Knowing education plays an important role at any age, Vancouver Island University is looking to use children’s books to illustrate how climate change is impacting our community and planet.
In 2022 the United Nations defined climate change as a major crisis and asked all levels of governments and communities to create a more sustainable future.
VIU says education professor Wendy Simms is putting forward an initiative to help support this growing issue by making sure people are educated at a young age on the importance of climate change and how to deal with it.
“She received a $4,700 accelerator grant from Lakehead University to support her initiative to help teachers teach children about climate change,” they say. “She and a team of researchers are creating a curated list of children’s picture books that can help with challenging conversations related to climate change.”
Part of the research is to expand Simms’ own understanding of climate change education and how it can weave into the curriculum taught at VIU and how the university can expand.
“VIU is doing a lot of things related to sustainability, education and climate change,” the university says. “If teachers don’t feel confident enough or don’t have the resources to bring climate change education into their practice, then our programs need to respond to ensure our VIU candidates do.
“They will go into their practicum placements with research-based climate change pedagogies and practices to influence what is happening in the classroom before they graduate.”
For a book to be selected, or deemed useful to use in the classroom, VIU says the publication has to have a connection to one of six principles, then they will be reviewed.
“Our team of researchers then reviewed the sample of 159 children’s picture books,” they say. “We scored how visible each of the six principles of the Accord were, identified climate change-related topics, and potential triggers and protective factors for climate anxiety.”
According to the university, picture books have been proven to help teachers navigate difficult topics but finding the appropriate resources takes time.
