Climate Literacy Across the Curriculum

In a recent survey conducted by the Drexel University chapter of Sustainable and Just Future (SJF), Drexel students overwhelmingly agreed that climate change education should be a mandatory part of their Drexel curriculum (79% respondents). The Drexel SJF report reveals a significant gap between student interest in climate/sustainability-focused courses and the "institutional coordination or visibility of existing opportunities" at Drexel. Students want more courses centered on climate/sustainability and better access to existing ones (often unavailable to the majority of students due to departmental siloes and the absence of a searchable course catalog). Not surprisingly, "Curriculum" remains one of the weakest categories on Drexel STARS sustainability rating report card.

While many of the challenges identified by the SJF survey call for broader curricular and technological solutions, individual programs and instructors can play an important role in supporting a culture of climate literacy across the curriculum. Drexel University's imminent move to semesters, with its accompanying project of large-scale course redesign, presents a unique opportunity for re-thinking how our courses respond (or fail to respond) to the existential urgency of climate change.

The good news is that Drexel students have already begun working out a blueprint for climate-aware course redesign. The SJF report urges instructors to integrate climate-related content into existing courses across the curriculum in order to reinforce "the understanding that climate change intersects with all fields, not just environmental or scientific ones." Students are urging us to adopt pedagogical approaches that "center equity, lived experience, and systemic thinking" and to encourage critical engagement "with the social dimensions of climate challenges." To support the implementation of climate literacy across courses, students identified five guiding principles for climate-centered course design and pedagogy: (1) Interdisciplinary problem-solving, (2) Emotional and practical grounding, (3) Student agency, (4) Place-based learning, and (5) Community engagement.

While it is important to acknowledge that not all instructors have the autonomy or capacity to implement all five of these principles in their course redesigns, any academic course in any discipline can (and should) contribute to a culture of climate literacy in ways that make sense for the course and are sustainable for the instructor. To facilitate brainstorming and implementing climate goals across the curriculum, the Drexel Climate Goals Inventory offers instructors guiding questions and examples of learning goals focusing on various dimensions of course design and delivery. These sample questions and learning goals are designed to help instructors develop their own context-specific goals for courses, modules, individual class sessions, and/or assignments.

Drexel University's chapter of Sustainable and Just Future also offers student-led consultations for faculty interested in developing solutions-focused, interdisciplinary learning materials that stick with students. Please reach out if you are interested in modifying existing lesson plans, creating new ones, or requesting a customized out-of-class learning experience for your students (contact: Miles Levesque at ml3852@drexel.edu ).