NCSE Receives NASA Grant for Global Climate Change Education

NASA recently awarded NCSE a $149,536 grant for the Creation and Dissemination of an Interdisciplinary Undergraduate General Education Course on Climate Change. The project is developing a robust curricular package for a general education course on climate change that universities and colleges across the country can readily adopt and adapt. It will produce a virtual tool chest of curricular modules and resources on how to teach about climate change using the latest NASA Earth observation data, Earth system models, and visualization tools.

The project is being spearheaded by NCSE's Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD). CEDD is the leading group working to advance the quality and stature of interdisciplinary environmental programs. It recently launched the Climate Solutions Curriculum Initiative to transform climate change education into an interdisciplinary enterprise that includes climate mitigation and adaptation, of which this NASA project is a part. CEDD's 160 member institutions provide a unique venue for curricular development and dissemination drawing on the best available research on climate change and the most effective teaching methods.

The project's initial phase will involve offering trial courses at six institutions, Florida A&M University, Unity College, University of California, Davis, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, University of Richmond, and University of Texas, El Paso. In its second phase, the project will be expanded to create and test climate change curriculum at fourteen institutions across the country. Once the project is completed, the general education course will be freely available online for use by other universities and colleges.

NASA's press release announcing the Global Climate Change Education Grant awards can be found here.

Contact:
Andy Jorgensen
Professor, University of Toledo
Andy.Jorgensen@utoledo.edu