Explore awards

The Worldviews Network - a collaboration of institutions that have pioneered Earth systems research, education and evaluation methods - is creating innovative approaches for engaging the American public in dialogues about human-induced global changes. Leveraging the power of immersive scientific visualization environments at informal science centers across the US, we are developing transformative educational processes that integrate the benefits of visual thinking, systems thinking, and design thinking. This "seeing, knowing, doing" approach empowers educators with tools and techniques that help audiences to visualize, comprehend, and address complex issues from a whole-systems perspective. The Worldviews Network will make explicit the interconnections of Earth's life support systems across time and space as well as inspire community participation in design processes by providing real-world examples of successful projects that are increasing the healthy functioning of regional and global ecosystems.

Of all weather-related disasters, heat waves cause the most deaths every year in the United States and climate change is already increasing their frequency, duration, and intensity. In urban areas, heat exposure and risk are highly related to the built environment and the everyday lived experiences of urban residents. Building heat resilience—the capacity for communities to adapt to and cope with higher temperatures and heat waves—therefore necessitates a comprehensive and place-based approach that includes education about the factors affecting risk and vulnerability, consequences of heat on health and livability, as well as potential long-term and short-term actions that residents can take to reduce risk and vulnerability. In this project, we will promote environmental literacy and strengthen climate resilience in Southwest Virginia by building a cross-sector urban heat resilience environmental literacy network that includes: the public education system, students and families, community health professionals, and City government. The project is led by Carilion Clinic in partnership with Virginia Tech, Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action, and Roanoke City Government. Through these partnerships, we will build resilience pathways for dealing with long-term higher temperatures and emergency heatwaves using combined urban planning and public health approaches. We will extend and expand Virginia Tech’s previous engagement with Roanoke youth (2-week summer STEM and Heat Resilience summer school program for middle school students) to involve the community more broadly to co-produce neighborhood-specific heat mitigation plans that address resident concerns in Roanoke and improve environmental literacy around the problem of urban heat as both an acute and chronic issue. We will work with teachers and administrators in the Roanoke City Public School system to institutionalize the STEM/urban planning-based curriculum we develop so that more children can benefit from it. Using youth education as an entry to engage the broader community, we will also host a family-based STEM-Urban Planning Family Summit, which will inform residents about urban planning processes and how changes to urban landscapes can make neighborhoods cooler, more comfortable, and more resilient to rising temperatures. We will also build capacity among health professionals and integrate them into community planning by: educating and enlisting the support of health professionals and Carilion’s community outreach network to work with community groups and families; engaging three Carilion clinicians to participate in an eight-hour educational training to learn more about impacts of climate and health in the region and provide tools for educating other clinicians and community; and training Carilion’s 37 Community Health Educators and Community Health Workers and developing community education/outreach materials on climate change impacts on health with a focus on heat illness. The urban planning and public health components to increasing heat resilience will come together in a culminating Heat Resilience Fair, at which participants in our program (students, families, residents, clinicians, health workers, and City government officials) will present ideas and solicit feedback from the broader community. The solicited ideas will be incorporated into the City’s planning processes, enabling formalization of long-term goals for public health and the built environment with respect to rising temperatures.

Children in the Norfolk, Va., area will inherit the highest sea level rise on the East Coast, second to New Orleans. In response, the non-profit Elizabeth River Project educated 25,333 students, 2,586 teachers, 63 Youth Resilience Leaders and 5 NEW River Ambassadors through a high school Youth Conservation Intern program for at-risk students. In addition, 180 River Star Schools and 13 new Resilient River Star Schools were recognized for implementing environmental projects addressing restoration, conservation, flooding and reducing their carbon footprint. The Elizabeth River Project prepared one of the first comprehensive youth education programs on resilience on this coast. The Elizabeth River Project, working since 1993 to restore the environmental health of the urban Elizabeth River, deployed its Dominion Energy Learning Barge, “America’s Greenest Vessel,” and its new urban park, Paradise Creek Nature Park, to empower K-12 students over three years to become informed decision makers and environmental stewards, prepared to adapt to rising seas. The project reached under-served schools in Norfolk and adjoining Portsmouth, Virginia. The lead science partner was Old Dominion University, on the forefront of climate change research and the University of Virginia for evaluation of education programs. Other partners included the Chrysler Museum of Art, ground zero for street flooding that has become routine in Norfolk. Elizabeth River Project’s first Youth Resilient Strategy Resilient Youth – South Hampton Roads A Pioneer Strategy of Hope and Action to Prepare Those Who Will Inherit Rising Seas. This plan is the first in America to call on educators, both in our schools and in the community, to help our youth prepare to inherit these extraordinary and increasing challenges. The youth plan will complement Norfolk Resilient City, a call to adults to prepare for rising seas and related challenges with a vision for our children to become hopeful, resilient leaders who innovate and persevere to safeguard our community as our lives change with a changing environment. The Elizabeth River Project will also serve as the Clearing House for education resources, activities and curriculum related to resilience as we launch a Youth Resilient Educators page at www.elizabethriver.org. Additional partners included: City of Norfolk Resilience Office, Norfolk and Portsmouth Public Schools, Wetland Watch and Hampton Roads Sanitation District.

