Live discussion: How do we teach children about climate change?

NAOMI: Well, hello, good evening. Welcome to our live BBC Teach discussion program, all about how do we teach children about climate change. I'm Naomi Wilkinson. Over the next hour, we will be sharing ideas around environmental education, bringing climate change into the classroom, and taking children outdoors, out of the classroom, and into the natural world. We have got a brilliant panel here with us this evening, all experts in the field of primary education, and teaching children about the environment, and they are standing by on tenterhooks ready to answer any questions you might have for them this evening. So, I'm going to get started by introducing them all to you. Our first guest is a Primary Science Consultant, working with schools across East Anglia. She's been teaching for twenty-seven years, over twenty-seven years, working in both inner city, and rural schools, and there is nothing she loves more than environmental education, and exploring the natural world. It is the wonderful Claire Seeley. Hello Claire.

CLAIRE: Good evening, hello.

NAOMI: Thank you for joining us, Claire. Now you have written an article for BBC Teach, up on their website, with six top tips for teaching children about climate change. One of those tips is to break down the big ideas, and to spend time teaching the key concepts. So, it might be a little bit mean, but we’re going to start with a key-concepts quiz for you, I hope that’s all right, asking you if you can define the following: in just a sentence or two/ please. So, the first question is: what is climate as opposed to weather? CLAIRE: A climate is a long-established weather pattern over, for example, thirty years, whereas weather is the day-to-day, moment-by-moment weather; in wherever you are.

NAOMI: Okay. CLAIRE: It’s the conditions.

NAOMI: Second question, what is the greenhouse effect?

CLAIRE: Okay, so the greenhouse effect, so here is Planet Earth, and around the Earth, there is the atmosphere. Inside the atmosphere are some greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, and methane, to name but a few. Before the Industrial Revolution, those greenhouse gases were really regulating the Earth’s temperature, keeping it pretty constant, stopping really the Earth from losing too much heat. Post Industrial Revolution, humanity has been burning lots of fossil fuels, and we’ve done intensive farming, which has meant that we’ve raised those greenhouse gases, and now unfortunately this has led to global warming.

NAOMI: So clearly explained, also correct laughs. And the third one, last one, what is climate change?

CLAIRE: So, climate change is a long-term rise in the Earth’s temperatures. Climate change is leading to extreme weather events. For example, flooding, bigger storms, droughts, lots of natural disasters.

NAOMI: Claire Seeley, take a bow, three out of three. That is why she has been teaching for twenty-seven years. You can of course read Claire’s article in full on the BBC Teach website, complete with definitions of those key concepts. Our second guest tonight is 2019’s Primary Science teacher of The Year. He’s been teaching for the past seventeen years. He’s a fellow of the Primary Science Teaching Trust, and he loves to create meaningful outdoor experiences for his pupils. It’s Nathan Williams. Good evening, Nathan.

NATHAN: Good evening, hi.

NAOMI: Aw thank you so much for joining us. Now we can get into this in a little bit more detail later on, but you were telling us about washing-up bowl ponds. So, for anyone that doesn’t know what is exactly a washing-up bowl pond please?

NATHAN: Okay, so a washing-up bowl pond is a, is a great way, a great opportunity for schools, or houses that don’t have a, a huge amount of space to have a pond, a life in their, their, their space. So, a washing-up bowl pond is made from a washing-up bowl. It doesn’t have to be that. It can be another container, that’s large enough to hold water, and into that we place stones, pond weed, and then we place it out in the school grounds. And you can see some images there that are rolling through there that were caught by wildlife cameras that we set up to try and see what sort of animals come into the school grounds, and how they use the washing-up bowl pond.

NAOMI: Oh, such cracking photos there, and a really great learning tool for the kids as well, provides N: Yeah some great opportunities.

NATHAN: Absolutely, some of the children have never seen a hedgehog before, starting to recognise lots of different types of birds that came to use the ponds, creating huge discussions. So it’s been you know, a really valuable tool to have.

NAOMI: Yeah, cos we know that providing water really does encourage wildlife onto your patch. That’s so good. Thank you, Nathan. Um, our third guest has taught across the primary age range for twenty-two years. Another previous winner of the Primary Science Teacher of the Year Award, and a fellow of the Primary Science Teaching Trust, but for this guest it’s not just science that she teaches outdoors. It’s... everything. Welcome, Jeannette Morgan, hello.

