About
Culturally Responsive Climate Change Education
The program trains teachers, 4-H leaders, and community members on climate change concepts, culturally-responsive curriculum, and environmental observing protocols in face-to-face and online courses.
More focused learning on the core climate change issues in the participant’s community continues through modules that include:
GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) protocols that best fit the issue,
Local ecological knowledge,
Historical and current NASA data,
Direct contact with NASA subject matter experts,
Collaboration with a team of Arctic scientists and other partners such as the Association of Interior Native Educators and the 4-H program.
See project examples from different communities participating in the program here.
Learning with an Impact
Arctic and Earth SIGNs youth and communities center interdisciplinary learning on a climate change issue they identify through interviews with elders and NASA data. They design and implement a GLOBE citizen science investigation, and learn more about the issue through curriculum that braid Western science and Alaska Native knowledge and traditions. They apply the in-depth learning and data they collected to stewardship projects related to the core climate change issue of the community.
Scientists also use the data collected through the project to address larger scale climate change or remote sensing questions.
“Everything my students read and hear about climate change and variable sea ice conditions comes from outsiders. They are the ones that depend on the ice, but they are not a part of the observation or conversation. Many of the students and members of the community feel separated from the topic that is very much a part of their lives. I want to help the community be a part of the conversation from a scientific perspective, rather than just a social perspective.”
-Teacher Lyle Melkerson, Kivalina, AK
