Climate Change Training Course

Climate change causes a serious imperil to human civilization, but it provides an opportunity to create a better future. The climate is disturbed, and universities are facing significant and growing risks. Addressing these risks can offer chances for rebuilding higher education, making them safe and more actively engage in solving global issues and to provide better education and research. It is necessary to create and sustain a sustainable society. Climate adaptation education cannot be limited to STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

It is necessary to embed a discussion on climate adaptation into the core curriculum, so all students have at least a basic understanding of these issues, as well as specialized courses in many disciplines to train experts.

Using estimates for the costs of adding this new course into AUCC, it concluded that the medians would cost a maximum of $20000 to implement. This is a very rough estimate that accounts for faculty and GTA salary, facilities and technology, and library sources costs, but without any precise measurements. The true cost of the project may be less than this amount; however, it should not exceed $20000.

Curriculum design is recommended for better teaching and learning about climate change education based on evidence-based research. Climate change should be introduced using integrated, cross-discipline curricula. It also needs to link the global phenomenon to individual actions. Instead of constantly convey the sense of helplessness and demotivation it is also important to provide potential solutions to it. Finally, using visual imagery to make global climate dynamics more understandable and engaging for students.

A survey of 32 CSU students showed that about 70% of individuals hold positive attitude in taking climate change course in AUCC if it is available. When asked about the benefits brought by course, over 90% of respondents agree that it will help them adjust behavior to adapt to climate change. Reasons for opposing embed this course into AUCC includes science-based and limited teaching method. These results suggested that it would be essential to keep the students informed about the significance and purpose of the project.

Other options—including open some art class, instead of using scientific facts and texts to express climate change, it can be revealed with poetry and photography to help non-science major students understand climate change. After evaluating benefits to each of these alternatives, it was concluded that incorporating related climate change material into existing course may be a suitable alternative. However, due to a disciplinary boundary, and operation difficulty, adding a climate change course into AUCC is the best option.

After researching and evaluating these criteria, it concluded that adding a climate change course into AUCC at CSU would be useful in improving students’ knowledge and would be worth investing in. It recommended that it is designed as a 3-credit course and location should be located on the main campus and that the students should be informed and updated throughout the project. By studying post evaluation of students’ self-assessment after taking this course, it can show whether or not the implementation of climate change course indeed does effectively adjust behavior and better adapt to climate change, as is expected based on this analysis.

Did you like this example?

439

18