JEANETTE: Hello, good evening.

NAOMI: Great to have you with us Jeannette. Now, as I hinted there, you like to deliver a whole host of curriculum subjects outdoors, don’t you? So can you tell us about one of your outdoor trails please, what's involved?

JEANNETTE: For me, it’s really about getting the children to engage with the outdoors, and for me, as a teacher, to make the curriculum come alive. So I take national curriculum objectives that I, I want to deliver, and I find a way of using the massive resource cupboard that is outside our front doors, and outside our classroom doors, as a way of engaging children. So, we might take a history walk in a local housing estate, and look at materials, and how they’ve changed over time, and how houses look different. We might go to a play park and investigate forces, looking at push and pull and twist, or we might look at how electricity is used in local High Street, for example to heat things up in a bakery, cool things down in your local Iceland, or make things turn or go around. So, there's usually a way to shoehorn the curriculum subjects in a way of getting the children outdoors and engaged in the world around them.

NAOMI: That’s so cool. I love the way you describe the great outdoors as a big resource cupboard! That’s such a good image there. Thank you Jeannette, brilliant. I wish you’d been my primary teacher. Next we have a STEM Science and Careers lead at a junior school on the East Yorkshire coast, where the pupils regularly participate in outdoor and environmental education. You might see a little bit of a theme emerging here. She's also a member of the Association of Science Education, and she just loves nature. It’s Kate Sutton. Good evening, Kate.

KATE: Good evening, hello. NAOMI: Hello, thanks for joining us. NAOMI: Now, you were telling the team here about Farmer Time, which sounds very intriguing. Could you tell us more about Farmer Time please?

KATE: I certainly can. It’s a wonderful opportunity for students to be able to engage with nature, and learn more about where their food comes from, and what happens on the land, especially during Zoom, it has become more prevalent, and the children, you know, they can say that they know a farmer. It’s, was set up by Farmer Tom, and LEAF Education. It’s free, and you register, and then you were assigned a farmer. Our farmer is Farmer Colin, and he is in Argyll in Scotland. And then you can have regular meetups. We share him across the schools. Sometimes he comes into assembly, online of course, and the children love it. Sometimes he's in his combine, which is driving itself, and they're amazed by that. NAOMI: Oh, wow. And it’s differentiate- you can differentiate at any lesson. So we’ve had year sixes asking him about the effects of Brexit, through to the younger children asking him if he's ever had a cow that blew away, or if he has flamingos on his farm. LAUGHTER.

Laughter

NAOMI: I love it. KATE: It’s fantastic.

NAOMI: Yeah, and what a good Covid-proof way of connecting during these times as well, and learning more about farming. That’s so excellent. Thank you, Kate. And finally, we’re delighted to be joined by a science journalist and communicator with a doctorate in atmospheric physics from Oxford. Also known as Climate Adam, it’s Doctor Adam Levy. Hello.

ADAM: Hi, thank you by the way.

NAOMI: Hello Adam, welcome. Now what inspired you to create your video channel "Climate Adam".

ADAM: Well, when I was still studying for my doctorate in atmospheric physics, I was learning all this cool science, finding it amazing, and then just looking at how far away the public conversation, and the political conversation was from the state of our climate science understanding. And so I wanted to try and do something that closed that gap, and rather than just, I don’t know, give boring lectures about it, I thought it would be nicer to start a YouTube channel, and a YouTube channel which did all the things that I love watching on YouTube anyway. So it’s filled with you know, silly metaphors, outfit changes, and so if I want to explain for example, why it’s not too late to stop climate change then I punch myself in the face. Things like that.

NAOMI: Why not?! Well, I have subscribed to your channel, love your videos. A: Thank you Thank you so much for joining us tonight. I have to say you're all people after my own heart, because I do love wildlife. I love spending time in the great outdoors too. So we’re going to have a good discussion hopefully tonight. A reminder that we are live until 9 o’clock. So, we haven’t got that long, but if you have any questions for our guests this evening, please do send them in to us via our Facebook page @BBCTeach, and we will put as many of those questions to our panel as we can, very, very soon. But starting off, Claire we know that teachers don’t have it very easy. There are countless conflicting priorities, limited curriculum time, not to mention a global pandemic thrown into the mix. So why should we prioritise the teaching of climate change, or environmental education. Why is it important, and what are the benefits to pupils?

