How: Ideas, Programs, and Resources

This page is a compilation of ideas for programs, existing programs, and resources for organizations, teachers, or other educators to help prepare students for climate change.

A science fair, especially one focused on climate change, would give students the opportunity to research a climate change solution, effect, or cause and share their findings with their classmates. This gives students incentive to research something thoroughly, and gives them a chance to collect their own data, do their own research, and be creative.

Multiple teachers I interviewed mentioned the idea of a science fair as something that would be rewarding for students. The consensus was that for students to participate in significant numbers, the science fair would have to be part of a class. A high school science teacher suggested that a science fair could be part of science classes (or an elective class like STEAM) in middle school, and then become an optional club in high school. Because of the amount of standards teachers have to incorporate, organizing a science fair in high school science classes could be challenging without outside support, especially in grades below 11. Former Blatchley science teacher (and science fair organizer) Patricia Dick expressed interest in supporting anyone who wants to take initiative in organizing a science fair.

Science Fairs

Apprenticeships

Preparing students for climate change also includes preparing them for an economy that is shifting in response to the causes and effects of climate change. Students need to learn about how climate change will alter their job prospects, and they will need to learn skills required to participate in those jobs. Seeing what current jobs are like in areas like fish and wildlife management or aquaculture and for employers like ADF&G, the electric department, or SSSC, could encourage students to pursue employment in these areas and would teach them what pathways they could take to get there.

An apprenticeship program has already been laid out by Howard Wayne, but if resources aren’t available to organize a full scale program, something more simple like a job fair could be organized instead. Additionally, according to a high school science teacher, SSSC has internship opportunities for students each year and has trouble filling them. A solution to this could be inviting SSSC staff into classes to recruit students, or allowing them to set up an information table during lunch.

Growing local food reduces the carbon emissions from shipping produce, while also teaching useful skills and empowering students to be independent. Students take these skills and sustainable values with them as they continue into other jobs in the community, or in different communities.

Hydroponics is a technique for growing produce that doesn’t use soil, and instead exposes plant roots to mineral nutrient solutions. Pacific High School recently received a USDA grant that they plan to use part of for a hydroponics program. In Anchorage, Seeds of Change uses hydroponics to teach young people vocational and personal skills needed to become successful adults. This program could serve as a template for a similar program in Sitka.

Hydroponics and Sustainable Food

Ideas

Existing Programs

The programs below all include at least one of the elements I identified as important to prepare students for climate change: solution-based, cultural, and hands-on and place-based education, as well as workforce development and mental health support. Many of them are listed as opportunities for collaboration, expansion, or inspiration for the Sitka School District or other organizations willing to take initiative in preparing students for climate change. Opportunities for students, like RASOR and the summer internships, are listed so they can be made known and made more accessible to Sitka students.

The Sealaska Heritage Institute works with public school teachers through its STEAM program, which teaches math skills to middle-school students through Northwest Coast art. Teams of teachers, artists, and SHI staff are producing, field testing, and disseminating a series of supplemental math resources that incorporate Tlingit culture and language geared for beginning algebra and geometry courses. In Sitka, STEAM includes elective classes and a summer camp for middle schoolers through this program, supported by a collaboration between the Sealaska Heritage Institute, the Sitka School District, and Sitka Tribe of Alaska.

Relevance: Climate change is an intersectional crisis; it affects every vocation and every field of study. This makes holistic and cross-curricular programs such as STEAM uniquely positioned to teach the skills necessary to respond to climate change. Specific lessons within the STEAM program include hands-on and place-based learning using yellow cedar saplings to teach about climate change effects on local ecosystems. Including Tlingit culture and language in lessons is also important for climate change education; it connects students to the place and culture around them and shows them that it is possible to responsibly steward the land for thousands of years.

Ideas: This program could be expanded to the high school as an elective, or elements of it could be combined with another class such as Math for Business.

Contact: woolseyc@sitkachools.org

STEAM

Scientists in
the Schools

The Sitka Sound Science Center’s Scientists in the School is a unique program that provides rural students exposure to a wide discipline of sciences by implementing hands-on and engaging classroom and field experiences with professional scientists.

Relevance: Scientists in the School exposes students to researchers and important science research that they can do themselves. There are exciting opportunities to integrate climate science into this program, particularly using place-based case studies. Hands-on and place-based science helps students understand how climate change is affecting the environment around them, while also showcasing vocations that work directly to solve climate change.

Ideas: Collaborate with another organization to invite engineers, individuals working in climate policy (legislative staff, climate change reporters, activists), and/or climate change solutionists to give lessons in classes other than science. Could also collaborate with Project Drawdown to give lessons on climate change solutions to fill out climate change education. To make sure that student engagement continues after the scientist leaves, teachers could meet with scientists beforehand to discuss how the lesson could best fit in with existing curriculum plans and standards.

Contact: information@sitkascience.org

RASOR

The Rural Alaska Students in One-Health Research program connects students with each other, teaches them about the connections between environmental and human health, and mentors them in conducting their own research projects with community mentors.

