Climate Education Resources

This resource from the NJ DOE links to the NJ Student Learning Standards for climate education, instructional resources, and comprehension resources on climate change education. It also provides activities and challenges for students, guidance documents for teachers composing lesson plans, opportunities for community engagement and partnership, as well as podcasts, videos, and webinars. This is a great resource for the professional development of educators. Check out the NJ DOE Climate Change Education Resources.

This site offers instructional resources, including activities, lesson plans, and units specifically designed for New Jersey schools. It also explains how climate change is integrated into the New Jersey Student Learning Standards. For this reason, it would be a suitable professional development resource for NJ Public School K-12 teachers. Check out the NJ DOE’s Instructional Resources.

This site includes links to the NJ Student Learning Standards for all subjects, and includes a resource on climate change education. View the NJ Student Learning Standards.

The NJDEP offers various environmental grants, some of which may be applicable to climate change education. Learn more about NJDEP Grant and Loan Programs.

NJEA provides grants for educators, including some that may support climate change initiatives. Learn more about NJEA grants.

This program offers grants to New Jersey schools for sustainability projects, which often includes climate change education. Learn more about Sustainable Jersey for Schools’ grants.

NOAA offers grants that support climate change education projects. Learn more about NOAA Environmental Literacy Grants.

The EPA provides grants for environmental education projects, including those focused on climate change. Learn more about EPA Environmental Education Grants.

This New Jersey-based foundation supports educational initiatives, including environmental education. Learn more about The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

This platform allows teachers to crowdfund for classroom projects, including those related to climate change education. Learn more about DonorsChoose.

While not specific to New Jersey, this foundation offers grants for environmental education projects, including those related to climate change. Learn more about Captain Planet Foundation.

This app and the associated videos allow the user to monitor the Earth’s vital signs, such as sea level height and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. It would be suitable for students in grades 5-8. Visit NASA Eyes on the Earth.

This website is full of interactive games, articles, and videos that make learning about climate change fun and easy to understand. This would be a great resource for students in grades K-8. Visit NASA Climate Kids.

SubjectToClimate includes lesson plan ideas, materials, and news articles that can be adjusted to different grade levels. This would be a great resource for the professional development of teachers and the education of students in grades K-8. Visit SubjectToClimate.

National Geographic Kids provides access to activities, articles, and lesson plans that are perfect for younger students to learn about climate change and the Earth. This resource is most suitable for students in grades K-3. Visit National Geographic Kids.

Kids Against Climate Change is a website full of information, videos, and activities. It is a great introduction to teach students about how they can make an impact in fighting climate change. This would be a great resource for students in grades K-5. Check out Kids Against Climate Change.

This site offers games, stories, hands-on activities, and videos for learning about climate change in an interactive way. It would be most suitable for elementary and middle school students. Check out OLogy.

This website includes videos, games, and other interactive resources that help students understand weather and climate. It would be most suitable for elementary and middle school students.  Check out SciJinks.

This resource provides several visualizations to demonstrate how Earth’s key climate indicators change over time, including sea level, carbon dioxide, global temperature, and more. This would be an informative resource on climate projections for middle and high school students. Check out NASA Climate Visualizations.

This downloadable app is a great resource in learning about satellites that monitor extreme weather and climate change. This app uses augmented reality (AR), and proposes challenges for users to complete a series of missions and undergo an interactive journey into space by allowing users to see satellites up close and interact with their instruments. Check out the WeatherSats AR App.

En-ROADS is an online simulator that allows the user to test and explore cross-sector climate solutions and projections. This would be a valuable tool for the professional development of teachers interested in climate education and for middle and high school students as part of a lesson plan. Check out En-ROADS.

The Green Schools Alliance is a great resource and robust metric tool. It includes START, a tool for measuring a school’s sustainability with a “whole school” approach, as well as various opportunities for teachers to showcase their school’s sustainability progress. Visit The Green Schools Alliance.

This video provides an inside look of the International Space Station. The space station serves as an Earth monitoring and diagnosis station as astronauts are able to observe and even resolve environmental issues, like natural disasters. This is an informative video for middle and high school students. Watch STEMonstrations: Earth Observations.