CLAIRE: Er, good question. You know it’s, it’s really you know, we know schools are under such enormous pressure. It’s been just incredible, the pressure, and you know, day by day the teachers that I think we’re all working with here on the panel, you know, we can tell you that schools have been decimated by Covid. But there’s curriculum at the heart of education. You know, children, children, we teach children about the world around them, and actually, it’s not a question of putting in climate change, and doing that on top of an already massive pile. It’s about actually weaving climate, and environment right the way through your curriculum, your existing curriculum, looking for those opportunities to take that as a theme. And it’s really, really important, because this is our world that we live on, and we need to understand it don’t we? We need to understand how it works. We need to understand about weather, and climate, and the natural world around us. We also need to have a lens that’s not just about us in our own little corner of the world, but actually a global perspective. And actually, if we can really tweak our curriculums, so that we use those opportunities, and look for them naturally, and weave it in, then what a, what a rich, wonderful, diverse curriculum we can offer our children, and we’re not just educating them for the future. I know a lot of the rhetoric around environmental education has always been very future tense, but actually it’s the world now, that they're living in now, and the circumstances that actually they find themselves in right now, and that’s really important.

NAOMI: Yeah, you're so right. Oh, brilliant Claire. Nathan, research has consistently shown that there are positive wellbeing outcomes from a close connection to nature. Have you seen evidence of that with your own pupils?

NATHAN: Yeah, loads, and particularly since the pandemic started really. I remember being in school in a bubble, and we tried to get the children outside as much as possible, cos we thought that that was the best thing to do. And then since coming back into school full-time, all the children have realised how important it is to get outside as much as possible and connect with nature. And you know, even small things, we go to outdoor learning space, it’s all about the listening, and the watching of the environment you go into, and the more we do it, the more we hear the children talk about the things they notice within nature, and how things have changed, or as we’re sitting there listening for different sounds, they hear different bird calls, and the conversations that are being sparked from that have been fantastic. So, on a pretty small scale, you know, that, that’s great, but on a much bigger scale we’ve just recently planted three hundred and twelve trees in our school site, which is almost one tree per child, which has been absolutely amazing, because the children have really taken ownership over it. They now see that tree as almost like their baby.

NAOMI: Yeah, yeah.

NATHAN: They take great pride in the way they planted it, and then you see them go and look at the tree. Has it grown yet, or has it changed it? And the conversation they're then having with their parents afterwards have been, you know, absolutely amazing. So, I think we need to provide lots of opportunities for children to connect with the nature, but not just as a one-off, but on a regular basis, and you will see more connections being made, the more that we do that. Another thing that we tried to do is we developed a wildlife area in front of our school. I work at St. Peters, we’ve got a giant S and a giant P cut into the front of our school grounds, and we planted wildflowers there.

NATHAN: We realised in the winter they were going to, you know, die off, so we dug up mm a hundred and eight of those plants, and each of my year three children took one home, and the plan is that they would take that plant home, they will look after that plant, and in the spring, summer time, they will bring it back, and we’ll replant it. And we started a blog on our learning platform for the children to be able to post updates of their plant, or if it’s flowering or this has changed or that’s changed. So the more opportunities we provide to connect with nature, the more children will connect and, and yeah, because they really need enjoy it. PlantWatch is, is, is a little, big hit in my class! chuckles.

NAOMI: Yeah, I mean, we always say you love what you care about, and if you're giving a child something like that to care for, then they're going to learn to love it. That’s just such a good example, I love it.

NATHAN: Absolutely.

NAOMI: Jeannette, this isn't just about science education is it. Are there themes that you think can be embedded across subjects?

