Teaching Climate Science in the Elementary Classroom: A Place-Based, Hope-Filled Approach to Understanding Earth’s Systems

Discover new ways to help elementary students engage with and understand the world around them through place-based, hope-filled learning about the causes, impacts, and responses to climate change. This book features foundational climate concepts, easily implementable activity plans, and inspiring examples of student engagement. Each chapter begins with a short vignette pulled from the author’s considerable teaching experience in engaging students in concepts of climate change and climate justice, followed by content-focused sections and recommendations for student activities and projects. The author provides stories of hope-filled action to invite teachers to look for and reflect on similar narratives in their own communities. Sample units of study for grades K-5 show teachers how key ideas from each chapter come together into an instructional plan that incorporates the three dimensions of NGSS and can fit into the broader outline of their school year. This resource is an accessible tool to support any elementary educator in building their own knowledge base and integrating the important and timely issues of climate change into their classroom.

Stephanie Sisk-Hilton is a Professor of Elementary Education at San Francisco State University. Her research focuses on how children and teachers co-create science understanding and how issues of agency and belonging interact with learning. She has taught elementary and middle school in Prince George’s County, MD, Atlanta, GA, Brooklyn, NY, and Oakland and Berkeley, CA. She also facilitated a backyard summer science camp for neighborhood children for ten years. She works extensively as a teacher professional developer, supporting elementary educators to develop ambitious, joyful, and hope-filled science learning experiences.