Climate Change in the Bay
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The Sustainability Teacher Fellowship Program team, Darin Stockdill, Emily Gochis, Odera Igwe, and Nate Phipps from the Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research (CEDER), has been awarded a NOAA B-Wet grant. Building on five years of success, the project will support a place-based climate change education program in Michigan’s Saginaw Bay watershed.
Starting in the summer of 2025, twenty K-12th-grade educators from all subject areas will participate in professional development, including online courses and field-based workshops. During the 2025-26 school year, educators will design and implement climate-focused learning experiences and student action projects. The project seeks to 1) increase educator climate-related content knowledge, 2) expand teachers’ place-based and outdoor learning pedagogical abilities, 3) improve students’ climate literacy, 4) increase the number of student action projects that address local watershed issues, and 5) strengthen partnerships between classrooms and community partners. To achieve these goals, the program will provide educator stipends, project mini-grants, community partner networking, ongoing project mentorship, and comprehensive professional development.