SUPPORTING CLIMATE LITERACY IN THE SOUTHEAST UNITED STATES THROUGH ALIGNING 6-12 GRADE EDUCATION RESOURCES WITH STATE STANDARDS

The Climate Literacy Partnership in the Southeast (CLiPSE) is a part of the Climate Change Education Program supported by the National Science Foundation (http://CLiPSE-project.org). One of the most important goals of the CLiPSE project is developing a strategy for creating a sustainable network of climate scientists, learning scientists, and practitioners with strategic education organizations in the southeast (SE) United States. The established CLiPSE partnership is dedicated to improving climate literacy in the SE and promoting scientifically accurate educational resources for the K-12 audience, among others. The CLiPSE project has been successful in creating partnerships with the Geographic National Alliances, Departments of Education, and Mississippi Environmental Education Alliance, among others, to determine an effective strategic plan for reaching K-12 audiences. One goal in the strategic plan is to create a catalog of climate change education resources that are aligned to state standards in the SE. Eighty-seven resources from the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (http://cleanet.org) are being aligned with the state education standards for grades six through twelve beginning with science in Mississippi and expanding to the remaining SE states. The criteria for aligning the existing resources includes matching key terms, topics, and lesson activities with the content strands and essential skills included in the state science framework. By developing a searchable database containing climate resources already aligned with state standards, CLiPSE will have made these resources more appealing to educators in the SE, increasing the likelihood of resources being implemented in the classroom. The next steps of the project are to determine curriculum gaps in resources relevant to SE US, develop new curricula as necessary, and create professional development programs for teachers that provide training in utilizing these classroom resources to foster direct relationships with participating K-12 educators, through the existing CLiPSE educational partners.