Theme 5: Climate Education

Theme 5: Climate Education

This project endeavors to deliver climate education to high school and community college students. The Mississippi Virtual Community College (MSVCC) comprises 15 community colleges and facilitates distance learning for over 100,000 students annually. In collaboration with East Mississippi Community College (EMCC), the project aims to develop courses on climate change and geospatial technology that will be offered through the MSVCC. This initiative specifically targets community college students, particularly minorities, providing exposure to environmental topics and encouraging their pursuit of related programs at 4-year institutions, such as Mississippi State University (MSU). The developed courses will be approved at MSU's course curriculum committee and the Community college curriculum committee, creating a seamless transfer pathway for community college students to MSU's environment-related programs.

The collaboration with LeaderSTATE STEM involves a partnership with the LeaderSTATE STEM program that serves JROTC cadets from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. Operating six 5-day summer camps annually at MSU, the program focuses on geosciences STEM instruction, leadership development, and fitness for up to 360 high school students. With a demographic average of 58% female and 64% African American, LeaderSTATE predominantly serves underrepresented STEM groups. The project plans to enhance the program by developing climate literacy STEM content, incorporating active learning strategies, and addressing climate change, resilience, and environmental justice themes.

In partnership with Legacy Village in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, students from the South Delta school district will engage in climate literacy. The goal is to create climate literacy materials tailored for 5th-grade science classes, aligned to the Mississippi College and Career Readiness Standards (MCCRS), with continuous training provided until 8th grade.

Objectives

  1. Enhance accessibility to climate change and geospatial technology education for community college students.
  2. Increase the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields.
  3. Develop climate literacy activities aligned to the MCCRS for 5th grade science classes.

Methodology

Objective 1

To enhance accessibility to climate change and geospatial technology education for community college students, two courses will be developed. Once approved, the proposed offerings, namely "Climate and Society" and "GIS," will be available at EMCC and made available to all Mississippi community colleges through the MSVCC. Once the courses are developed, transfer agreements will be ensured to officially recognize the community college courses as equivalent to MSU courses.

Objective 2

Our project is undertaking the development of climate literacy STEM content for leaderSTATE STEM students. This content will address themes of climate change, resilience, and environmental justice through active learning strategies that engage students in remote sensing, involving the use of drones in environmental studies, and interdisciplinary learning tools such as story maps for studying climate change.

Objective 3

Climate literacy training and materials will also be created for K-12 education and offered through Legacy Village in the South Delta school district, aligning with the Mississippi College and Career Readiness Standards for Science (MS CCRS). MS CCRS requires that fifth graders comprehend the effects of human interaction with Earth and understand how Earth's natural resources can be protected and conserved.