Climate Literacy in Education

The Science Behind the Stories

A Research-Based Transdisciplinary Approach to Climate Literacy

Rebecca Young

Cognia

Mary-Alice Corliss

Cognia

Lisa Vicens

Cognia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/cle.v1i1.5241

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Abstract

Abstract: We outline an inquiry-based pedagogical model for studying scientific phenomena through the lens of a story and offer a middle school example educators can pilot in their classrooms or use as a guide for constructing their own. The middle school pilot opportunity explores the science behind coastal erosion and the impacts of sea-level rise in Julie Bertagna’s Exodus.

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Author Biographies

Rebecca Young, Cognia

Rebecca L. Young serves as a content manager for the non-profit education organization Cognia. Her first book, Confronting Climate Crises through Education: Reading Our Way Forward, and her current research explores how transdisciplinary instruction and assessment can prepare young people for the challenges of a changing world. Her most recent publications, Literature as a Lens for Climate Change: Using Narratives to Prepare the Next Generation and Climate Change Education: Reimaging the Future with Alternative Forms of Storytelling, offer collections of chapters focused on the ways storytelling can engage K-12 students as ecologically conscious, globally-minded problem solvers in the climate crisis.

 

Mary-Alice Corliss, Cognia

Mary-Alice Corliss is a former high school science teacher and current science education and learning specialist at Cognia, who develops and reviews high-quality summative and formative science assessments for a wide range of stakeholders. She has past and current experience working directly with DOE leadership across the U.S., as well as teachers, and district leaders, to best support students and teachers in their learning journey.