How to Improve Climate Education for 14-18 Year Old's

This meeting is for Oxford Alumni who are involved in any way in educating teenagers – as teachers, non-school educators, or parents – and who are facing questions from their students / children about climate change. The aim is to share thoughts, ideas and resources, and to discuss how we can use Oxford’s output on climate change, with a view to providing feedback to the Oxford Climate Research Network.

Educators of school age students are facing increasing demands from their students for information and engagement on climate change. Teachers of geography, environmental sciences, and physics may feel confident in answering questions from the perspective of their subject, but others may feel that their subject has little relevance, and many may feel unprepared to engage with the technical, economic or political dimensions that are inevitable raised in any discussion about climate change solutions. And most of us will struggle to support students emotionally as they realise the enormity of the climate challenge they face. There are a growing number of resources available, but it can be challenging to find the ones that suit what the educator is looking for.

The meeting with be led by alumnus Kim Polgreen (1995 MSc Environmental Change and Management, Linacre College). Kim is a sustainability educator based in Oxford. She runs a Sustainability Summer School for 16 – 18 year olds each year at the Environmental Change Institute in the School of Geography at Oxford (www.ligc.co.uk ), manages a website for teenagers and their educators on engaging with climate solutions at school and in future careers (www.climatevillage.org ), and is Youth Educator in Residence at Wytham Woods, the University’s research woodland on the outskirts of Oxford.