Register Login

Climate Literacy in Education

Search
Illustration of young person wearing pink shirt and pants emerging from forest undergrowth onto paved path pdf

Published

2026-09-10

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 3 (2026): Special Issue: Teacher Power, Teacher Impact

Section

Middle Grades

Categories

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Lisa Swenson

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Connecting Science to Real Lives

Developing Empathy with Climate Stories

Lisa Swenson

Swenson

Keywords: empathy, climate stories, design thinking, interview, sustainability

Abstract

This article describes the development of empathy in 8th grade before students conduct interviews for a design thinking project on environmental sustainability. The goal of this lesson is for students to develop a better understanding of how people hold different views on climate change and their connections to the climate they live in. The use of the text Unikkaaqatigiit: Arctic Weather and Climate Through the Eyes of Nunavut's Children to demonstrate climate stories, as well as other texts, helps students be more prepared when entering into conversations with others about their needs in creating a sustainable society.

Image of University M logo with text Libraries Publishing

Contact Publishing Services | Acceptable Use of IT Resources | Report Web Accessibility Issues

The copyright of these individual works published by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing remains with the original creator or editorial team. For uses beyond those covered by law or the Creative Commons license, permission to reuse should be sought directly from the copyright owner listed on each article.