During this decisive moment in history, with Earth’s systems at the breaking point, and social and economic systems under tremendous stress, it is essential that humans embrace a new sustainable paradigm. Because the education system is at the cornerstone of our collective culture, schools must find pathways for preparing students to come out of their K-12 education with the knowledge, skills, values, and experiences to both survive and thrive. 

During the 2020/2021 school year, Communitopia partnered with the Woodland Hills School District to pilot a professional development program aimed to do just that. The Climate Change Teacher Fellowship supported teachers to design a PBL unit of study with a goal of providing students an opportunity to unpack unsustainable and unjust systems and practice designing solutions to combat them. 

Cathie Pearson, a k-5th grade gifted educator at Turtle Creek Elementary School has always looked for opportunities to help her students be the change they want to see in the world. “I have always strived to include project based learning activities that address climate change and environmental issues in the gifted curriculum. My students are eager to learn about the issues, tackle the problems and implement their solutions to make a difference for the Earth. I wanted to join Communitopia’s Climate Change Teacher Fellowship to learn more about solutionary teaching and how I can best foster solutionary learning in my classroom.”

Cathie and her cohort colleagues all designed a Solutionary Unit of Study aimed at doing just that. By gaining foundational knowledge on the topics of zero waste, sustainable food and clean energy, the Fellowship team then designed a unit of study culminating with their students designing solutions to address the challenges they see on their campuses. As a result, Turtle Creek Elementary School now has new trees planted on campus as well as raised beds with vegetables the students can harvest for eating and learning. The work continues this school year with more educators joining a second cohort!

One of the most powerful aspects of the Fellowship is that it is interdisciplinary and can be effective in classrooms with students in grades K-12. Susan Tanski, a high school Spanish teacher, also participated in the Climate Change Teacher Fellowship during the 2020/2021 school year. Her Solutionary Unit of Study focused on the global tree canopy challenges and brought the work home, using the campus as a laboratory for change. This October, students at the high school planted 29 trees on campus.

To its credit, the fellowship provides a roadmap for bringing together already existing educational philosophies and unit archetypes such as the PBL models (Project-Based, Problem-Based, Place-Based, and Phenomenon-Based learning), Inquiry-Based Learning, Civics Education, 5E Instructional Model, and Systems Thinking, with the philosophies of Solutionary Teaching and Learning and best practices surrounding incorporating climate change education into classrooms.