“EfEC is designed to address a major gap in environmental education. Indiana’s teachers contend with multiple barriers to effectively teach their students about climate change and its causes. These include a lack of training in climate science, misinformation in the media, local and state resistance, and a dearth of grade-level-appropriate resources,” he said. “Although 72% of Hoosiers agree that our schools should teach the causes, consequences and potential solutions of climate change, it can be extraordinarily challenging for teachers to include the right balance of information and activities that can fit neatly into existing Indiana education standards. EfEC was created in 2017 to provide teachers with the training, support, and tools necessary to bring high-quality climate education into their classrooms and provide direct access to IU’s climate scientists.”
Besides the Center for Rural Engagement, EfEC is possible through the work of four IU science departments, the IU Environmental Resilience Institute and the WonderLab Museum of Science, Health and Technology, along with master K-12 teachers. EfEC workshops emphasize data-driven content and research-based pedagogy as well as a combination of field and laboratory investigations designed to foster and engage student-scientists. Workshop topics include a broad array of critical issues at the intersection of science and public policy, from climate change to natural disasters, and from environmental justice to geoengineering. Since 2017, EfEC has worked with more than 225 elementary, middle and high school teachers, who have gone on to reach an estimated 20,000 students. In 2020, EfEC was awarded the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s Governor's Award for Environmental Education and Outreach for “extraordinary initiatives in protecting the environment.”
