Thirteen Middle and High School science teachers in the San Juan Islands learned about teaching climate change and ocean acidification on October 25-26. Padilla Bay educators led activities on carbon cycling and flow, climate change effects and solutions, and data literacy using local and real time data. Activities explicitly supported the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices. They also learned causes and effects of climate change, and how to also explore online data from local, regional, and national databases.
The teachers are creating cause and effect models for climate change and ocean acidification, collecting their own data in an experiment demonstrating carbon flow through living systems. Using evidence from local data, they are working to argue that their chosen solution to climate change will draw down the heat-trapping carbon dioxide that is changing our planet.
This workshop, held at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, is one of four climate change teacher trainings to be held this year.
