Earth Day is fast approaching, and it’s the perfect time to explore the impacts of climate change on our planet. It’s one of the most pressing issues facing our world today, and it’s never too early to start teaching kids about it. The UN has stated that education is the most critical aspect of addressing climate change, including ensuring youth participation in programs and educational initiatives.
While climate change is a daunting topic for a classroom, there’s a delicate balance between approaching it as a problem using scientific facts and exploring how to become part of the solution. Essentially, there are ways to be mindful of the emotional toll on students while thoughtfully explaining the issue.
One way to approach the subject of climate change is to inspire and motivate your students with tangible actions they can take to create a healthier planet. It boils down to teaching what climate change is and what climate action can be.
Follow along for our tips on how to incorporate climate action into your classroom for Earth Day and beyond!
Climate Change vs. Climate Action
One of the first steps to teaching climate change in the classroom is to define the issue. NASAs Guide to Climate Change for Kids defines climate change as "A change in the typical weather for a region – such as high and low temperatures and amount of rainfall – over a long period." One of the ways to combat climate change is through what is called climate action.
According to United Nations Development Programme, climate action means increasing the "Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-induced impacts." As Global Goal #13 in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, climate action requires integrating protective measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
As you introduce a unit on climate change, it helps to highlight the efforts people, governments, and organizations are taking to address it. Community-level actions can be far-reaching because they can influence everyone to participate in the small, incremental steps to help resolve this issue in their communities. It is less intimidating for students to join community-based activities rather than leave them feeling like they alone must solve the world's challenges.
Photo by Callum Shaw on Unsplash
Incorporate the UN's Sustainable Development Goals
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a global call to action to end poverty and inequality, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all. The goals consist of 17 interlinked objectives that act as a blueprint to achieve these challenges for a more sustainable future.
Introducing the SDGs in the classroom helps students understand the importance of these goals and how they can help make a difference in the world through their actions. It helps them develop a sense of social responsibility and empowers them to take action.
As a teacher, incorporating the SDGs into the classroom provides many benefits for your students, including developing skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and social responsibility. These skills can help empower and inspire students to positively impact their school and community while guiding them to become global citizens through their actions.
How to Take Climate Action with Coding and Robotics
STEM education has a huge role to play in the effort to develop sustainable solutions to climate change. Through coding and robotics, students can not only learn the technical skills needed in their future careers, but also give them the confidence and inspiration to contribute to meaningful change.
One of the ways the InkSmith team integrates STEM learning with climate action is with our Climate Action Kit collection. With project-based lesson plans and robotic components, each module is tied to purpose-driven learning experiences that connect real-world climate change issues with tangible robotic solutions. Using robotic parts and a micro:bit, students are tasked with building, prototyping, and programming their own working solutions for climate change issues.
Earth Day Twitter Giveaway
Teachers, we want to help you kickstart climate action in your classroom, let us know how you're celebrating Earth Day this year and you could win 1 of 5 prizes!
From now until April 30th, 2023 at 11:59 PM (EST), tag us on Twitter @InkSmith3D with the hashtag #EarthDayInkSmith telling us how you’re celebrating Earth Day in your classroom to be entered to win 1 of 5 of our new Combined Climate Action Kits!
Each kit contains all the robotic parts from both the Land and Energy kits along with access to the online curriculum allowing you to complete all 6 different Climate Action Kit projects.
Contest Rules:
- No purchase necessary to enter or win.
- Giveaway runs from April 17th at 12 PM EST until April 30th at 11:59 PM EST.
- Must tag @nkSmith3D and use the hashtag #EarthDayInkSmith in a tweet about how your class is celebrating Earth Day this year to enter.
- Limit of 1 entry per person. Multiple entries from multiple accounts will be automatically ineligible.
- Entrants will have a chance to win 1 of 5 Combined Climate Action Kits. Prizes must be accepted as awarded and are not transferrable or convertible to cash.
- Giveaway is open to legal residents of Canada (excluding Quebec) who are age 18 or older at the time of entry.
- Winners will be selected by random draw from all eligible entries received during the contest period. Odds of winning are entirely dependent on the number of eligible entries received.
- The selected entrants will be contacted by private message on Twitter and notified that they are eligible to win by Friday May 5th at 5 PM EST. The selected entrants must reply by private message within one (1) business day of notification and provide the sponsor with an email address.
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