Building Environmental & Climate Literacy: Professional Development Series
2023-2024 Professional Development
In partnership with organizations from around the Bay Area, CRS is offering a series of professional development opportunities for teachers to build environmental and climate literacy with a racial and social justice focus.
Resources to Build Climate Literacy
New & Revised Offerings
from Trusted Partners
CRS will continue to update this page with the latest information about virtual/online and in-person field trips, professional development, lesson resources, family resources, and more. Updated deadlines and new opportunities will be shared out in the weekly email newsblast as they become available.
Resources to Engage & Empower Students about
the Environment & Climate Change
To help teachers get started, CRS has curated high quality resources on a dedicated Environment and Climate Literacy webpage. This page has resources such as Activity Ideas, Lesson Tool Kits, Citizen Science Opportunities, Student Action Project, and more.
.
.
Workshop Archive
2022-2023 Workshops
Workshop Dates: Monday, 7/31 - Tuesday, 8/1
Grades: K - 12
Presented by: OTACA, Chabot Space & Science Center, and CRS
This two-day institute focused on building climate & environmental justice literacy and practice.
2021-2022 Workshops
Institute 2022
Workshop Dates: Monday, 8/1 - Tuesday, 8/2
Grades: K - 12
Presented by: OTACA & CRS
CRS's two-day institute focused on building climate and environmental justice literacy and practice.
Workshop Date: Thursday, 4/28
Grades: TK - 8
Presented by: East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD)
This webinar provided teachers with tools and information to talk to their students about drought and climate change as it relates to water conservation.
Workshop Date: Thursday, 12/9
Grades: TK – 8
Presented by: CRS, Stopwaste, Chabot Space & Science Center, and OTACA
This workshop explored gardens as a sustainable way to engage students in the concepts of climate science as they learn how to grow healthy food.
Wildlife Crossing
Workshop Date: Thursday, 11/18
Grades: Pre-K – 12
Presented by: Sherry Burch, The Tech Interactive
Educators will have a chance to engage in the activity as learners and design a wildlife crossing. We will discuss how can humans can avoid this problem in the future and design to help animals thrive, not just survive.
Workshop Date: Thursday, 11/4
Grades: Pre-K – 12
Presented by: Danielle Klein, The Planet Bee Foundation
Educators learned about bees, their importance and how to empower their students to become leaders in the next generation of green-minded stewards.
Workshop Date: 10/28/2021
Grades: Pre-K – 5
Presented by: Ben Lavender, Central Contra Costa Sanitary District
In this lesson, we used simple household materials to help us see what actually happens to our toilet paper and other kinds of paper after we flush them.
(Grades K-12)
Oakland Teachers Advancing Climate Action (OTACA) is a program that provides support to teachers interested in bringing Climate and Environmental Justice into their classrooms through student-driven action projects. Join and learn with and from fellow teachers, climate content experts, and environmental justice advocates!
Teachers met once monthly with a collaborative project team of their choosing.
(Grades 3-5)
Workshop Series: Fall 2021 & Spring 2022
Grades: 3rd - 5th Grade Teachers
Presented by: BASP and UC Berkeley, in partnership with CRS
This webinar series is designed to help teachers use mapping tools to build spatial literacy.
Workshop Series: Fall 2021 & Spring 2022
Grades: 6-12
Presented by: BASP and UC Berkeley, in partnership with CRS
This webinar series is designed to help teachers use mapping tools to build spatial literacy.
Science Resource Fair
Workshop Date: 9/25/2021
Grades: Open to all Educators
Presented by: CRS and local partners
A virtual open house for 15+ science education museums and environmental education organizations.
2020-2021 Workshops
in our Urban Ecosystem
Workshop Date: 5/20/2021
Grades 6-8
Our Ecosystem, Our Community: Greening Urban Watersheds is a hands-on, flexible middle school curriculum. Students explore biodiversity and interdependence in their own urban ecosystem, test green infrastructure models, and create pollinator habitat.
Workshop Date: 5/15/2021
Grades 6-12
Learn how to set up a series of lessons where students take opposing roles and defend their position while debating the pros/cons of an environmental proposal.
Workshop Date: 5/8/2021
Grades TK-8
Join our Climate Action League and help solve the climate crisis through global WORMing! Your facilitation team will demonstrate science concepts and student engagement strategies in a fun and playful way.
Workshop Date: 5/1/2021
Grades 6-12
Presented by: Haley Thiltgen and Eric Havel
This workshop is an introduction and overview of the “Climate Hazard Resilience Forum,” from Boston’s Museum of Science.
Workshop Date: 4/29/2021
Grades 6-12
Presented by: KQED
This session broke down the process of how to create infographics and how they can be used in the science classroom.
Workshop Date: 4/29/2021
Grades 3-5
Presented by: KIDS for the BAY
KIDS for the BAY Educators showcased their free Blue Watershed Classrooms (BWC) program, which includes five interactive lessons that support classroom teachers in developing a watershed-friendly, zero-waste classroom with their students year after year.
