Teaching Climate Change to Students with Special Needs using a Holistic Approach
"It is a philosophy of education based on the premise that each person finds identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to humanitarian values such as compassion and peace" (Wikipedia).
Why is it important that I know about climate change and its effects? How will learning about climate change impact me as a person?
It is an intensive learning experience that changes content into context and allows the learner to reach a certain fluency (what they learn becomes part of who they are/ what they do)
How does climate change affect me? My family? My community? My country? The world?
Feeling valued in being the best you can be/learning as a joy
“Intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning” (Wikipedia).
Allow the learner to guide the inquiry.
Transformative approach to education - changes in frames of reference - point of view, habits, world views
What do I already know about climate change and what do I want to learn more about?
Meaningfulness - leads to self-regulation
Why is climate change meaningful to me?
Questioning the goal of education, working on the process of self actualization
How does this knowledge help me grow as a person?
The development of individual intellectual, emotional, social, physical, creative potentials is important
How do I feel about climate change?
How can I creatively show my work?
How does climate change affect me and my day-to-day life?
Focuses on finding identity/purpose in life through connections to community/natural world
How am I impacting climate change? Is there a group in the community I could join to help out?
How are my actions contributing to or helping to combat the effects of climate change?
Personal and collective responsibility
Realizing that tackling climate change is both a personal and collective responsibility
Transdisciplinary - understanding the world in wholes, focus on the inquiry
After the core vocabulary and content has been taught, student leads creation of inquiry questions about climate change.
Community connections
Who in my community can I connect with to learn about climate change? Where can I gain greater knowledge?
Teacher - “experienced traveling companion, guide, mentor” - cooperation is the norm
Teacher guides student in their inquiry.
Provides resources and assistance.