The are already modifying the everyday lives of increasing numbers of people worldwide. Climate education therefore needs to be more than the abstract conveying of scientific contexts, said Evelyn Araripe at the start of her presentation during a Virtual Coffee Break on the Alumniportal: ‘It involves preparing our younger generation for the challenges of the present and the future.’ This topic should be part of the curriculum in all countries, demanded the Brazilian doctoral candidate. She is conducting research into didactics in the natural sciences at .
Even where this may already be the case, however, the topic is often only dealt with superficially because the teachers are inadequately prepared. Climate education should not just be a constituent part of teacher training programmes, said Araripe, it should also play a more significant role in teachers’ professional development. The establishment of networks that enable teachers to engage in interaction and peer learning should also be seen as important.
Transdisciplinary climate change education
Araripe went on to expound her view that, since , the knowledge concerning it should be conveyed in a transdisciplinary fashion and not – as is common practice – merely in classes teaching geography and the natural sciences. She sees alignment towards practical activities as being decisive: ‘Pupils want to be actively involved, they want to be part of the solution.’
Her master thesis between 2018 and 2020 at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in São Paulo involved her conducting a survey on climate education among pupils in different age groups throughout Brazil: ‘Some said that their lessons dealt with polar bears, not the weather in their town or city. Climate education needs to be embedded in local everyday reality.’ An experience of self-efficacy could also help the younger generation to deal with the proliferation of climate anxiety.
The expert used experiences she had gathered from international climate education and sustainability projects involving children and young people to show what successful climate education might look like. One example she gave included a project in São Paulo where pupils planted an agroforestry system on their school grounds in 2017. ‘The woodland almost acts as a textbook and really helps the teachers to convey the topic.’
Designing schools to be a climate-resistant haven
The infrastructure at schools, Araripe continued, could in two respects play a major role in the context of climate change: the buildings themselves could be places of learning in terms of sustainability topics, by means of on the school roof for example. And another function of schools is becoming ever more important: providing safe spaces during natural disasters. Many families, for example, found a safe haven in school buildings during the catastrophic in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in 2024. Investment is deemed to be required to make schools climate-resilient in light of ever more frequent extreme weather events.
The expert also pointed out that the consequences of climate change were causing major interruptions or prematurely ending many children’s and young people’s education. reckons that in 2024 there were 123 million pupils worldwide who were at times unable to attend school due to storms, flooding or heat waves. Araripe said that even the indirect consequences of climate change could have devastating impacts on education opportunities. Because children and young people frequently had to drop out of education and more girls would marry early when families had less income.
Integrating climate education into lessons
Interested alumni and alumnae from around the world took part in this . As determined via Mentimeter, many of them actively conduct research into topics relating to climate change. This lively online discussion was moderated by the Alumniportal's Daniela Becker. Among other things, the participants noted the difficulty of integrating climate education into the complex school system, or questioned whether it could really be conveyed in every subject. In addition to further examples of successful climate education projects, there was debate on the extent to which pupils would pass on their knowledge of climate and sustainability topics to their families. ‘Climate education isn’t a one-way street. It is important that we empower children to apply what they’ve learned in the home environment,’ said Araripe – and then emphasised once again: ‘Climate education should convey to pupils the positive feeling that they can help to drive the solutions.’