JEANNETTE: I think just leading on from what everybody else has said, that the first thing that we really want to do you know, before we go out and think about the curriculum is that relationship we’ve got with the outdoors, and, and the research says that if you don’t have a relationship with your environment you're not going to care for it, and look after it. And so that is the first thing, so getting outdoors first of all, but yes, you can definitely find different aspects of the curriculum to weave into that. So, as teachers we’re still accountable to the curriculums that we’ve designed for our children, and we’re still making sure that, you know, their learning is at the heart of what we do. But it does on, on a physiological level and a psychological level it actually really helps children’s wellbeing. So, if you find you’ve got children who really struggle in class, who are dysregulated actually going outdoors helps them in noticing different things. So, you know, for example, when we’re thinking about climate change, we’re thinking about things changing very quickly. Well maybe taking your children into the environment and realising that things have taken a very, very long time for them to get to that state, where they're adapted to that environment. What will happen is suddenly something changes overnight, or do we have the correct materials in order to deal with more extreme forces in weather, or do we need to think about more the waterproofness of materials if we’re seeing more flooding? So, you can link it into, um, lots of ways. You can think about it back in historical terms. Has anything like this ever happened before? And then compare the, the rapid change to that, and it also brings up those skills, their soft skills of, what are we talking about when we talk about climate change? We’re talking about adapting to something. We’re talking about thinking about resilience, and that’s what we want to see in our children. We want those skills as well, so it isn't just about the curriculum subjects. It’s also those skills of resilience, adaptability, observing, being able to hypothesise, and think about the world around them, and what it might be, and how much investment and power they’ve got in changing that outcome, changing that future for themselves. So, yeah, it’s about taking their power back as well, by giving them those informed...um, that, that information.

NAOMI: Yeah, really interesting way of looking at it, brilliant. Kate, your school has been awarded a Primary Careers Mark. How much children are engaged in environmental education by beginning to think about careers? What are the opportunities there, do you think?

KATE: Well, with doing the Careers Mark accreditation we were able, again utilising Zoom, and, and with all the different connections, via Twitter, and different science links that we have made, we were able to get experts from all different areas, from science careers, to come in and speak to the children, and help them to develop more of an interest in all different areas of learning, and help them to understand more all the different elements of science, and nature, and the environment that they perhaps didn’t know, or hadn’t really thought about before. Um, we had done careers education with year sixes after they'd finished their SATs in years, many years gone by, and then I was doing a masters and I came to realise that there was a big gap in STEM skills, and people that are moving forward to be able to take up STEM careers. So, for part of my dissertation we thought about careers education in year six. And it was, it was staggering, the difference and the children starting to understand more about themselves, and what attributes they had and what might suit them as a career, and learning more about different science areas, rather than just plucking something out of the air. And it’s not about them committing to doing that thing age ten. It’s just about empowering them to have more information about, a more wide, wide area of learning, so that they, they can make more of an informed choice. So, we did the Careers Mark, it was about eighteen months ago now, and I think twenty-seven schools in the country have done the Primary Careers Mark, and it was, as I say, a brilliant opportunity and experience for all of our children. It supported transition, and just really challenged stereotypes, and encouraged them, and their autonomy. So, it was really, really an excellent thing. It helped them to think more about the climate issue. We use brilliant BBC Bitesize Careers resources amongst other things, and really helped them to think more about the world going forward, and ways they might be able to achieve their dream of, of a STEM career. It was excellent.

NAOMI: And I guess as children grow to become adults now there will be more green job opportunities for them in the future, would you think?

KATE: That’s it, absolutely. In the future all jobs are going to have a green element, and we’re going to need such a lot of um professionals, really highly trained professionals, to be able to help address these issues, and they're going to need to be resilient, and problem solve, and all those key transferable skills having a growth, positive growth mindset, so that they can go forward, and continue to, with the baton, you know to be able to help our planet to be a really healthy, great place for them to bring up their own children. And indeed, children, they don’t understand why more isn’t done. You know, they, they want to find out more, and they, they, they, they're really keen to get involved, and, and make a difference.

NAOMI: And aren't we glad about that? Adam, you engage people of all ages in these topics through your videos and writing. What have you found appeals to younger audiences in particular?

