Climate Classrooms: an inclusive way to educate children and teachers to become active agents of change

<< Background >>PLEASE NOTE: SOME PORTAL CONTENT WAS LOCKED, PLEASE REVIEW THE FULL PORTAL REPORT DOCUMENT IN THE ATTACHMENT FOR THE CORRECT ANSWERS TO ALL QUESTIONSChildren currently in primary school will be young adults in 2030 and need to be prepared for jobs yet to be created, technologies to be invented, and solve problems that are not yet anticipated. We aim to be frontrunners in innovating and preparing children for unknown futures through this education programme. We wish to strengthen environmental awareness, climate change knowledge and communication skills among children and educators. The OECD 2030 Future of Education project offered a vision and principles for the future of education. We offer this type of education to develop children’s curiosity, imagination, resilience and self-regulation; to teach them to respect and appreciate the ideas and perspectives of others which will develop their ability to become changemakers to contribute to a better world. We are happy and proud of the successes achieved by children and educators, and embrace the learnings we gathered for future programs.<< Objectives >>Our overall goal of the Climate Classroom project was to empower children and educators to use design-driven and problem- solving capacities in support of the environment and fight against climate change. We did this through leveraging and merging the Designathon Works methodology with the expertise of An Taisce Environmental Education Unit Green-Schools office, hereafter called Green School, on education for sustainable development. Our objectives were to: develop an enhanced module to support application of design-driven and problem-solving learning in support of the environment and fight against climate change; capacitate educators to create problem-based and design-driven learning environments using the enhanced module and strengthen key competences, knowledge and attitudes among children through Designathons.<< Implementation >>The programme of the Climate Classroom project 2023 consisted of six activities: Creating an enhanced module incorporating the Designathon MethodTraining of educators in IrelandTraining of educators in the NetherlandsSupport delivery of Designathons in Dutch SchoolsSupport delivery of Designathons in Irish schoolsCommunication, impact measurement and results sharing<< Results >>#1 new module created covering various thematic and environment related subjects#10 Dutch educators trained in design-driven, climate sensitive approaches and the Designathon method#27 Irish educators trained in design-driven, climate sensitive approaches and the Designathon method#8 Dutch schools participated and reached#5 Irish Designathon workshops were executed#1 Designathon learning & exchange event held#319 children participating in the Designathons workshops and learning & exchange events#15 external stakeholders were reached through engagement together with the Maynooth University by testing and teaching the course with educators#28 students tested the first lesson of the materials and feedback was collectedAdditionally, educators brought up both the topics of the curriculum and skill practise in other parts of their regular school programme or with colleagues. Two educators built their own website (https://sites.google.com/view/amalia-astro-ontwerp-onderzoek/ontwerpen/7-climate-classrooms-designathon?authuser=0) for the children and merged their own resources to make sure the programme easily builds on top of current topics of discussion in their school.