These videos, curated by the Project Learning Tree, cover various aspects of climate change in an engaging way for middle school students, but are also suitable for younger learners. Watch Project Learning Tree’s “12 videos to help us learn about climate change.”

The UN SDG’s are comprised of 17 areas in sustainable development that are interdisciplinary, covering topics like ecology, society, economy, education, and more. This is an excellent resource for exploring how each of these topics are multifaceted, explaining their relevance to sustainable development and climate change, and investigating current global issues and advancements in sustainability. Check out the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

This website provided by UNESCO includes news, statistics, videos, events, webinars, and publications relating to sustainable education that meets the UN’s 4th SDG: education for sustainable development. This is an excellent resource for teachers looking to implement lessons and pedagogical techniques into their classrooms that are grounded in sustainability and environmental awareness. Check out UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development.

This resource from Emerald Publishing provides informative resources, webinars, journal articles, blogs, videos, book excerpts, and more on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is useful for educators looking to effectively teach their students about sustainability. Check out Education for Sustainable Development.

The World’s Largest Lesson is in partnership with UNICEF and UNESCO to promote the use of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals so that children can contribute to a better, sustainable future for all. This includes guides on how to teach the SDGs at different levels, lesson toolkits, videos, certificates, games, and more. This is a great resource for both educators and students interested in sustainable development. Visit The World’s Largest Lesson.

The New Jersey Audubon provides climate change education resources including the Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC) curriculum and the Building Ecological Solutions for Coastal Community Hazards (BESCCH) project. It also provides a framework for the Eco-Schools U.S. Program for schools to implement sustainable and climate-focused projects. Check out the NJ Audubon Climate Change Education Resources.

This program offers comprehensive resources to promote sustainability and climate change education. It includes guidance, lesson plans, and action plans that students can implement to make a positive impact in their school and community. It would be an excellent resource for the professional development of K-12 teachers. Visit Sustainable Jersey for Schools.

The mission of the Global Schools Program is “to support schools, educators, and researchers with training, curriculum, and methodologies to integrate sustainable development into education from the classroom to the policy level.” The program provides information on professional development, sessions, events, and opportunities to become involved. Visit the Global Schools Program, become an advocate, or check out their Case Study Guide for Educators, which offers global examples on teaching sustainable development.

This resource includes lesson plans that are specific to New Jersey and aligned with the New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS). It also includes over 1,400 teaching resources that are searchable by keyword, subject, grade level, and that have been reviewed by scientists and teachers. Additionally, it includes learning strategies to help teachers integrate climate education into their curriculum. This source is most suitable for the professional development of K-12 teachers. Visit the NJ Climate Education Hub.

The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) offers a reviewed collection of resources to aid students’ understanding of climate and energy science. This would be great for professional development in lesson planning and classroom activities for K-8 teachers. Visit the CLEAN Network.

These guides include flexible, ready-to-use activities for high school but can also be adapted for younger students. They cover topics from energy to hurricanes to food. Check out the TIL Climate Guides for Educators.

This guide, from the Paleontological Research Institution, includes the basics of climate change science and activities aligned with science standards in free, PDF versions of the guides. It’s a comprehensive resource for teachers, but also useful for K-12 students looking for detailed information. Check out The Teacher-Friendly Guides.

These lessons and activities from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are aligned with science and math standards and include fun and interactive ways to learn about climate change. This source includes activities for grades K-12 that can help teachers to design fun and engaging lesson plans. Check out NASA’s JPL Stem Lessons for Educators.

This site from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection provides lesson plans organized by grade band and a summary of climate change initiatives and impacts in New Jersey. It’s a great resource for understanding the local impacts of climate change and for the professional development of teachers K-12. Check out the NJ DEP Climate Change Education Resources.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offers various resources, including activities and multimedia tools, to teach about climate and energy. This would be a great resource for elementary and middle school teachers in developing lesson plans. Visit NOAA: Teaching Climate.

