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Climate Change Learning

Climate change is the most complex and wide-reaching challenge facing humankind today. It is essential that we help younger generations to be better equipped to take on this challenge and that we call on their energy, creativity and drive to help us all work towards a common goal. Education is critical to the global and national response to climate change.

Climate change is the most complex and wide-reaching challenge facing humankind today. It is essential that we help younger generations to be better equipped to take on this challenge and that we call on their energy, creativity and drive to help us all work towards a common goal. Education is critical to the global and national response to climate change.
However, the explicit presence of climate change in provincial/territorial curriculum is extremely limited, so it is primarily left to individual teachers to decide if and how to include it, or to individual students to seek out information on their own. 
This approach is not effective; LSF’s 2022 “Canadians’ Perspectives on Climate Change and Education” survey  found fundamental knowledge gaps in climate change understanding and education among Canadians, including teachers and students. For example, nearly a third of educators report not covering climate change topics in any subject that they teach. Of the educators who do integrate climate change content, most devote only 1-10 hours of instruction to the topic per year or semester. While educators would like to include more climate change education in their classroom, 64% agree that they need professional development to do so better, and there is a need for more climate change teaching resources.A lack of resources for teachers translates to a lack of comprehensive climate change education for students. This knowledge gap is apparent in the survey results: a third of all respondents (and 45% of students) failed a basic climate change knowledge quiz. The need for better climate change information and learning resources is clearClimate change is the most complex and wide-reaching challenge facing humankind today. It is essential that we help younger generations to be better equipped to take on this challenge and that we call on their energy, creativity and drive to help us all work towards a common goal. Education is critical to the global and national response to climate change.

However, the explicit presence of climate change in provincial/territorial curriculum is extremely limited, so it is primarily left to individual teachers to decide if and how to include it, or to individual students to seek out information on their own. 

This approach is not effective; LSF’s 2022 “Canadians’ Perspectives on Climate Change and Education” survey  found fundamental knowledge gaps in climate change understanding and education among Canadians, including teachers and students. For example, nearly a third of educators report not covering climate change topics in any subject that they teach. While educators would like to include more climate change education in their classroom, only 34% feel they have the required knowledge and skills; 64% agree that they need professional development to feel better able to do so, and there is a need for more climate change teaching resources.

A lack of resources for teachers translates to a lack of comprehensive climate change education for students. This knowledge gap is apparent in the survey results: a third of all respondents—and 35% of student respondents—failed a basic climate change knowledge quiz. The need for better climate change information and learning resources is clear.

That’s why LSF is committed to supporting Canadian educators with resources, professional development, and programming that will help them incorporate climate change learning into their teaching in any grade or subject. Check out the tabs above to get started!