Teacher: Louise Buscham-Hegewald
Overview
Let’s do it! Is the slogan used by the project to promote these easy to use, action-oriented climate focused activities. The project is a repository of ready to use climate challenges and supporting materials developed by two education organisations Teach First Deutschland gGmbH and BildungsCent e.V. in cooperation with Teach First fellows, teachers and students. It is funded by the German National Climate Initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action and by the BNP Paribas Foundation.
Theory of Change
The team aims to support young people in dealing with the effects of the climate crisis on their lives. Through it, they learn everyday things they can do to help protect the climate. The low-threshold and action-oriented Climate Challenges found on the website were developed with a focus on underprivileged pupils in public schools – but can be used by anyone from third grade onwards. They provide learners with opportunities to develop their own agency so they have the confidence to contribute to the climate debate and to act on their beliefs.
Approach and Actions
The website hosts a booklet containing 15 climate challenges which are designed to inspire action in learners. These challenges can be used directly by learners or by teachers. No prior knowledge is required to complete the challenges and step-by-step instructions are provided for easy use. The booklet is comprehensive with explanations of climate change concepts; experiments and practical activities that support the explanations; there are also suggestions that prompt learners to respond to the issues they have found out about in a creative way. To ensure all the resources are as user friendly as possible, the booklet also provides a list of materials which support the activities and ‘tips’ and ‘background information’ are also provided to ensure teachers are fully supported in delivering classroom activities. Climate challenge posters with 35 mini challenges are also available on the website. These further resources have been designed to be easily integrated into classroom activities.
Impact
The climate challenges are contributing to educational justice by allowing students the space to develop their own capacity, particularly by promoting self-efficacy.