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Blog Climate Change Teaching

5 Common Climate Misconceptions

Paul Turner from the Ministry of Eco Education asked Sylvia Knight from the RMetS about some of the misconceptions that frequently appear in teaching resources and conversations. 

The interview covers:

  • ‘Greenhouse gases absorb the Sun’s energy’
  • Greenhouse gases form a layer high in the atmosphere
  • Local emissions of greenhouse gases have local impacts
  • Tree planting will solve climate change
  • Carbon footprints are useful to explore personal impacts.
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Climate Climate Change CPD Geography Microclimates Schools Secondary Teaching Weather

Weather and Climate: updated Teachers’ CPD

weather and climate teachers guideWe have just updated and extended the ‘More for Teachers’ information associated with our award-winning Weather and Climate: a Teachers’ Guide. These information sheets are designed to provide CPD for teachers of geography who would like to improve or update their weather and climate subject knowledge. 

The teachers’ guide and the accompanying online teaching resources, aim to give UK geography teachers all that they need to deliver relevant, engaging and thorough weather and climate lessons to 11–14+ year old students. They are not linked to any specific curriculum but should be easily adaptable to all.

There are 20 topics or chapters. Across these, there are three threads or paths which can be taken through the online resources, depending on the teaching time available:

Basic weather: Weather in our lives, weather measurements, weather and climate, global atmospheric circulation, global climate zones, air masses, pressure and wind and water in the atmosphere

Climate: Weather and climate, global atmospheric circulation, global climate zones, past climate change, polar climate, hot deserts, changing global climate, UK climate, changing UK climate, the climate crisis

Extending weather: Anticyclones, depressions, microclimates, urban weather, tropical cyclones.

The Royal Meteorological Society believes that:

  • all students should leave school with basic weather literacy that allows them to understand the weather that affects them, their leisure activities and the careers they choose to follow
  • every student should leave school with basic climate literacy that would enable them to engage with the messages put forward by the media or politicians and to make informed decisions about their own opportunities and responsibilities.

To this end, we have embedded a climate change thread throughout the online resources, showing its relevance to both weather and climate. An understanding of weather and climate is fundamental to an understanding of climate change.

There is a progression of knowledge through the topics, supported by review and assessment activities. The resources also progressively develop key geographical skills such as data, mapwork, GIS, fieldwork and critical thinking.

We also include common misconceptions which should be challenged in the classroom.

Many of the online teaching resources are available with standard or easier versions, as well as extension or alternative activities.

Find the scheme of work, teaching resources, background information for teachers, as well as the Teachers’ Guide here

Categories
Blog Climate Change Curriculum maths Teaching

New Maths Lesson with Climate Context

We are delighted to have collaborated with the resource team at Dr Frost Learning to add a new maths lesson with a climate change context to the set we published earlier this year.

The new resource, which focusses on “changing the subject of a linear formula involving brackets and fractions” has a question in the context of 2023 being confirmed as the hottest year on record.

Dr Frost Learning are working to explicitly interweave the applications of various mathematical ideas to climate change in order that students gain a better understanding from their studies.

This work follows research we published in 2022  in partnership with Ipsos, showing the need and want for better climate education in schools. The study revealed that just under half of pupils in Year 11 could not recall being taught about climate change in the past year, with 20% believing that they have never been taught about it. Over 60% of students stated they feel very concerned about the impact of climate change in their lifetimes, but many of them showed limited understanding of the science and its impacts.

Our 2023 report demonstrated the opportunities for including climate change across the secondary  school curriculum in England and we are delighted to have worked with Dr Frost Learning to turn some of the recommendations from this report into classroom resources.

The resources demonstrate to students that the maths skills they are learning are relevant to their understanding of climate change, without increasing curriculum load.

Categories
Blog Climate Change Curriculum Teaching

Quality Control of Climate Education Resoures

Paul Turner from the Ministry of Eco Education asked Sylvia Knight from the RMetS about why it’s important to consider the quality of a climate education resource, and how the NCEAP quality control framework is being used. 

MetLink - Royal Meteorological Society
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