Talia Epstein's article in The Green Teacher periodical described the efforts made by two teachers to revamp the monotonous and outdated grade 6 geography curriculum. Their goal was to make the regional geography aspect more relevant to the student's lives and futures by incorporating climate change into the syllabus. The class covered all of the topics in the curriculum but the topics had an added emphasis on climate change. The classes watched movies and documentaries, did role-playing and mock meetings, wrote letters, and created posters.
The article tells the story of a grade 6 class, and the students were approached with ideas that worked very appropriately for their age. Implementing this type of curriculum in a higher grade would require a different approach in several aspects. What I thought was interesting was that the class had to put on an alternate transportation day. On this day, all of the students in the school had to bike, walk or carpool to school. One student rode his bike for two hours, with a teacher chaperone, simply to set an example for the rest of the school. This had a significant impact on the community and school, making it into the local paper. This was made real to the students because in math class they calculated how much gas and money that they would save in a day and over the course of the school year.
This article states that in the near future the warming of our planet will be one of the most pressing political and social issues that we will face. In my opinion, the change of focus in this curriculum to such an alarming issue should be welcomed and encouraged everywhere.
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