Written by Amy Stalker, Fleming Island, FL

 

 

Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing the world today.  Climate Change is very much a geographic issue.  It spans the disciplines of economic geography, human migration, political geography, urban geography and planning, agricultural geography, climatology, hydrology, glaciology, biogeography, meteorology, coastal geography, oceanography, environmental geography, and Geographic Information Systems.  In addition, the National Geographic Initiatives that climate change addresses are “The Ocean, Energy, Fresh Water and Human Stories.”

 

FL is one of the US states that will be most significantly affected by climate change in the future, yet, FL has not accepted any state standards that mandate teaching adaptations, mitigation, human contributions and impacts to climate change.  In fact, Geography is not a required course in Florida’s K-12 education.  At the middle school and high school level, there are 6 geography standards that are to be incorporated into other required social studies classes.  None of these standards address these critical human- environment interactions.

 

The Florida Department of Education rejected the National Research Council’s Next Generation Science Standards that include standards about climate change.  You can view the standards by topic and grade level here.  The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is an excellent resource for educators to use as they implement the NGSS in their classrooms. The NCA is endorsed by the Smithsonian Institution, National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee, Agency for International Development, United States Department of Agriculture, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Defense, United States Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services, United States Department of State, United States Department of Transportation, United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior, United States Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation.  Through its Our Changing Climate section and Climate Science Supplement sections, the NCA contains information that will help educators and students gain a deeper understanding of climate change.  I have also attached an extensive supplementary resource list at the end of this article.  Climate change education is vital if we want young people to make informed, responsible decisions in the future.  These standards are slated to be accepted by 40 states, Florida not included.

 

Climate change curriculum falls under the umbrella of the following broader Florida Standards.

Social Studies Standards:

1. SS.912.G.1.4- Analyze geographic information from a variety of sources including primary sources, atlases, computer, and digital sources, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and a broad variety of maps.

2. SS.912.G.2.3- Use geographic terms and tools to analyze case studies of regional issues in different parts of the world that have critical economic, physical, or political ramifications.

3. SS.912.G.2.4- Use geographic terms and tools to analyze case studies of how selected regions change over time.

4. All of Standard 3 SS.912.G.3: Understand the relationships between the Earth's ecosystems and the populations that dwell within them.

5. All of Standard 4 SS.912.G.4: Understand the characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations. 

          Standard 5 SS.912.G.5: Understand how human actions can impact the environment. 

1. All of Standard 6 SS.912.G.6: Understand how to apply geography to interpret the past and present and plan for the future.

 

Science Standards:

1. All of Standard 6 SC.912.E.6: Earth Structures 

2. All of Standard 7 SC.912.E.7: Earth Systems and Patterns 

 

The challenge then is to figure out how to educate teachers in FL about this important topic and how to incorporate this into public school education in FL.  The FL Geographic Alliance paired up with Dr. Ray Oldakowski, Professor of Geography at Jacksonville University, Dr. Ashley Johnson, an Assistant Professor at Jacksonville University whose area of specialization is ecology and GIS, as well as Dr. Jeremy Stalker (Marine Science and the Science of Climate Change, Jacksonville University) to create curriculum for FL teachers.  On 4/1/2016, during the FL State Geography Bee at Jacksonville University, Amy Stalker from Fleming Island High School and Debbie Hagenbuch-Reese from Sebastian Middle School led a workshop in which 24 middle school teachers participated.  The workshop’s goal was to inform teachers about the geographic impacts of climate change, as well as offer the most current research on the subject, recommend resources about climate change and offer ideas about ways to implement the information in their classrooms.  This presentation covered the history and sources of CO2 emissions, historical evidence of climate shifts, impacts of climate change and sea level rise, as well as impacts on human populations and ecosystems. Specific projections for different coastal communities in Florida were discussed as well as possible mitigation and adaptation responses and scenarios were discussed.  Lesson ideas and best pedagogical practices were shared during this professional development activity.  Examples of middle school active learning exercises were demonstrated at the workshop.  Teachers engaged in a vocabulary bingo activity and a Kagan Strategies Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up exercise.  An interdisciplinary diamante exercise was also demonstrated.  A diamante is an unrhymed seven-line poem literary tool.  It is excellent when used to wrap up a topic and requires students to think creatively about topics.  Here is the link to the file with the PPT and all the lesson ideas. 

 

Since it is still taboo to talk about sea level rise and climate change in many districts in Florida, one idea participants of the conference came up with was pairing up with their science department.  Social Studies teachers can teach about the geographic impacts of climate change as well as implications in urban areas, migration of humans, plants and animals, environmental impacts, economic impacts, etc., while science teachers teach a unit on the science of climate change.  In this way the topic is supported by both disciplines.