Resources for teachers on “Climate Change and Land” and research on eco-anxiety

<p>The essential role of education in addressing the causes and consequences of anthropogenic climate change is increasingly being recognised at an international level. <strong>The Office for Climate Education</strong> (OCE) develops educational resources and proposes professional development opportunities to support teachers, worldwide, to mainstream climate change education.</p><p>Drawing upon the IPCC Special Report on the Climate Change and Land, the OCE has produced a set of <strong>educational resources</strong> that cover the scientific and societal dimensions, at local and global levels, while developing students’ reasoning abilities and guiding them to take action (mitigation and/or adaptation) in their schools or communities. These resources include:</p><ul><li>Ready-to-use <strong>teacher handbook</strong> that (i) target students from the last years of primary school to the end of lower-secondary school (aged 9 to 15), (ii) include scientific and pedagogical overviews, lesson plans, activities and worksheets, (iii) are interdisciplinary, covering topics in the natural sciences, social sciences, arts and physical education, (iv) promote active pedagogies: inquiry-based science education, role-play, debate, project-based learning, (v) followed by 7 examples of inspiring projects of actions to either mitigate or adapt to climate change impacts, or take part of the science or disseminate climate change knowledge.</li> <li>A specific attention is drawn to tackle <strong>eco-anxiety</strong> with the development of a class activity focused on <strong>emotions</strong>.</li> <li>A <strong>Summary for teachers</strong> of the IPCC Special Report, presented together with a selection of related activities and exercises that can be implemented in the classroom.</li> <li>A set of <strong>10 videos</strong> where experts speak about a specific issue related to the link between land and climate change.</li> <li>A set of <strong>6 multimedia activities</strong> offering students the possibility of working interactively in different topics related to climate change.</li> </ul><p>An important concern for climate change education is to assess the impact of the required pedagogy for transforming students’ behaviour to face climate challenges. Therefore, the OCE is conducting an <strong>evaluation research project</strong> on activities around the emotions related to climate change.</p>