Each Section of Climate Literacy in Education has unique requirements for submissions. Please review the guidelines for the relevant section while preparing your submission:
All Climate Literacy in Education submissions must also include a separate title page with the following information:
Curriculum articles include classroom resources for teaching climate literacy and/or mobilizing climate activism with stories: lesson plans, unit design, activity and project plans, syllabi, assessment, teaching methods, formulas or instructional strategies. Curriculum articles report innovative practices happening in real classrooms with a brief narrative outline of the lesson or unit. They may include links to longer or more detailed teaching resources, like handouts, activity sheets, detailed lesson plans, etc. or links to longer narrative descriptions published separately as Reflection articles.
Curriculum articles fall into the 750 to 1500 word limit. This includes abstract, references, figures, and tables. Supplementary materials (to be linked from the article) are welcomed. The following components are necessary for submitting:
Main text: Please use the curriculum template to structure your article. 750 to 1500-word long (including references). Subheadings (thematic or structural) are recommended to make the article easier to follow and to highlight its main points.
References: section listing the sources referred to in the article.
Reflection articles include opinion pieces, personal reflections, teaching testimonials and reports, reflections on student created projects, reflective reviews of scholarship or methodologies applicable to classroom teaching, and other practice-based forms of narrative reflection. These articles reflect on an issue/theme you encountered in your pedagogical practice and how you handled it. They offer personal testimonials about an event, summary of a project you completed, a course, unit, or module you taught. Say, “My three takeaways from exploring climate anxiety with high-school students.” Reflections may include testimonials from students—individuals or groups—sharing their moments of empowerment, transformation, emotional growth, and other takeaways from engaging with climate literacy. Reflections can also be linked to a Curriculum article.
Reflection articles fall into the 500 to 1200 word limit. This includes abstract and references (if any). The following components are necessary for submitting:
Main text: 500 to 1200-word long (including references). Subheadings (thematic or structural) are recommended to make the article easier to follow and to highlight its main points.
References: section listing the sources referred to in the article.
Critical Essays are academically crafted and theoretically informed articles that present an in-depth argument about a broader issue or challenge related to climate literacy and explore its pedagogical implications. This category includes but is not limited to scholarly articles, conceptual and big picture articles; conceptual- and classroom practice-oriented summaries, synopses or reviews of research and scholarship (esp. shorter, practice-oriented versions of longer scholarly texts published elsewhere, with links to the original source); policy or framework analyses or commentaries; narrative explainers or critiques; and interviews or dialogues on practice. Critical Essays comment on an aspect of climate education theory or practice in a provocative or explanatory manner. We are looking for insightful and innovative writing that engages with the challenge of building universal climate literacy using stories for young audiences. We are particularly keen to be sent pieces with practical messages offering a way forward.
Critical Essays fall into the 900 to 2000 word limit. This includes abstract, references, figures, and tables. The following components are necessary for submitting:
Main text: 900 to 2000-word long (including references). Subheadings (thematic or structural) are recommended to make the article easier to follow and to highlight its main points.
References: section listing the primary and secondary sources referred to in the article.
Creative & Multimodal submissions go beyond nature appreciation or observation to engage with ecocentric concepts, systems, and ethics. These submissions should include a reflective component (framing narrative) called Artist Statement or Description to situate the creative component. The creative component might take the form of poetry or visual artwork; music or performance art events; recordings of climate action events or spoken word performance; ecomedia literacy and social media projects; youth-created multimedia commentaries, documentaries, reports, and other artivism projects that can serve as models for classroom practice. Because parameters for creative & multimedia submissions are diverse, determining the fit of the submission will be at the discretion of CLE editors. Questions should be submitted directly to the Lead Editor.
Creative & Multimodal articles and creative works should be brief in length and time. For example, keeping creative files around 3 pages (for visuals), under 1500 words (for text & images), or under 5 min (for audio/visual recordings). The following components are necessary for submitting:
Creative and/or Multimodal Work: following are suggestions for approaching the submission of these works. If something you would like to submit is not listed or you have questions or concerns, please reach out to the Lead Editor.
Artist Statement or Description: A brief artist statement or a concise summary of the work serves as a narrative framing of your submission. The goal is to help our audience understand the pedagogical possibilities of your creative work. The artist statement or description should be under 100 words and should contain no citation to other published work.
References: (if relevant) section listing the primary and secondary sources referred to in the article.
*Note: Do not submit database and glossary entries here without first requesting to write your entry at https://www.climatelit.org/get-involved/ and receiving confirmation that the entry is available. Otherwise, you may risk being rejected if someone else is already writing that entry.
Climate Lit submissions do not require a title page or an abstract. If you have not written for us before, though, please do include a headshot and 2-3 sentence bio to link to your entry. These will not be part of the anonymous peer review process.
“Start with a short quote from the book/film that captures one of its key ideas/themes—esp. in regard to climate literacy”
Summary paragraph. Briefly summarize the story, introducing characters, setting and conflict. Aim at a minimalist summary that conveys what the work is about.
Review paragraph 1. Start with a single sentence that explains the use(s) of this story for climate literacy education. What issues or concepts does it help us notice or consider? What questions does it raise? What connections among various urgencies of climate change does it paint? Be as specific as you can but remember that this is not a lesson plan (though you are welcome to write a lesson plan for Climate Literacy in Education to link to the entry). Often the work will not be entirely about climate change, but will include an episode or chapter that especially lend themselves to climate literacy conversations. Throughout, please use bold face to indicate any relevant terms, concepts, or themes from the Glossary (or add/create one too) so that your audience knows where the work fits within larger strands of climate literacy education. A good practice is to center one or two key concepts—say, slow violence, or animal conservation, or fracking—as key lenses for the work.
Review paragraph 2. If you need more space, use another paragraph. The entire entry should not be longer than 500 words.
More. If you have links to other reviews, author interviews/talks, related books, lesson plans, or other resources, you may list them below.
Topics. List any keywords and topics that connect to the entry.
Images. The entry should be accompanied by high-res image of the cover, and (for picturebooks and other visual formats) a few images of the pages or screenshots. We can help you find these if you do not have any on hand.
Notes.
Glossary Term (identify origin of term here if relevant)
Start with a single sentence that offers a brief definition of the term (like a dictionary definition). Then use the remaining space to explain the term’s context, history, and popular usage. If there is contention around the glossary term, please explain. If the term is a person’s name, you may offer a brief biography that highlights the person’s relevance to climate issues. Throughout, please use embedded hyperlinks to direct the reader to relevant sources and resources. Use bold face if you mention other glossary terms.
Category. (Activism and Justice, Climate Change, Concepts and Worldviews, Earth Stewardship, Education and Literacy, Energy Systems, Food and Agriculture, Human Impact, Nature and Ecosystems, Systems Care). Terms can fit into more than one category. (required)
Related terms. List other glossary terms that connect to this entry. (required)
More or See Also. If you have links to other reviews, author interviews/talks, related books, lesson plans, or other resources, you may list them below. (recommended)
The entire entry should not be longer than 500 words.
NOTES
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.
