Roadmap to Excellent Climate Change Education is a set of guidelines that were developed from real conversations with students across Alberta about what they say are components of excellent climate change education.

Connecting Canadians with Nature: An Investment in the Well-Being of Our Citizens from the Canadian Parks Council is a report that provides an overview of the benefits of connecting with nature.

Education for a Sustainable Future: A Resource for Curriculum Developers, Teachers, and Administrators is intended to assist Manitoba curriculum developers and educators to integrate sustainability concepts into new and existing curricula. It is interdisciplinary in approach, and provides direction, that is relevant to Alberta educators, for the integration of sustainability knowledge, skills, values, and life practices within the curriculum, the classroom, and the community. 

Intergenerational Place-based Education by Mannion and Lynch (2010) found that environmental or place-based education that incorporates children and adults learning together improves intergenerational relations and individual, community, and ecological well being. Their research encourages schools to include intergenerational learning, contextualize curricula in the environment and embrace outdoor learning.

This toolbox for climate education can be used in a variety of high school courses and university courses. The suite of resources includes assignments, discussion questions and prompts, and Ted Talk videos that pair well with the materials.

Resources for working with climate emotions includes online groups/networks, stories, gatherings, newsletters, and more!

Environmental Outdoor Education and Exposure to Nature: The Positive Effects on Student Wellness and Academic Achievement is an annotated bibliography by Bill Bagshaw. It provides an extensive list of research on the effects of outdoor education on mental well-being, abilities and physical wellness.

Educating for Action is a Green Teacher Article providing a framework for thinking about the place of action in environmental education (William F. Hammond, from issue #50)

The guide is written for teachers and includes both the basics of climate change science and perspectives on teaching a subject that has become socially and politically polarized (US based info but some good information). 

Benefits of Environmental Education by National Environmental Education Week lists several benefits on the importance of environmental education with numerous research studies to support each one

Climate-Poverty Connections Fact Sheet summarizes a first-of-its-kind report produced by Drawdown Lift that shows how leaders do not have to choose among human development, climate mitigation, and climate adaptation; win-win solutions are at hand. Available in English and French.

Green Street Guide to Authentic Youth Engagement outlines some of the best ways to encourage authentic youth participation within organizations and includes practical advice and real-life examples.

From Yale Climate Connection's Reviews, here are two book lists on teaching climate change: 9 climate change books for educators covers books that address the general theory and practice of teaching climate change; Books on teaching climate change communication, eco-literacy, and eco-justice highlights books that focus on specific subtopics.

Closing the Achievement Gap prepared by the State Education and Environment Roundtable (Lieberman, Gerald A. & Hoody, Linda L, 1998) presents the results of a nationwide study using the Environment as an Integrating Context for learning (EIC). The report notes, “Using the environment as an integrating context is interdisciplinary, collaborative, student-centered, hands-on and engages students in learning”. Their research shows that student learning shows improvement in reading, writing, math, science and social studies; exhibit increased pride in their accomplishments; greater engagement and enthusiasm for learning; better ability to apply science to real-world situations; better application of systems thinking; increased ability to think creatively; and more advanced skills in applying civic processes to real-life situations.

The second edition of Natural Curiosity supports a stronger basic awareness of Indigenous perspectives and their importance to environmental education. The driving motivation for a second edition was the burning need, in the wake of strong and unequivocal recommendations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to situate Indigenous perspectives into the heart of Canadian educational settings and curricula, most notably in connection with environmental issues.

The Indigenous lens in this edition represents a cross-cultural encounter supporting what can become an ongoing dialogue and evolution of practice in environmental inquiry. Some important questions are raised that challenge us to think in very different ways about things as fundamental as the meaning of knowledge.

Le présent document est un excellent outil pour l’enseignante ou l’enseignant de même qu’un incitatif pour l’élève à découvrir le monde qui l’entoure. Dans cette deuxième édition de Curiosité naturelle, on découvre plus en détail l’apprentissage environnemental vu par les Autochtones. Avec cette découverte, on ne peut que remettre complètement en question la place que l’on occupe dans le monde. Le point de vue autochtone de cette édition donne le coup d’envoi d’un dialogue qui permet à l’enseignante ou à l’enseignant de découvrir la vision autochtone des choses et à l’élève de tisser des liens durables avec le monde naturel. Vous pouvez acheter le ressource ici.

Backgrounder on Youth Engagement by the the Alberta Emerald Foundation (AEF) and What we Heard from the province-wide consultations conducted by ACEE, on contract to AEF.

Community Climate Change Education: A Mosaic of Approaches features information and resources on over a dozen approaches to community climate change education, from public art, resilience gardening, and climate justice, to social innovation, marine science, and youth programming.

EEResearch is a searchable database of research about environmental literacy, the benefits of connecting to nature, fostering environmental behaviors, and more.

NEW Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults! 

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s beloved bestselling book has been adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith. Monique is Cree, Lakota and Scottish, and is well known for her storytelling, spirit of generosity and focus on resilience. This new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us.

With informative sidebars, reflection questions, and art from illustrator Nicole Neidhardt (Navajo), Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults will help provide educators to bring Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation. This new version will provide the essence of this book in a way that better engages high school students. You can purchase it from the Outdoor Learning Store.

Young Voices: how do 18-25 year olds engage with climate change? is the first study to ask young people themselves how to engage their peers more effectively, and to propose and test new climate change narratives specifically designed to engage 18-25 year olds.

The Alberta Narratives Project Report I and Report II are intended to provide practical guidance for climate and energy communicators about what language works well and – crucially – what language might pose an obstacle for communicating with any specific group.

Report I, Communicating Climate Change and Energy in Alberta is concerned with finding the language that works best across Albertan society by helping to find common ground across very different positions. This generates a core narrative that can be applied for general public engagement. Report II, Communicating Climate Change and Energy with Different Audiences in Alberta offers tailored language that can be the basis of effective communications with each of the following groups: oil sands workers, conservatives, environmentalists, rural Albertans, business leaders, youth, new Canadians and people of faith. A collection of communication tools, including summaries and narrative slides, are also available on the website.