ADAM: I think in terms of the storytelling itself I, I find that fairly unsurprisingly the sillier, the more fun videos tend to attract younger audiences. But then in terms of topics some videos which I've been a bit surprised by the comments, and seeing the comments coming from young people have been, for example, very future-looking videos. So I did a video, I think it was called something like what will the world be like in the year 2100, and it was just looking at kind of two very, very distinct possibilities. One, if we don’t really do anything about climate change, one if you know, we do what we understand we need to in, in order to keep climate change to, to relatively safe levels. And in this video, instead of kind of going through the science, I was just really trying to describe these, these worlds, and I don’t know whether the, laughs the video itself is that good, but what's clear is that young people are typing into the YouTube search bar "What will the world look like in 2100?" And, and then coming to my video through that, and a lot of them are commenting under the video, oh, in 2100 I think that I’ll be, I’ll be ninety-two years old, or you know, I mean there are just hundreds of these comments of people saying how old they’ll be. And it’s not an abstract question. I think often when we talk in science and things like that about oh well the year 2100, what will it be like. We’re talking about young people’s old age. We’re talking about the world they’ll, they’ll be living in in their old age, and so it’s understandable that yeah, young people want to know what that world will be.

NAOMI: Yeah, are there ways that you deliberately make your videos if you are trying to inspire the younger audience?

ADAM: Yeah, definitely. So, in general, I think climate science can often be quite cold, and abstract, and detached, and especially when it’s a topic which does feel a bit more abstract, I try and connect it to things that are maybe more, more playful, or more every day. So, talking about the greenhouse effect as a hot sweater, and now we’re putting on too many hot sweaters, and we’re overheating, and at the same time as we’re overheating we’re saying oh I don’t know what could possibly be causing us to be overheating, while putting on the gloves, and the hat, and still arguing with the doctor who is telling us to stop doing it. So yeah, when I'm aiming at a young audience I tend to do laughs more and more silly things like that.

NAOMI: Yeah.

ADAM: But I think of course - I hope that appeals to younger audiences, but I hope as well even for older audiences who maybe don’t find it as funny, it helps get it into our head. I don’t know, we’ve all heard this, you know, explanations of these things before, or maybe some of, some of us haven't, but yeah, being able to connect it to, to a playful comparison like this, I hope helps us all understand it.

NAOMI: Definitely, something you can really relate to, for sure. I think it’s time we look at some of your questions that have been coming in via social media. Kate, we do have one for you. Where did you find all the people working in STEM? Is it as simple as a Google search?

KATE: Um...we would, in some ways it is, and if you go on Twitter, as I said there, the Primary Science community on Twitter is brilliant, and there are so many opportunities, the Great Science Share for Schools, the PSTT, PSQM, the ASE. There are lots of different ways on there that you can get links with different places. Farmer Time was just, just found it on Twitter, and it’s been a fantastic thing for our school. And also, we did a Careers Day with Primary Futures, and they helped me to set up all the different professionals that were coming into school, and we had a whole day of people coming in voluntarily. They did workshops with the children. There was a cardiologist. There was an actor. There was somebody that was an archaeologist, and all kinds of different things that really inspired the children, that they otherwise, we’re in a quite a low social economic area as well. So, it really helped them to get a view into things, which they would have otherwise not necessarily have had access to, and you know, we’re all wanting to develop the social and cultural capital of our children, so that all children get the same opportunities, you know, in their lives.

NAOMI: Yeah, um, here's a question from Joe, maybe I could throw this one to you, Jeannette. What elements of climate change would be appropriate to teach in early years, in key stage one. SILENCE

JEANNETTE: Oh, I can’t hear you at the minute laughs.

NAOMI: Classic mute button.

JEANNETTE: Classic, yeah.

NAOMI: There you are, you're back.

