climate scientists, learning researchers, and education practitioners. The projects funded through this program also reach out to stakeholders in the
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From page 69...
... His experience working in the federal government on issues related to acid rain, which, he noted, were similar in some cases to those associated with climate change education, showed him that people working in different areas of research often did not communicate with those outside their area of expertise. He added that this resulted in a poor foundation to "carry the problem through, end-to-end." Mahoney pointed out that for those teaching climate science and climate change, there is already a large body of work available that, by its nature, is even-handed and transparent and is not focused on advocacy.
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From page 70...
... 70 CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION: FORMAL SETTINGS, K-14 to come to conclusions, but to ask and explore complex questions that do not have absolute or clear and easy solutions. Climate change and climate change education raise many complex questions, he added, and the presenters and participants generated a wealth of ideas and possible answers that will be useful in a continued discussion on how to best address the issue of climate change in formal education, K-14.
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  • national response
  • public believes
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  • climate education
  • climate issues
  • approaching climate
  • interdisciplinary climate
  • teaching climate

  • current climate
  • anderson observed
  • education partnership
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  • change issues
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  • workshop provided


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