The ‘Changing Climates’ Curriculum (Reboot Education)
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Reboot Education’s fully supported climate-crisis curriculum aims to empower the climate strike generation.
Lessons from ThoughtBox introduce the cause & effect of climate change, exploring some of the science and relating it to local contexts. Students will understand the impact of climate change on human and non-human communities and engage with the values and emotions that we are all experiencing, helping to inspire positive actions and empowerment moving forward.
Students will practise skills of critical thinking & questioning, deep listening, empathy building and thinking in systems (understanding how things connect) by engaging in a wide range of learning stimulus, discussion ideas and creative exercises.
There are four lesson plans on the following topics:
Immerse: Our Changing Climate
Understand: Cause and Effect
Perspectives: The Ripple Effects
Empower: Be the Change
Versions of all resources are available for use with each of the following ages: 5-7, 7-9, 9-11, 11-13, 13-15, 15-18.
Resource packs for ages 9-11 are available on the website. Educators must register with ThoughtBox to access resources for other ages. Registration is free.
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These resources were sourced by the research team, rather than recommended by an educator taking part in the research. We hope they will help towards meeting the need identified by educators for resources that support critical thinking, empathy and deep listening, at all levels.
Some of the quotes from educators show this identified need:
“I would usually encourage them to research smartly if you like, you know, beyond the headlines. So yeah, I mean, that's the difficult bit, isn't it? Like, they get a lot of information that's misinformation or disinformation, and always throughout, it’s always important to try and encourage that critical thinking piece. It's getting them to critically think is kind of the most important.” Dublin-based senior cycle educator
“You know, it's not children's problem to solve everything. It's kind of… but then we also need to be teaching them to be, I guess, solution focused when they're older, maybe, like critical or able to have a critical mind frame when they're thinking about like decisions locally, or, you know, preparing them for that when they're older. So I don't know. I would like to -I think it needs to probably come up a little bit more. Maybe we should be having some more discussions in our class about it as a school about it.” Newcastle-based primary educator
“Children are encouraged to ask clarifying questions, so it’s like ‘Why do you think that? And sort of having that explanation, or encouraging them to have discussion like, you guys can have different opinions and still be the best friends in the entire world - that's absolutely fine. Understanding that different people have different opinions. And whilst it they're encouraged to have their own debate and topic, and they may have disagreements. And that's okay. [...] we'll do a little sort of heads on the table, but hands up voting at the end. So they're not sort of steered by their opinions” Newcastle-based primary educator