JEANNETTE: I, I think that, in think in terms of early years and key stage one it goes back to that relationship with the outdoors, and it goes back to getting them outdoors, and engaging them with the world around them, and, and getting them actually to see what the world on their doorstep looks like. And then things like you know the early years, certainly water play. Water running off of things. What, what happens if you increase the flow of water? What, what effect does that have? What if you place Lego pieces in the way, you know and, and you can see the effects that things have. Think about waterproofing. Think about, you know, having your, your water play, and, and, and making things like umbrellas, and, and, and real-life practical examples as to the kind of problems that the grownups are going to solve. So I think they're very gentle conversations, and they start with the relationship with your children being outdoors, and, and appreciating, and loving the world around them to begin with, before you begin having conversations around more these different things potentially. The change, what do you, how does that make sense in your world and getting children to do that. So looking at things like in geography you know, and, and I know in Year 1 when they do seasonal changes, and I had a really interesting experience with a child when we were talking about the seasons, and it was because he’d only been on the planet for five years, and I kept talking about this 'summertime', and he didn’t know what this summertime was, because he’d never had a summertime, because those patterns of weather keep changing. And then I remember the same conversation when he was a bit older, when we had one of the hottest summers on record, and he suddenly went, "Now I know what you mean, I've waited eight years to have this!" And so we’re teaching these things, you know these regular sequence of, of patterns, but actually that is not the children’s lived experience. And so, it’s those kind of experiences and, and talking to them, and, and you know finding out from them what they think is happening, but I think with very young children, we’re in the business of empowerment, we’re not in the business of scaring them. So I think it really is that relationship with the outdoors. If you are connected to outdoors, and you start to care about the outdoors, you have much more agency in what you are going to do with that information, as it comes for an age-appropriate level. Well, I hope that helps with those kinds of questions, with that question.

NAOMI: It definitely will, I could see all the panel and when you said about empowering the kids there was a lot of nodding going on there. They're all in agreement with you. Thank you for all your questions. Do keep them coming in on the BBC Teach Facebook page. We are live until 9 o’clock today. So, if you have any questions, please send them in to us, and we’ll get through a few more before the end of this show. So, I'm Naomi Wilkinson, a quick reminder: you are watching a live BBC Teach discussion program all about ‘How do we teach children about climate change?’ And you may well have heard about the BBC’s ambitious new initiative: Bitesize, the Regenerators. So whether you're at home or at school you can use the Regenerators to inspire children to take simple steps to build a greener future. Let’s take a look.

CEL; The planet’s future is in our hands. We have the power to make the difference.

KONNIE: But climate change can be overwhelming. It can be hard to know where to start, or how to keep going.

CEL: The Regenerators from BBC Bitesize is here to support you on your journey.

AMIR: It’s full of exciting content for teachers to use in the classroom.,

TEACHER: And then the waves and weather broke the plastic into little pieces.

CEL: And for young people to access at home.

BOY: One of the things we do to try and make a difference is use these old portable gaming consoles.

AMIR: From things you can do differently in your daily life.

BOY2: We are walking to the shop.

GIRL: There's this birdfeeder that I put on so they can get some food.

CEL: To how you can use your voice to inspire others.

WOMAN: They asked the audience if they had are any questions, and the entire time it felt like my heart was beating out of my chest.

VOICEOVER: A real banana will turn brown, rot, and break down into the soil.

YOUNGWOMAN: It’s exciting to see how much planting trees can make a difference to both our landscape, and our own wellbeing.

BOY3: We need to clean up this area frequently. It’s just been five minutes and we've got this much!

KONNIE: Because by starting small and coming together we can make a big difference.

NAOMI: And you can find those brilliant resources free online. Now Kate, a good way to engage children of this age seems to be by starting local. Can you tell us what's engaged your pupils on the East Yorkshire coast?

KATE: Yes, I absolutely agree. Making their learning in all aspects relevant is still important, because then it’s their lived experience. Um, well we're really lucky that we're near the beach in Bridlington so we've had beach cleans, and linking with the careers things we've gone for visits to the RNLI to see the lifeboat, and we’ve also been, we’re really lucky, we’ve got an excellent college, we've been able to take the children to see different things there as well. But recently we were really lucky to get involved with something that was happening for the COP26 conference. Our science club, all really avid environmentalists, and again, it was just being proactive, and just saw a call for a school to be involved, and so we got involved. There were STEM ambassadors, Yorkshire Water, and Dream Networks, and they came to our school, and we did a presentation to the children, and they were thinking about flooding, because Bridlington is at risk of flooding. The river is the Gypsey Race, and so they talked about flooding and the problems with it for them in their local area, and linked that to the, the problems with the climate going forward, and they had... they created their own river basically in a tray from their classroom, and there was all kinds of stuff in it. They were able to make their own tray with soil, and sand, and gravel, and rocks, and all that, and then we mimicked with the children there being a water event. So, some of the children got a bucket of water thrown in. Some of them got the watering can. Some of them, it was shaken as if it was some kind of land shift, and then they had to look and see how their tray, how their river had survived. They, they brainstormed different ideas for how they would have been able to stop that. There were these wild...you name it, they dreamed it up for how they might in the future be able to stop flooding. Jelly, grains that were absorbent, all these kinds of different things, which, you know, one of those things in the future might be something that’s a breakthrough. Anyway, then they re-set up their river, and they put some of their flood defences in place, and then we re-trialled it, and they were so engaged, um, they made some really great adjustments, and it helped them to really understand more about the issue with, with flooding. They made a film, short film about it, and there, there was pupil voice in there. They were talking about how strongly they felt about it, and were so proud that that was aired at the COP26 conference. So there was real pride for them in what they'd done.

