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Climate Champions
Tackling the climate crisis requires creating climate champions of all ages—people who are educated on climate science, passionate about addressing the climate crisis, and engaged in concrete efforts to “bend the curve” of global warming. Thus, Climate Champions aims to get more teaching, learning, and action on the climate crisis in regional schools. Climate Champions was launched in the Spring of 2020 as part of a pilot project funded by the UC San Diego Social Sciences Climate Action Lab. Climate Champions leverages the university in service of K12 and community, our team brings together people from UC San Diego CREATE, Birch Aquarium at Scripps, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
What We Do
Work with expert teachers, youth, and university partners to create and curate climate curriculum.
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Share climate education resources that meet the needs of students and teachers.
Build a community of committed Climate Champions to bend the curve of global warming.
Key Program Events & Activities
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Description: Annual design summits where participating teams explore local climate phenomena and learn to use the Understanding Global Change framework to support student modeling and evidence-based explanations.
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What's Included: Modeling Kits for each teacher, monthly Community of Practice meetings, researcher connections
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Action: Create a separate landing page with VERY specific information about the Design Summit's purpose, learning objectives, and link to the event page for the next upcoming design summit.
Climate Champions Design Summit
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Description: Monthly hybrid Community of Practice events connecting teachers with UC San Diego researchers to learn about the latest science research and integrate findings into instructional practices.
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Action: Learn about upcoming Teacher / Researcher Collaboratives here.
Teacher / Researcher Collaborative
Partner Resources
UC Berkeley's Understanding Global Change framework with interactive modeling tools and Earth system resources
NOAA/University of Colorado climate education resources, curriculum development, and teacher professional development
Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network with 1000+ peer-reviewed, NGSS-aligned teaching resources
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Leadership Team
Alec Barron
Co-Director
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Rachel Meisner
Key Team Member
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Nan Renner
Co-Director
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Erin Leavitt
Key Team Member
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Upcoming Events
Climate Champions
Design Summit
$300 Stipend and Understanding Global Change Modeling Kit
In-Person Event
Experience a sequence of learning on a local climate-based phenomenon. From exploration of this phenomenon, you will learn how to use the Understanding Global Change (UGC) framework with students to construct models and evidence-based explanations in any unit of instruction.
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When: June 10th and 11th OR August 5th and 6th.
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Where: UC San Diego