With record-breaking heat, destructive flooding and other growing hazards from climate change,  the need for climate change education is becoming more critical than ever. The importance of providing educators, students and the broader public with the information and tools to understand and adapt to climate change fueled a gathering of 45 high school teachers from across New York City at the Smith Learning Theater at Teachers College last month for the 2025 Summer Institute: Integrating Climate Education in NYC Public Schools.

As in prior years, educators spent a week building a community and gaining knowledge on climate change education fundamentals, student-centered pedagogy and interdisciplinary lesson planning. A partnership between TC’s Center for Sustainable Futures, the LEAP (Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics) Center at Columbia University, and the Office of Energy and Sustainability in New York City Public Schools (NYCPS), the Institute was created as part of a $25 million National Science Foundation grant in 2021. This year’s programming was the third in a four-year series of Institutes for elementary, middle and high school educators.

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Participants ask questions during the interactive Summer Climate Institute
Thomas bailey addresses a crowd
Educators visit Morningside Park as part of the Summer Climate Institute
Oren Pizmony-Levy address the audience
A group of people standing in the Smith Learning Theater
speaker
two educators posing for a picture

(Photo: TC Archives) 

President Thomas Bailey addresses educators. (Photo: TC Archives)

Educators reflected on the meaning of climate change education while spending time in Morningside Park. (Photo: TC Archives) 

Oren Pizmony-Levy, Associate Professor of International and Comparative Education and Director of the Center for Sustainable Futures (Photo: TC Archives)

Educators mapped their assets and resources by building a living network in the Smith Learning Theater. (Photo: TC Archives)

(Photo: TC Archives) 

(Photo: TC Archives)

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“One of the things that we are really proud of in this Summer Institute, [is] that it's not only for science teachers,” said Oren Pizmony-Levy, Associate Professor of International and Comparative Education and Director of the Center for Sustainable Futures. “We want to make sure that every teacher is using her or his perspective or discipline to offer something new about climate change.”

This interdisciplinary approach drew teachers from across subjects including science, English language arts, math and social science, and programming focused on pedagogy and practice helped teachers think about and devise lesson plans that could consider ways to evaluate and address the realities of climate change in a variety of real-world scenarios. The initiative is emblematic of the Public Good Initiative, launched by President Thomas Bailey last year, which coalesces scholarship and practice across the four key areas of sustainability, teacher education, digital innovation, and mental health and wellness as TC faculty and students collaborate with communities and leaders to tackle some of the most critical issues of our time. 

“We recognize the value of K-12 schools, teachers, students and their local communities in helping advance solutions for the challenge of climate change and sustainability,” said President Bailey in his welcome remarks. “Together, you will form a learning community as you incorporate the very real challenge of climate change into your classrooms, across a whole range of subject areas.” President Bailey also announced the College’s brand new online masters program for Sustainability in Education. The first-of-its-kind offering will begin accepting applications September 2025.

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two women having an animated conversation
High school students talk about climate change during the Summer Climate Institute
Two women deep in discussion
Limarys Caraballo discusses integrating sustainability education into English and language classes.
a group of people walking on a trail in Riverside park in pairs
Sandra Schmidt discusses integrating climate change into social studies classes at the Summer Climate Institute
Christina Torres smiling and standing with her hands clasped in front of her

Ann Rivet, Associate Professor of Science Education and Associate Director of the Center for Sustainable Futures. (Photo: TC Archives)

Participants from Youth at the Center — a program that engages New York City youth climate activists to empower, support, and amplify their activities — discuss their experiences trying to implement action at their high schools. (Photo: TC Archives) 

(Photo: TC Archives)

Limarys Caraballo, Associate Professor of English Education, discusses integrating climate change into English and language courses during break-out sessions. (Photo: TC Archives) 

(Photo: TC Archives)

Sandra Schmidt, Associate Professor of Social Studies Education, discusses how educators may integrate climate change into social studies lessons. (Photo: TC Archives)  

Christina Torres, Research Associate and Coordinator for the Center for Sustainable Futures. (Photo: TC Archives

One of the central goals of the CSF Summer Institute is to empower educators to teach climate change with confidence and to do so, organizers focused first on building community before delving into the science. A robust network means that educators can leverage the knowledge of their colleagues to integrate climate change into rigid curricula. “It takes a village to approach climate change education. We see time and time again through our research that one of the important resources we are providing teachers is [a] network,” said TC doctoral candidate Christina Torres, Research Associate and Coordinator for the Center for Sustainable Futures.

What Educators Are Saying

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Having the chance to connect with people who are also passionate about action and learning more about climate change has been really inspiring and motivating, especially because it feels as if a lot of work as a teacher can be ironically isolating, where you're kind of stuck in your classroom or you are limited to the space that you just occupy within your school…If it's not just me trying to advocate for those kinds of changes, we could actually see some real change happen for us.

David Sczesnak, an Earth and Space Science teacher at Fort Hamilton High School and member of the NYCPS Climate Education Leadership Team

It was energizing to see that there's traction and it was great being with those teachers. It made me feel like we're not crushed and we're not stamped out, if anything, we're growing. I came in knowing that I wanted to meet and find two or three teachers who are ready to get a native species pollinator garden going this year and that I can support with my bit of experience. We ended up with six to eight of them.

Adam Zaid, Teacher at Queens School of Inquiry and member of the NYCPS Climate Education Leadership Team

To give educators a deeper understanding of youth attitudes toward climate change, the Center for Sustainable Futures brought in three student activists from the NYCPS Office of Energy and Sustainability Youth Leadership Council for an in-depth discussion on climate education in schools. Elevating student voices can spur teachers into action, according to recent research from the Center for Sustainable Futures. “The moment you tell teachers that students are interested [in climate change education] they immediately say, ‘I need to be responsive to this need and indeed they find ways to integrate climate change into their curriculum,’” said Pizmony-Levy.

What Students Are Saying

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For me, it's important to understand the localized impact of the climate crisis. Talking about the climate crisis on a large scale is important, but I think understanding how the climate crisis impacts us might encourage students to get involved in climate action. Talking about things like the urban heat island effect and urban planning are a great opportunity to help students understand the localized impacts of the climate crisis, feel more connected to the climate crisis and encourage them to take action.

Abby Chen, Junior at the Clinton School

Talking about it [climate change] in classes outside of science is a really good way of showing students how it's affecting their daily lives. There's so much intersectionality when it comes to climate change, global warming and sustainability, it's affecting your daily life in all forms. My Spanish teacher had an entire unit dedicated to the environmental impacts of fast fashion and the environment in general. It was unexpected, but I love the way he integrated that into his classroom, because it's a great way to teach Spanish, and on top of that, you're informing your students on an entirely different topic.

Ayah Talha, Junior at Young Women's Leadership School of Astoria

A lot of students at my school don't feel inclined to properly recycle or compost things. Students would just be throwing their trash in there and we learned at a meeting that if there's even one or two pieces of trash in compost bins at a school, they can't compost it. So the way our school motivates them is that they can get credits by being lunch monitors and [its] been working really well. They feel a responsibility, or at least more inclined, to be more aware and part of our school community. Tiny things like these could be used to improve climate education as a whole.

Jillian Chen, Junior at the Bronx High School of Science

 

— Sherri Gardner

Tags: K-12 Education At The College Research Sustainability

Programs: Sustainability and Education

Departments: International & Transcultural Studies

Published Wednesday, Aug 20, 2025