08/25/2026
Today, Stockton University’s Climate Change Learning Collaborative welcomed K–2 teacher leaders to campus for the first Professional Learning Community meeting of the year. Funding for the Climate Change Learning Collaborative comes from the New Jersey Department of Education and is used to support the implementation of NJ’s Student Learning Standards in Climate Change.
The session focused on what developmentally appropriate climate education looks like for young learners. In grades K–2, climate education does not need to begin with the words “climate change.” Instead, it begins when children notice their environment, ask questions about the changes they observe, explore how living things depend on their surroundings, and develop a desire to care for the places where they live.
Participants examined New Jersey’s recommendations for building climate literacy and learned about the recently revised New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Science. They discussed how the revisions shift the focus for young children toward understanding human impacts, caring for the environment, and building foundational knowledge that will support more complex learning about weather and climate in later grades.
The group also took part in a place-based nature walk on Stockton’s campus, documenting plants, animals, water, weather, and evidence of human activity. Educators then connected their observations to standards such as K-ESS3-1, which asks students to model the relationships between the needs of plants and animals, including humans, and the places where they live.
Throughout the year, these teacher leaders will continue to collaborate, share successes and challenges, explore research-based practices, and develop ideas they can bring back to their schools. Their work will help make climate education more meaningful, local, interdisciplinary, and appropriate for New Jersey’s youngest learners.
