GccIFT

Global Climate Change Institute for Teachers
Improving the Scientific Literacy of K-8 Teachers in the Pacific Northwest


This project was funded through NASA Education
Global Climate Change Education Program(GCCE).

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GccIFT Mission

This project directly aligns with NASA’s goal of improving the teaching and learning about global climate change in elementary and secondary schools as well as increasing the number of individuals using NASA Earth observation data and NASA Earth system models to investigate and analyze global climate change issues.

The GccIFT project will increase the content knowledge and pedagogical skills of K-8 inservice and preservice teachers about the science of global climate change through Global Climate Change Education Teacher Institutes and subsequent follow-up support from project staff and field experts. Click for the GccIFT description on the NASA GCCE site.

Adele Schepige explaining the volume expansion as ocean temperature increases.

Bill Schoenfeld (with Shawn Decker – on right) demonstrates the “greenhouse effect in a tub” experiment.

The workshop gives teachers hands-on experience with experiments that explain key features of climate science, a variety of age-appropriate climate science books to review, and exploration of other aspects of climate change including carbon footprints and the idea of sustainability.

Summer 2010 Institute

Western Oregon University is offering a one-day workshop for training K-12 teachers to integrate climate change information into school curricula. The workshop is sponsored by the NASA Education/Public Outreach through a grant to Dr. Laurie Padman at Earth and Space Research, a nonprofit research agency.

What: Global Climate Change Institute for Teachers
Where: Western Oregon University, Monmouth, OR
When: June 21-24, 2010
Who: K-2, 3-5 and 6-8 teachers; priority given to a group of teachers from the same school

Participants will:

  • Interact with climate change scientists
  • Become familiar with Climate Literacy and Oregon GCC related standards
  • Learn climate science content by participating in scientific inquiry-based K-8 GCCE activities
  • Explore the integration of Science, Mathematics, Geography, and Language Arts to create a GCC interdisciplinary curriculum
  • Learn how to integrate technology into science teaching and learning
  • Read and review children’s GCC books
  • Plan for implementation of GCCE in their classrooms

Costs: Participation in the Institute is funded by NASA. Professional development units, graduate credits, and overnight housing available (see registration information form for more details).