Future Directions in STEM/STEAM Education Research and Practice: The Case of Climate Change Education

In this chapter, we highlight the importance of K-12 learning activities that address real-world and global challenges. We focus on climate change as a quintessential example of a problem in dire need of present and future generations of students and teachers to raise the understanding and awareness of the issues involved, and to actively contribute towards solving the global crisis. The Rutgers Center for Mathematics, Science, and Computer Education (CMSCE) presently offers teacher PD helping teachers to prepare for addressing new K-12 student standards in climate change in New Jersey. The goal is to support teachers in working to foster students’ skills for creative problem-solving towards building capacity for economic and social change. To do so, teachers develop learning activities in which students gain sufficient understanding of climate science to inform decisions that improve the quality of life for themselves and their communities. Learning activities like these help to prepare students for real life: what it means to be dedicated to one another, and how to make a difference today and in the future.