Laura Barron-Lopez:
Last month was the warmest April on record and the 11th straight month of record highs around the world. Today, nearly a quarter of people globally live in drought conditions.
And forecasters anticipate this year’s Atlantic hurricane season will be the most active on record. All signs that climate change is an accelerating threat to the planet, and young Americans are worried about it.
In fact, 85 percent of generation Z is very or somewhat concerned about climate change, according to a Marist poll from earlier this year. In response, states like California, Connecticut, and New Jersey are now teaching kids about climate change in the classroom. One of the educators at the forefront of this is Lauren Madden, professor of elementary science education at the College of New Jersey. How do you go about incorporating climate change into a classroom curriculum?
Lauren Madden, The College of New Jersey: So in New Jersey, it’s a little bit simpler than it is in some other places because we have standards that are required to be taught at all grade levels in all subject areas. So they’re really developmentally appropriate and they’re good tools for teachers to use to think about ways that they can connect to climate in things they’re already doing in the classroom.
