As the effects of climate change continue to disproportionately affect marginalized communities, it is crucial to understand how to properly educate young people on these climate issues to initiate change and advocate for these neighborhoods. We use guest speakers, in-class discussions, and fun and impactful projects where students will experience what it means to teach young motivated students about climate change, environmental justice, policy change, and sustainability. It aims to provide students with knowledge of environmental issues and tools of change to motivate them to proactively educate elementary and middle school students in their capacity and interests.
This course, through the Environmental Justice Education (EJE) Program, will allow students to teach environmental justice to elementary and middle schoolers and acquire the skills necessary to effectively do so. EJE, through the ASUC Office of the President and ASUC STeam, sends students from UC Berkeley to local elementary and middle schools in marginalized neighborhoods to teach them about the implications of climate change on the justice system.
This DeCal was created to expand EJE’s network of student-teachers and ensure they are equipped with the right information and resources. Throughout the course, students will learn how to properly address a classroom of elementary and middle schoolers, workshop their own Environmental Justice-themed lesson plans, review past EJE presentations and give feedback to improve them for future use, and hear from both a local middle-school teacher and a UC Berkeley ESPM Department professor about their experiences in education. In the final weeks of the course, students will venture to a local school to teach their lesson plan and conduct a final project that reflects on their experience.