New guide will teach children about the climate crisis

The Wildlife Trust has created a new educational guide to help children learn about nature and how to help tackle the climate crisis. 

The Nature’s Climate Heroes educational pack is designed to help teachers of children aged 7-11. 

The project has been funded by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and aims to help children understand the connection between the natural world, a changing climate and people. 

The project aims to address how climate change is taught in primary education by:

• Changing the focus of climate change from a scary and overwhelming subject to something that can be tackled through collective action.
• Providing teachers with a structured and comprehensive guide to deliver lessons about how human activities are connected to the changing climate, and why the restoration of nature is fundamental to our future.
• Empowering children to take small but collectively significant actions in their communities.

The Wildlife Trust is calling for fundamental changes to the school curriculum to ensure that teaching about nature and climate issues is commonplace across the education system.

Fiona Groves, education and learning manager at The Wildlife Trusts, says: ‘The interlinked climate and ecological crises present the biggest challenges ever faced by humanity. This can be extremely daunting, especially for children with their whole lives ahead of them.

‘In this crucial decade for determining the future climate, we want children and young people to understand how nature can help us while empowering them to take action in their communities. It’s so important teachers have access to engaging resources that give them the confidence to teach these issues and that children, as well as adults, feel able to make a difference.’

Laura Chow, head of charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, added: ‘Nature can be our biggest ally in helping us fight back against climate change.

‘I’m delighted funding raised by our players will allow pupils across the country to discover these climate heroes, helping to develop a lifelong understanding and appreciation of our natural world and the role it can play in helping us tackle the issue.’

Photo Credit – The Wildlife Trust