Relevance: Rural students will be on the frontlines of climate change; impacts to local foods, traditional ways of life, and limited job opportunities will be exacerbated in rural areas with fewer resources. Equipping rural students with an understanding of the changes happening around them and the skills to respond to these changes helps rural economies and community health, and also helps direct resources to Native youth and minority groups.

Ideas: Promote the program in science classes and through counselors.

Contact: emchenoweth@alaska.edu

GLOBE

Through interdisciplinary activities and inquiries into the various Earth spheres, the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program gives students a hands-on approach to the scientific method.

Relevance: One of the challenges of understanding the climate crisis is its global scope. The GLOBE program builds an understanding of climate change by collecting local data, then interpreting it, and finally zooming out to a global perspective of changing environments around the world. All of this is provided through hands-on activities under different topics.

Ideas: There are weather stations at both SHS and KGH that have been used in previous years in GLOBE activities. The data collected in these stations could once again be used with GLOBE activities and submitted to its database, along with data from the new BMS weather station.

AYEA

Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA) is a program of The Alaska Center Education Fund that inspires and trains rural and urban youth leaders to impact environmental issues by providing leadership skills training and supporting youth-led community action projects and campaigns.

Relevance: If students learn about climate change but aren't taught that they have the power to take action against its effects, they are more likely to feel hopeless about the issue. AYEA enables students to work to mitigate climate change, and empowers them to be leaders in their communities.

Aquaculture Semester

AK Aquaculture Semester offers students from around the country the opportunity to take on an academic hands-on learning experience, studying fisheries sciences and practices with easy access to cold-water marine habitats and professional facilities.

Relevance: Aquaculture students learn about the science behind hatcheries in Southeast Alaska while practicing valuable skills like skiff maintenance needed for work in the aquaculture sector. Students also learn about low-impact and carbon sequestering kelp farming, and a job fair is included at the end of the program. This program prepares students for sustainable jobs and teaches them about restorative farming, food security, and hatchery science with climate change as a theme throughout.

Ideas: The semester is broken into sections, so if high school students wanted to participate there could be opportunities for them to join a specific section; for instance, mariculture or maritime skills. The job fair could also be open for high schoolers to participate in. Additionally, since the aquaculture semester is only in the fall, there is potential for a smaller version to happen during the spring with participation from high school students.

Contact: abowers4@alaska.edu

4-H

The Sitka Spruce Tips 4-H Club connects youth to the natural environment of the Tongass National Forest through hands-on experiential education, including natural history, camping skills, navigation, and art lessons.

Relevance: Teaching students from a young age the value of the land around them and how to be stewards of it gives them a reason to protect the resources around them from threats like climate change. Giving students the opportunity to learn about the environment around them also allows them to see the changes more clearly, and 4-H gives them resources to ask questions about those changes.

Ideas: 4-H could partner with the school district to bring 4-H lessons to students in school, especially in the elementary grades. 4-H could also do a series of lessons on climate change and climate change solutions.

SHS Vocational Program

Students are trained in vocational skills required in areas like local construction and engine repair. Projects like the Tongass Tiny Home teach students valuable skills like framing, roofing, siding, and flooring while incorporating sustainable elements like locally milled second-growth timber.

Relevance: Preparing students for the workforce while teaching about sustainability and connecting them to place is important in strengthening the local economy, and also gives students skills to make them stand out in a changing global economy.

Ideas: In the face of an economy changing to favor sustainable building practices as well as energy efficient heating systems, renewable energy sources, and electric motors, students should learn the skills required to be employed in these sectors. Future projects could include converting a classic car or an ATV to electric, as well as learning how to repair electric motors.

Ocean Bowl

Ocean Bowl is an academic competition and program that teaches high school students about ocean science, prepares them for ocean science-related and other STEM careers, and helps them become knowledgeable citizens and environmental stewards.

Relevance: Students learn about the marine environment and how it’s affected by climate change, while learning skills and information that could prepare them for a future job in marine science or mitigating the effects of climate change.

Ideas: One of the ocean bowl organizers suggested turning the ocean bowl club into an “ocean club” with more hands-on activities like snorkeling and beach clean ups. The rationale behind expanding this opportunity to include outside activities was that, according to the ocean bowl leader, “to want to protect [the ocean], you first have to love it.”

Summer Opportunities

AK-CSI

The Alaska Coastal Studies Institute is built around core experiences (each about a week in duration) hosted by local research agencies and community-organizations in the Kachemak Bay area. These core experiences provide a fun, fascinating, and highly effective way to learn how scientific knowledge is being built and used in Kachemak Bay. Participants also attain job-related skills in research design, data collection, analysis, and scientific communication. Plus, they can grow professional networks and become familiar with a number of the research agencies working in Kachemak Bay, explore different career options and build connections with organizations that offer seasonal internships, as well as research/graduate school positions!