This site offers a variety of educational resources, including games, simulations, videos, and online books about Earth and atmospheric science. It’s a great place to find interactive and engaging materials. It would be suitable for the professional development of K-12 teachers and for their students to use in the classroom. Visit UCAR’s Center for Science Education.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers a variety of resources, including lesson plans, videos, and coloring books, on climate change. These resources are available in English and Spanish (for ESL students) and suitable for educators developing lesson plans for K-8 students. This resource may also be suitable for students’ viewing in grades 8-12.  Check out the US EPA’s Climate Change Resources for Educators and Students.

This site offers a variety of resources, including webinars and interactive tools, to help users understand climate change and its impacts. These resources would be most suitable for the professional development of elementary and middle school teachers, although some middle school students may also benefit from the resources found on this page. Check out The Wild Center’s Climate Education Resources.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has resources specifically designed for younger students. You can find introductory lessons, presentations, and even a ‘Climate Hero’ certificate program. This would be a great resource for the professional development of elementary school teachers and to be used in the classroom. Check out the WWF’s Climate Change Resources.

This directory includes links to educator resources provided by NASA and other notable organizations, such as NOAA, CLEAN, the US DOE, and more. Check out NASA’s Educator Resources.

This source from the US Department of Agriculture’s Climate Hub includes a guide to understanding and interpreting global climate models. It provides a foundational explanation for these models’ informative capacities and accuracies. Read the USDA’s Basics of Global Climate Models.

This is a great article on professional development for teachers. It simplifies some key principles in teaching climate change to your students as well as how to find materials and develop lesson plans that will fit into your school’s curriculum.  Read “4 strategies for teaching about climate change.”

This article uses various case studies from NJ schools and examines what strategies and techniques for teaching climate change have proven to work well among students. This would be a great article for teachers who want to learn what other teachers are doing and gain a positive outlook on their own teaching abilities. Read “Teaching climate change in every subject.”

The Island School is known as a campus that works with students from all grades, even providing research opportunities for post-doctoral students. They host an annual summer teacher conference that some may find useful as an opportunity to network, engage in current research and practices, and expand their own expertise as it relates to climate and sustainability education. Visit The Island School.

This book provides a comprehensive guide on how to teach climate change using literacy-based methods. It includes themes like interconnectivity, relationality, and action, with plenty of classroom examples. It would be especially useful for the professional development of elementary school teachers.  

This book uses storytelling forms like climate fiction, protest poetry, and documentary films to teach about climate change. It offers creative approaches to developing climate literacy and includes chapters on various topics like space debris and urban design. This would be far more suitable for the professional development of middle school and high school teachers. 

This picture book explores the ongoing problem of plastic in the ocean and the challenges facing marine life. “Little Turtle loves the ocean with her whole heart. As the years pass, she repeats an incredible journey across the world to the beautiful coral reefs. But one day she finds that plastic has invaded her beloved ocean. Could Turtle’s journey be over forever?” This book would be most suitable for K-2 students.

This book discusses what climate change means and how it’s affecting the planet. “The earth is definitely getting warmer. There’s no argument about that, but who or what is the cause? And why has climate change become a political issue? Are humans at fault? Is this just a natural development? While the vast majority of scientists who study the environment agree that humans play a large part in climate change, there is a counterargument. Author Gail Herman presents both sides of the debate in this fact-based, fair-minded, and well-researched book that looks at the subject from many perspectives, including scientific, social, and political.” This book would be suitable for students in grades 3-6. As this book is heavy on text, it depends on the individual level of the student.

This is a picture book and tells the story of how crayons saved the earth. In simple text and imagery, it covers very basic aspects of climate science and factors that negatively impact the environment. This book has an uplifting and inspiring message, and would be suitable for grades K-2.

This is a picture book that explains how kids can help the planet. “This Class Can Save the Planet equips students and educators with simple, effective ways to make a positive environmental impact. Ideal for any time of the year, it turns classrooms into eco-friendly action zones, offering actionable steps for a greener future. Dive in and discover how to make sustainability a daily practice and inspire real change in your school and community.” This would be a suitable text for students grades K-5.

This is an interactive coloring book that includes descriptions of key elements of climate science and information on energy sources. There are puzzles, informative readings, and key terms and definitions that would make great sources for lesson plans and classroom activities. It would be most suitable for students grades 2-5. Access the BioenergizeME: Coloring and Activity Book.