The Climate Is A-Changin': Teaching Civic Competence for a Sustainable Climate

A central aim of social studies curriculum is to prepare young people for making "informed and reasoned decisions for the public good" concerning consequential problems like global climate change. By developing students' "vision of a good society" and exploring what actions and policies move our society in this direction, social studies teachers have an important role in preparing students for a world undergoing enormous environmental change. This article discusses elementary curriculum connections between building students' knowledge and understanding about "their community, nation and world" and global climate change. It also suggests ideas for building civic competency and climate literacy while creating opportunities for students to practice high-value skills like "data collection and analysis, collaboration, decision-making and problem-solving." While decisions on what to do about climate change are fundamentally political and economic, a scientific lens is an important component for informing our decisions. The elementary curriculum can provide students with multidisciplinary lenses--scientific, historical, civic, economic, and geographic--to begin forming ideas about the implications of our growing human footprint on the environment and developing the civic competency to ensure a sustainable climate for this and future generations.