Deadline to apply is April 26, 2024. The fellowship program will run from June 10 - July 19, 2024. Interested applicants can Apply Here.
The program will be split into three modules:
- A broad overview on the science of climate change and basic climate change concepts;
- An exploration of examples of how to teach climate change in the educator’s specific subject and how to incorporate environmental justice principles;
- A guide for educators through the process of developing lesson plans for their classroom that integrate climate change into the curricula that they are already teaching.
Preliminary findings based on survey data of the educator participants in this program suggest that these training modules helped educators feel capable of integrating climate change education into their curricula more frequently. Ten Hawai’i educators participated in the hybrid 2023 program, which blended asynchronous online work with in-person training. A full impact case study on this training is available here.
“In most districts, learning about climate change is not required; especially not learning about the ways it disproportionately impacts disenfranchised communities,” said Olivia Dulany, former Root for Innovation teacher fellow. “This work is impactful because it represents an effort to increase access to education about things that we don’t traditionally teach in our nation’s public schools.”
Through this partnership, Elemental Excelerator and SubjectToClimate produced 31 Hawai'i-centric lesson plans that are both scientifically credible and can be integrated into existing curriculum. While multiple states in the U.S. work on statewide shifts to require climate change education to be taught across all grade levels and subjects, Hawai’i educators have been quick to integrate climate change into their curriculums and are well positioned to implement these lesson plans for K-12 education.