ANSEP Summer Bridge

Wilderness Expeditions for Young Women

JIRP

The ANSEP Summer Bridge focuses on developing students academically, socially and professionally for college and careers. The Summer Bridge is a college and career visioning opportunity that’s geared toward students who are graduating high school this academic year. Summer Bridge students work a paid summer internship in the engineering, science, or business field with one of the ANSEP Strategic Partners. All costs associated with the program are covered by ANSEP. Students who successfully complete Summer Bridge are eligible for scholarship funding to attend the University of Alaska, the fall immediately following Summer Bridge.

Each year Wilderness Expeditions for Young Women selects expedition teams of 8-9 teenage girls and 3 instructors to spend 12 days exploring and learning about glaciers and the alpine or marine environment. Through scientific field studies with our team of professional glaciologists, scientists, artists, and mountaineers, you will build critical thinking skills, gain self-confidence, and make lasting friendships.

The Juneau Icefield Research Program gives students a wide range of training in Earth sciences, wilderness survival, and mountaineering skills, and provides unique opportunities for team building and personal growth. Participants are active partners with leading scientists pursuing groundbreaking research. JIRP stimulates cross-disciplinary collaboration among students from the United States and around the world with scientists engaged in all aspects of Earth systems science.

Legislative Internships

Senator Murkowski: Interns assist Senator Murkowski's staff in legislative and constituent duties. Interns assist in the day-to-day clerical and administrative tasks within the office such as directing mail, speaking with constituents, running errands, and assisting staff with research projects. Interns gain insight into the workings of a Senate office and how the legislative process works. They will also have the opportunity to enjoy the many educational and cultural activities that are available in the Washington, D.C. area. Internships in regional offices with the state are also available on a case by case basis. (High school seniors and college students)

Senator Sullivan: Students under the age of 18 interested in politics, public service, public relations, research, and writing can gain valuable experience through an internship in Senator Sullivan’s Alaska offices.

Crew Training Program

The Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association's Crew Training program aims to: 1) provide young people with an interest in pursuing a career in commercial fishing an opportunity to gain experience; and 2) give young people the opportunity to better understand commercial fishing, the lifestyle it provides, and its important role in supporting coastal communities. All while providing a safe, well-guided, entry level experience.

ADF&G Internships

The ADF&G Internship Program offers unique opportunities that will contribute to students' academic and career development while also accomplishing some necessary work for ADF&G. The program:

Provides practical experience and reaffirmation of your field of study
Offers a rewarding source of income and confidence
Exposes you to the types of employment opportunities available in your prospective careers in hopes that you will discover your employment interests
Provides an opportunity to become knowledgeable about state government
Offers academic credit opportunities

Resources

Weather Stations

Originally used as part of the GLOBE program, there are weather stations at Keet Gooshi Heen, Blatchley Middle School, and Sitka High School. Classes have used these in the past to collect data which was used in lessons and submitted to an international database. The new geoscience coordinator at the Sitka Sound Science Center is planning on collaborating with Sitka High classes to use their weather station, but the KGH station (which is the newer one) is not in use. Multiple teachers at Blatchley are planning on integrating the school's new weather station data this year.

TROP ICSU

TROP ICSU is a global project funded by the International Council of Science that provides free and detailed lesson plans to teachers to increase the understanding of climate change in every discipline. Teachers who are interested in teaching about climate change in any subjects can use these free resources to help them.

Seek

The Seek app allows users to identify many plant, animal, or fungi species around them through its AI software. Students could use this in class as part of a life science unit or outside of class as a homework assignment or fun challenge. Classes could then discuss the impacts of climate change on the species the students identify. This could allow students to make the connection between the large-scale process of climate change and the effects closer to home.

Project Drawdown

Project Drawdown has a climate solutions “course” with 6 units outlining why climate change exists and how to drastically decrease carbon emissions. The Drawdown website also contains detailed lists of solutions in nine different sectors that students could learn about under many topics.

Racing Extinction

Teaching evolution is a required standard, and one science teacher mentioned that she always teaches about mass extinctions in her evolution unit. The movie Racing Extinction is about how humans are causing a mass extinction through issues like overfishing and climate change.

Place-Based Education Guide

Science teacher Chohla Moll developed a guide for teachers on how to create place-based curriculum. Place-based lessons are important for student engagement, and they provide opportunities for students to learn about the environment around them and become invested in its well-being.

Fortress of the Bear

Classes could visit the Fortress to learn about human impacts on the environment around them; many of the bears in the Fortress are there because they became too used to humans. Visiting would also be a great opportunity to learn about environmental indicators that tell animals what to do -- like when bears know to hibernate -- and how these could be affected as a result of climate change. Additionally, Tlingit culture has many traditions surrounding bears, and visiting the Fortress would be a great opportunity to learn about this.

Alaska Raptor Center

Visiting the Raptor Center is another great chance to learn about how human activities impact wildlife around them. Birds also rely on environmental indicators that are changing as a result of climate change. For example, eagle chicks hatch right around the time when salmon return to the streams. Additionally, some of the birds in the raptor center have been purposefully harmed, probably by some high school students. Visiting these birds could be an opportunity to show students how they are affected by human activities, particularly juvenile crows who are often brought into the center with gunshot wounds.