Climate Change Education for Classroom Teachers

*** ISBE Microcredential, 40 PDH ***

This is a job-embedded Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) approved microcredential designed for K–12 educators who want to confidently integrate climate change education into their teaching. Developed in response to Illinois' new climate change education requirement, this course will support you in building practical resources you can use immediately, including age-appropriate conversation starters, a hope-in-practice classroom checklist, a standards crosswalk, a whole-school climate education action plan, and a lesson or unit that you will teach and reflect upon.

Course Details

Climate change is no longer a topic reserved for science classrooms. It is shaping the world students are growing up in and creating new opportunities for educators across every grade level and subject area to help learners understand complex challenges and think critically.

Beginning with the 2026–2027 school year, the State of Illinois requires all public K–12 classrooms to incorporate instruction on the causes, impacts, and solutions of climate change into their curriculum.

Yet many teachers ask the same questions: Where do I begin? How do I address difficult emotions, controversial conversations, and uncertainty while still inspiring hope? Where do I find the resources to do all this?

This microcredential is designed to answer those questions. Through eight self-paced modules, you will explore practical and research-based approaches to integrating climate change education into your classroom, curriculum, and school community. Along the way, you will develop classroom-ready resources, connect climate change to state learning standards, explore place-based and whole-school approaches, and discover teaching strategies that foster climate literacy, justice, hope, and meaningful action.

Program Information

Instructors:
Dr. Samantha Lindgren, Assistant Professor
Dr. Carine Verschueren, Postdoctoral Research Associate

Department and College: Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, College of Education, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Delivery Format: Online

Learning Management System: All coursework is completed asynchronously through Canvas, where you engage with readings, videos, reflections, discussions, and applied assignments that receive instructor feedback.

Enrollment & Duration: Enrollment is rolling, with up to 12 months to complete the work at your own pace.

Credential: Upon successful completion of course requirements, Illinois educators receive 40 Professional Development Hours and the microcredential will be attached to the Professional Educator License (PEL). Participants outside Illinois receive a certificate of completion.

Specific Course Topics

The eight course modules include:

1. Let's Talk About It
2. So, What's Going On with Our Planet?
3. Climate Literacy: Where Science Meets Storytelling and Hope
4. Why Place Matters
5. Embedding Climate Change into Your Classroom
6. Teaching Like the Future Depends on It
7. It Takes a Village (and a School)
8. You've Got This

Whether you teach elementary, middle, or high school, or even in non-formal settings, this course will help you move beyond simply teaching about climate change toward creating learning experiences that empower students to understand their world and participate thoughtfully in shaping its future.

Questions: onlineprograms@education.illinois.edu

Enroll today to earn your microcredential!