Course | Teaching Climate Change

Availability

This course begins Jan 19.
Spring 1 Session
Jan 19 - Mar 1, 2026
Registration deadline: Jan 19
Register by Dec 22 to save $50.

Course Author

Mark Windschitl
Professor

Recent Course Faculty
David Randle
Karen Kutish

This course is co-taught by an experienced classroom teacher and a working scientist. With low faculty to student ratios, this powerful combination of scientific expertise and classroom application creates opportunities for discussions about the course content and how it can be taught.

How can you help students understand the science of climate change using data and models while inspiring them to explore solutions and take meaningful action?

Delve into teaching climate change using tools of resiliency, regeneration, and social justice. This six-week course focuses on research-based pedagogy that helps students make sense of accelerating changes in Earth’s climate system and builds emotional health in young learners. Explore climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, ways to address disinformation and doubt, the use of data to model past, present, and future climate, and the benefits of Indigenous worldviews. At the end of the course, learners will be able to incorporate climate change into their curricula using human stories in ways that empower their students to take action.

Student Learning Objectives

After completing this course, learners will be able to:
• articulate a vision for teaching climate change that includes natural, social, cultural, political, and social justice issues
• demonstrate an understanding of the climate concepts appropriate for the students they teach
• incorporate ways to help students think about mitigation of and adaptation to climate change
• support students in analyzing data from the past and present to understand climate change
• assist their students in understanding skeptical views about climate change
• take action while preserving student and teacher emotional well-being
• design meaningful climate-related experiences for their students

Course Format

This online course is asynchronous, giving you the flexibility to complete weekly activities at your own pace. Essays, written by our authoring scientists, are supplemented by case studies, textbook readings, videos, interactive simulations, image galleries, and more. These resources provide the foundation for assignments as well as online discussions where you will exchange questions and ideas with course faculty and other learners. The course culminates in a final project, which is your opportunity to create activities that you can use with your students.

Connecting to Your Classroom

This course focuses primarily on teaching about climate change. In addition to a primer on climate science, it includes a variety of resources that directly address teaching young students about climate change in ways that consider their emotional well-being. Towards the end of the course you will be led through the creation of lessons you can use with your students.

Grad Credit

This course is approved for graduate credit from these institutions at an additional cost. Select an institution below for full details on cost, enrollment and more:
Northwest Missouri State University

Credit may be available for this course and may vary by country or institution. Please verify eligibility with American Museum of Natural History.