Graduate Certificate in PK-12 Climate Justice Education
Climate change and justice-based solutions require transdisciplinary knowledge and problem-solving. The Graduate Certificate in PK-12 Climate Justice Education program brings together educators from the full range of subject areas and contexts for PK-12 education. If you work in education and are committed to—or want to learn more about—climate justice, this program is for you.
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Highlights
About the Program
Overview
The 12-unit/one year Graduate Certificate in PK-12 Climate Justice Education serves the needs of current classroom teachers (grades PK-12) during a time when the need for climate education far exceeds what most teachers have been prepared to do in their classrooms.
While 86% of teachers and 80% of parents nationwide believe that climate science should be taught in PK-12 schools, fewer than half of teachers at this level report any climate-related content in their teaching (IPSOS/NPR, 2019).
The most frequently given reasons are lack of preparation/ knowledge base and the feeling that it falls outside educators’ subject area expertise. PK-12 teachers need access to content knowledge; culturally responsive, developmentally sensitive pedagogies; and supportive communities of practice in order to engage in teaching for climate justice.
The coursework in the certificate will culminate in collaborative action research projects in which educators enrolled in the program will work in small groups to integrate climate justice education and evaluate its impact in their educational setting.
The goal of the certificate program is to develop leadership capacity among practicing educators so that they are able to serve as leaders in climate justice education in their schools and districts as well as at the state and national level.
Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
- Develop core scientific knowledge of the causes and impacts of climate change as relevant to PK-12 educational contexts.
- Critically examine the ecological, social, and economic impacts of climate change on communities educators serve.
- Develop culturally responsive, developmentally sensitive practices to engage PK-12 students in learning about the causes, impacts, and justice-based responses to climate change.
Course Format and Schedule
Participants will meet in person for one week in the summer and for one weekend in the fall and spring semesters, with all other instruction occurring online.
This graduate certificate program uses a low residency instructional model to allow educators from a large geographical area to participate while also engaging in place-based learning.
Key Dates
Application Deadline: March 1, 2025
Summer Session 2025 Dates: June 16 - August 8
In-Person Summer Dates: June 26, 27, 28 and August 8
Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 Dates TBA
Cost and Length
Cost: $4,740 ($395/unit)
Length: One year
When to Start: Summer
When to Apply: October 1 - March 1
Scholarships
Scholarships that cover full cost of attendance are available, with priority given to teams of three or more PK-12 teachers. Each team member should apply separately.
Partnership
This program is offered in collaboration with the Graduate College of Education's Department of Elementary Education. The program is also receiving support from the campus-wide Climate Justice Leadership Initiative.
Audience Examples
As a high school English teacher, you might choose to focus on effective communication and its role in promoting climate justice. This might involve integrating media literacy more explicitly into your curriculum, as well as developing climate stories into fiction or nonfiction writing tasks for students. Learning more about climate justice in this program will provide you with resources to guide students in envisioning possible futures, sending a message of hopeful action, effectively communicating science, and promoting climate justice in their writing.
As an elementary school teacher, given the demands of teaching multiple subjects, you might feel that you are not up to date on the climate change impacts or solutions, nor how to communicate these ideas to elementary age children. This certificate program will provide resources for you to learn more about the causes, impacts and solutions of climate change, along with examples of local impacts and solutions, activities that can be adapted for various grade levels and discussions for how to communicate a message of hope-filled action appropriate to students’ developmental needs.
As a middle school art teacher, you might choose to investigate the role of the arts in broadening the reach of climate action. You might design strategies to incorporate both the study of artists who work in the climate justice space and opportunities for students to produce and share climate-inspired art. The resources in this program will connect you to resources that may inspire ideas and collaboration, and will provide ways that projects can communicate a message of hope and a call to action.
As a garden educator, you may want to include more climate change education into your curriculum but may not know how to communicate climate change impacts without frightening or overwhelming the students. You might develop a series of garden-based investigations for children at different ages that draws upon students’ experiences and community contexts. This program will provide strategies for how to communicate hope and action to students, at levels that are appropriate for different ages, as well as provide a collaborative community for designing and testing new ideas.
As a high school physics teacher, you may want to incorporate climate change into your classes but have no idea where to start. By providing an overview of the science and many different impacts and solutions across the Bay Area, you will gain inspiration for connections to class material and ideas for how to enact these ideas.
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