New NJ Climate Change Standards 

On January 25th, NJSTAChats welcomed Michael Heinz, NJDOE Science Coordinator, to discuss the New Climate Change Standards and the teaching resources provided by the New Jersey Department of Education. The New Jersey Climate Change standards are a part of every academic subject, including health, physical education, art, world languages, and social studies. Heinz stated that “education is at an evolution point” and that standards have been tweaked to create more culturally responsive and relevant learning to promote science for all, “preparing all students for life.” The new Department of Education website for climate change presents information by grade level including enduring understandings and performance expectations. Heinz emphasized that the website is titled as climate change and not climate science because climate change is interdisciplinary and is more than just a focus on science. The Department of Education Climate Change website can be found at: https://www.nj.gov/education/standards/climate/ 

Members can view the recorded webinar on the #NJSTAChats 2021-2022 webpage at https://njsta.org/page-18281. You must be logged in as a member to access.

In addition to the New Jersey Climate Change Standards, there are a variety of resources available for climate change education. A high quality resource in a series of briefs is available at STEM Teaching Tools  - Climate Learning.