ClimeTime was a featured presenter at the recent Climate Education Summit, which took place on April 28-29. The inaugural Climate Education Summit, hosted by OSPI, brought together more than 200 educators and educational leaders from across the state at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. This event focused on content integration, teaching climate from all lenses, and a solutions-orientation to inspire hope and action. Participants engaged in two days of learning and networking with ESDs; the University of Washington Institute for Science and Mathematics Education; the Gonzaga Center for Climate, Science, and the Environment; and multiple community-based organizations.

The opening session featured a panel from ClimeTime, Washington’s statewide program that provides professional development learning focused on climate science education to educators. ClimeTime grantees and partners shared case studies that highlighted some of the accomplishments of the program’s initiatives.

“Designing classroom instruction to support climate science, climate literacy, and climate solutions is truly a team effort,” said Lori Henrickson, a climate science integration consultant from OSPI. “I hope this event empowered the attendees to feel like they are all ‘climate educators.’ We are also grateful that we are able to continue to support this state-wide, climate-focused educator community. Our state has already done some amazing, innovative work in this field, and we are really excited to continue the good work and further build support for educators in the field.”

Presenters throughout the summit discussed topics such as how to use children’s literature to teach about the climate and utilizing climate as a catalyst for social studies integration. The panel included participants from Tukwila, Spokane and Edmonds school districts. Governor Inslee was also in attendance and spoke with teachers about the state’s commitment to climate education.

Governor Inslee spoke with teachers about the state’s commitment to climate education

The closing session was an inspiring call-to-action from students at the Institute for Community Leadership in Kent, who define themselves as “the first generation to feel the sting of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.”