Workshop Date: 4/13/2021
Grades TK-5
Presented by: The Tech Interactive
In this workshop, we explored how birds live, considered the needs of animals experiencing habitat loss and developed tools to help them adapt to changes in their environment.
Workshop Date: 4/13 & 15/2021
Grades K-5
Presented by: BAMP & BASP
Take a close look at the current topic of vaccination against the coronavirus and examine cross-curricula standards-based connections and how each supports the other in a synergistic way.
the Parks
Workshop Date: 4/1/2021
Grades K-5
This Scavenger Hunt Activity introduced attendees to the East Bay Regional Park Website so they can decide which parks they want to explore.
Workshop Date: 3/30/2021 & 4/1/2021
Grades K-5
This series provided an introduction to GIS, as well as how to collect and analyze your own spatial data.
Workshop Date: 3/25/2021
Grades TK-5
Presented By: Central Contra Costa Sanitary District
This session highlighted how we can use our wastewater system as a powerful tool to support environmental literacy.
E-STEM Learning using NGSS (6-12)
Workshop Date: 3/25/2021
Grades 6-12
Presented By: Planet Bee Foundation
Educators learned how to implement E-STEM concepts using math and the engineering mindset, while also learning about bees, their importance, biology, and stewardship.
E-STEM Learning using NGSS (k-5)
Workshop Date: 3/20/2021
Grades K-5
Presented By: Planet Bee Foundation
Educators learned how to implement E-STEM concepts using math and the engineering mindset, while also learning about bees, their importance, biology, and stewardship.
Workshop Date: 12/3/2020
Grades K-8
Presented By: The Energy Coalition (TEC)
TEC presented this webinar for educators to enrich classrooms w/ environmental STEAM curriculum.
Workshop Date: 11/14/2020
Grades 3-8
Presented By: Kate Carter & Emma Doctors, NCSE
In this workshop, we explored engineering design challenge ideas to teach climate change adaptation.
Footprints
Workshop Date: 11/12/2020
Grades 4-8
Presented By: Haley Thiltgen, Chabot Space and Science Center
This workshop explored the intricate feedback loop that exists between food production, climate change, and our role within it.
Workshop Date: 10/22/2020
Grades 4-12
Presented By: Jessica Bean, PhD, UGC Project Leader
In this workshop, teachers learned how to use new UGC resources to explore the return of river otters to Bay Area ponds, marshes & rivers.
Greenhouse
Earth
Workshop Date: 10/24/2020
Grades 5-12
Presented By: Eric Havel
In this workshop, we focused on Earth’s atmosphere and its role in warming our planet.
Watershed Education from Your Front Door
Workshop Date: 10/22/2020
Grades K-5
Presented By: James W. Wilson, East Bay Regional Parks
Students experimented with different ways of exploring where water goes, & identified point source pollution and its effects on our local ecosystems and communities.
Using the GLOBE Program and Observer App to Engage Students in Data Literacy
Workshop Date: 10/10/2020
Grades 3-12
Presented By: Tracy Ostrom,
UC Berkeley
The GLOBE Program is an international science education program that provides students and the public worldwide with the opportunity to participate in data collection & contribute to our understanding of the global environment
Taking Action on Climate Change
Workshop Date: 10/8/2020
Grades 6-12
Presented By: OUSD Environmental & Climate Change Literacy Working Group
In this workshop, teachers developed strategies for facilitating student agency & action on climate challenges.
Environmental literacy and Phenomena-driven Instruction
Workshop Date: 10/8/2020
Grades PK-4
Presented By: Sagit Betser, PhD, Bay Area Discovery Museum
In this interactive workshop, we used a local environmental phenomenon to explore phenomena-driven instruction.
A Breath of Fresh Pollution - A Closer Look at Air Quality and Race
Workshop Date: 9/26/2020
Grades K-12
Presented By: Tricia Dennis, STEM4Real
In this session, teachers will took a closer look at air quality and how different races & ethnicities experience air quality based on surrounding environments.
Climate Change Concepts
in K-5
Workshop Date: 9/24/2020
Grade K-5
Presented By: OUSD Environmental & Climate Change Literacy Working Group
In this workshop, teachers experienced part of a climate-related elementary investigation and made connections to the NGSS, climate science, & citizen science opportunities at every elementary grade.
Getting Started - Building Environmental & Climate Literacy
Workshop Date: 9/12/2020
Grades All Grades
Presented By: Leena Bakshi, STEM4Real and Kate Carter, National Center for Science Education
In this session, keynote speakers addressed climate education with a racial justice lens, and engaged with scientists & participating citizen science projects.
Moving and Using Energy in the 21st Century
Workshop Dates: June 2020
Grades All Grades
Keynote Speakers: Mohini Bariya, Betsy Mitchell, PhD, & Joanna Totino
Part 1: Discover and Capture Solar Energy
Part 2: Investigate Energy and Energy Transfer
Part 3: Understand Energy and the CA Electric Grid