Innovation in climate education

Image courtesy of Felix Ello Jr.

It was 3 a.m. in Philadelphia when Zachary Herrmann, principal investigator of the Project-Based Learning (PBL) for Global Climate Justice Program, kicked off a meeting with 70 educators located in six sites around Asia, Africa, and Europe. Across time zones and continents, they were all gathered with a shared purpose: to increase the likelihood that every K-12 student gets an education that equips them to address real-world challenges, such as climate change and its resulting social inequities.

“We knew we were attempting something very different from anything we had attempted before. We honestly weren’t sure what to expect,” says Herrmann, adjunct associate professor at Penn GSE. His PBL for Global Climate Justice work has been supported for three years as one of the Environmental Innovations Initiative’s research communities.

Together with various Penn colleagues, including GSE’s Taylor Hausburg, Gillian Daar, and Emma Koropp, Herrmann has been exploring the potential of PBL and climate change for three years, developing resources that educators across the globe have leveraged in their own classrooms to create hands-on learning experiences for young students.

Read more at Penn Today.