In 2004, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) embarked on a cooperative agreement with the NOAA National Ocean Service (NOS) to develop a series of education products for teachers corresponding to topics aligned to NOAA’s mission. The products--called Science Objects and SciGuides--address teacher professional development needs, and provide classroom resources. The agreement includes both evaluative components and a means for dissemination. The topics are drawn from science education standards, specifically a draft Oceans map AAAS produced that is modeled after the benchmark maps found in the Atlas of Science Literacy (2001). The topics are also informed by the National Science Educations Standards (1996). The topics were selected to support the curriculum at the high school level. These topics were in turn aligned to science research produced by NOAA scientists. Several months after the cooperative agreement was formalized, NSTA and the NOAA Office of Education and Sustainable Development agreed to a work order to produce a single SciGuide at the middle school level that will draw on topics found in the AAAS Weather and Climate map. Production for this SciGuide is due to start in June 2005 and will be completed in November 2005. To ensure topic choices, NSTA standards experts proposed a list from which to choose. Its experts also concentrated their analysis of the maps to the grade bands that interested each line office – high school for the NOS and middle school for the OESD. The universe of topics is far from exhausted. NSTA would like to expand on these partnerships to plan, implement, and evaluate two additional Science Objects and two SciGuides at the middle level, which will be disseminated through two Symposia that take place at NSTA conventions in fall 2006 and spring 2007. The additional development will fill in two of the gaps left open in the maps, and equip even more science educators to better teach the science of the NOAA, namely oceans, coasts, charting and navigation, weather, energy flow through an ecosystem, and climate. This partnership will bring NSTA educational professionals and master teachers together in an ongoing working relationship with NOAA scientists, writers, content experts, and communications professionals.

With a three-year $450,000 grant from NOAA, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and partners will implement Phase II of a climate and resilience education program, The Resilient Schools Consortium: Connecting Schools to Coastal Communities. Building on the previously funded Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC) Program, (2016 - 2019), NWF will work with 200 students and 10 teachers from eight New York City Department of Education public schools. The students will adopt-a-shoreline in Coney Island, Brooklyn—a frontline community battered by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and threatened by sea level rise, coastal erosion, and inequitable exposures to flooding. Through field trips to local beaches, community engagement events, dune plantings, and public art installations, this project will connect students—who live or attend school in the Coney Island area—to residents and community partners. Together, they will increase their awareness of future climate impacts and develop strategies for building climate resilience and equitable adaptation to sea level rise. The Phase 1 RiSC curriculum for grades 6-12, designed by NYC STEM teachers, will be streamlined into a one-year product focused on coastal hazards, natural and built solutions that increase ecological resilience, and civic participation. Adaptable by schools in other coastal communities, the curriculum will continue to offer a strong foundation in climate science. Complete with user-friendly slide decks, handouts, and direct links to NOAA resources and digital tools, it will guide teachers and students through project-based activities during the school year. Key program partners, New York Sea Grant, and American Littoral Society (ALS), and advisors from the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay (SRIJB) will provide community science expertise and lead shoreline ecology field trips. An “Adopt-a-Shoreline Field Trip Guide” will help students monitor the shoreline. ALS will lead professional development workshops for teachers and dune-planting activities that will increase shoreline resilience. The Coney Island Beautification Project, a core community partner, will lead public engagement and outreach, and recruit residents with historical knowledge of local weather events for student interviews. Students will build sea level rise markers and install them in suitable public spaces. Culminating Open Houses will bring Coney Islanders together to view student work and provide a platform to discuss flood risks and solutions. Knology will evaluate the project’s impact.

Solar One and The Newark Office of Sustainability are launching the Newark Resilient Solar Initiative, which utilizes the construction and deployment of resilient solar systems as a catalyst for education—both in the classroom and in the most vulnerable communities in Newark. The Initiative responds to the need for high quality career and technical education and work-based learning opportunities in Newark Public Schools and community engagement around climate resilience for people in low-income, largely immigrant, and predominantly Black and Latino communities in Newark who are highly vulnerable to flooding and extreme heat. Resilient solar systems, including solar plus battery storage, build community resilience to climate hazards by enabling Newarkers to access electricity during a power outage. The systems will be housed at accessible locations such as community gardens and are built by up to 52 Newark high school interns who receive solar workforce training, strengthening their career readiness and leadership skills. Each resilient solar system is unveiled at a community engagement event that features NOAA assets to build collective environmental literacy, emergency preparedness, and social cohesion in alignment with local resilience goals—reaching up to 200 community members. In addition, The Initiative trains 9 teachers and 800 Newark Public School students in climate literacy and solar workforce training, which can jumpstart a lifelong career in renewable energy, a field with high income potential. The Initiative is guided by an advisory committee composed of community members, community-based organization partners, and environmental justice leaders.