Why Most Teachers Don’t Teach Climate Change

To listen to this episode, download the mp3 directly, find us on iTunes, or use the player below.

Anya Kamenetz Photo Credit: Will O’Hare.

An NPR poll recently discovered that most teachers don’t teach climate change, yet parents wish they did.  To find out more about these findings, we invited NPR education correspondent Anya Kamenetz to the show.  Anya joins us to  to explain why teachers might not teach climate change, provides a few resources for us to change that behavior, and also challenges parents to have these conversations at home.

Brian’s Episode Spreadsheet (12 seasons, 200+ shows: sort shows by season, guest, category, discipline)

Links:

Connect with our guest:

Featured image from NPR


Become a Lab Out Loud Patreon

Support Lab Out Loud

Support Lab Out Loud

If you’ve been listening to Lab Out Loud, played an episode in the classroom for students, or simply value teacher-driven support for science education, please consider supporting our show by becoming a Lab Out Loud Patreon.

To learn more, visit: https://www.patreon.com/LabOutLoud


We always love to hear from you – our listeners. Do you have any ideas for guests? What topics in science and science education need to be addressed? Submit your comments, concerns and suggestions through our contact page or tweet to us at @laboutloud.

Do you like the show? Please leave a comment on iTunes and rate us!

One comment

  • Jane

    Very interesting! I am an 8th grade science teacher and I do teach climate change. An excellent resource I use is JASON Learning’s Climate: Seas of Change. I have helped to align its climate change unit to the Next Generation Science Standards. I find that teaching middle school students the scientific facts is key! I have to admit, if ALL teachers and ALL parents just start teaching about climate change, many children may start forming misconceptions about what is at the heart of climate change issues. We must deal with these issues carefully. It is so important that students analyze graphs of CO2 levels, global temperatures, and world population. We can’t assume students know what the greenhouse effect is. We need to stress the effects of deforestation, raising cattle that burp methane, melting permafrost, and how changing albedo levels affect our temperatures. These ideas must be developed factually and carefully in a way students can understand them. And, yes, students can become depressed after learning all this, so I am very clear with my students when I tell them how much confidence I have in their generation – they are smart, they have the facts, and I have the hope that they will do what needs to be done!