Schools in the world have closed response to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous families are finding themselves thrust into homeschooling. Parents are making the choice to show their children subjects like mathematics and grammar, while also juggling other commitments, all within the cramped spaces of self-isolation.
1. Mention it
According to climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, the foremost important thing you’ll do to fight global climate change is to mention it. As public awareness of worldwide global climate change has grown – thanks partially to Greta Thunberg and thus the varsity climate strikes – many children will have picked up some information from the news and within the classroom, then an honest place to start out out is by listening to what they already know and think, and hear their questions and concerns.
You don’t have to be an expert to talk about this issue and learn alongside your children. Avoiding the subject of global climate change , especially the powerful emotions it can provoke, misinformation and eco-anxiety may settle.
2. Use age-appropriate materials
It was the year 1996 when environmental educator David Sobel coined the term ecophobia to elucidate the fear and powerlessness of young children when faced with abstract, distant environmental problems just like the destruction of the Amazon rain forest.
When teaching about global climate change, don’t scare your children or share the information which can overwhelm them. For instance, a documentary that starkly presents the destructive power of worldwide global global climate change in terms of flooding and wildfires probably isn’t an honest thing to share with someone in grade school.
3. Utilize in hope (but not optimism)
Swedish researcher Maria Ojala has extensively studied the role of hope in global climate change education. Parents naturally want to make sure their kids stay hopeful about the long run, even when faced with serious threats like global climate change or a worldwide pandemic.
But Ojala makes an important distinction between optimism – an uncritical, passive certainty that everything is getting to be all right – and constructive hope, during which we all work together to shape a far better future. Constructive hope may involve participation in learners to re-imagine the long run and rise to the challenge of our time.
Climate change when viewed through the eyes of hope allows us to maneuver beyond climate science and interact with both mitigation – the actions we’ll take individually and collectively to decrease global heating – and adaptation – the creation of more resilient communities and societies within the face of a changing world.
4. Good climate education is sweet education
A recent systematic review found that global climate change education was best when it focused on the personally relevant and meaningful information and used active and interesting teaching methods. In other words, global climate change education works when it employs the strategies of fantastic education, regardless of the subject.
The said research also acknowledged a couple of themes specific to climate education: engage in deliberative discussions, interact with scientists, address misconceptions, and implement community projects. So, when learning reception, you’ll hear podcasts of scientists, debunk climate myths, and acquire your hands dirty with a project in your home or garden.
5. Look outside
One of the foremost important belongings you’ll do as a parent goes outside alongside your children – as long because the present COVID-19 guidance in your country allows it. Explore any patches of nature you’ll access, albeit that’s in your garden, and if you’re stuck inside, observe the signs of spring and listen to the birdsong outside your window.
Research has found that parents play an important role in helping children affect global climate change and shift from victims to various agents. If you’re homeschooling thanks to coronavirus, you almost certainly have your hands full getting through the day. But engaging positively with the subject of worldwide global climate change, especially through the lens of constructive hope, could also be how for you to point out science, geography, and much of other subjects while shaping a more just, sustainable world after COVID-19.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