NAOMI: Yeah, there's a lot to be said, a lot to be said for kids making films as well isn't there, and using the power of their voices in these films where adults really sit up and pay attention to them, I think. Does anyone else on the panel have anything where starting local has really worked, in your experience?

JEANNETTE: Yeah, I mean I, I'm, I’m outdoors a lot with, with the children, and just you know, and I'm very lucky that I'm down in Chichester, and so we’ve got an area of outstanding natural beauty around us. So we’ve got Chichester Harbour, which we can, which we go to and we see, and I think for us again, going back to this message of getting children outdoors you know you, you, you go on these walks, and they see things like litter, and I think it’s really key that when we’ve been out on our trails, and like I said, we start in one particular area, and then we end up talking about all sorts of things, but one of the concepts that you know a group of children in my class didn’t understand was that litter was a deliberate act. And so they kept saying well, why are these things on the floor, and so you know, in, in modelling, you know, to them what, what we do, and I said well, somebody doesn’t want that any more, and now they're thrown it away cos they think the environment is going to sort it out, and actually it won't. And so that led then to them thinking about well, I don’t want that in the environment. It's unsightly. It doesn’t belong, and so they then decided that they were going to clear it up, and so that then led to a beach clean for our beach, where we go down, and we do that. And it’s led to things like - we used to do whole school walks. So, we’d take everyone from reception all the way to year six, the older children would look after, and we’d walk in the local area on a whole school walk, seeing what was around, and noting those different things. And I think as well that the, the key for those people who are in urban environments, you're thinking well I haven’t got any green space around me. I don’t, how do I get outdoors and engage the children? The very first project I did was in London, and it was in the borough of Haringey, and it’s about you know the question that we asked was well, "Who put that there, and why did they do it?" And there are two things immediately apparent when you go outdoors. One is the beauty and magnificence of the natural world, and quite frankly that’s bonkers enough, you know, why do trees do the thing that they do? But the other one is that you get to see human innovation in its pure, you know its purity. Everything you see outside has come from someone’s imagination. It’s either they’ve solved a problem, it’s their as an expression of themselves, but every fence, tarmac post, something has been designed, and when children tap into human innovation, and what the possibilities of that are by being outdoors, and seeing how it’s been done, you suddenly have a whole load of problem solvers for the future who can make those decisions, and, and, and make those empowered choice for themselves. So, that’s my point, just literally walking out your front door. I started in London. I’ve done it in rural environments. I’ve done it, it, it’s not about a destination that we go to, it is about embracing your local environment, and loving where you live, and preserving that in, in the ways that you can at your age group.

NAOMI: Yeah. Adam, did you want to say something?

ADAM: Yeah, I mean just when you mentioned, Naomi, the, the power of say this video to make grownups sit up and listen. That’s something people have really studied. People have looked at um, you know when people are sceptical about climate change, or don’t really care about it, adults specifically, what kind of things shift them? You know, is it celebrities talking to them? Do they trust journalists? Do they trust scientists? Um, the people, the only real people who can shift them if they may have quite strongly held views about not caring about, or not believing in climate change, is their kids. So, this education plays, of course, such an important role to the young generation, but you have the role that everyone here is playing in educating kids goes so far, far beyond that, um, and yeah, I just wanted to bring that in because I am so impressed by the work that everyone is describing, and I know it’s going to be making waves well beyond those kids.

NAOMI: Same here, fantastic. Thanks Adam. Jeannette and Nathan, you're both teaching daily, so how do you act as good role models in the classroom? Jeannette, maybe we can start with you please. What types of behaviour can we demonstrate for pupils?

JEANNETTE: For me, it’s things like being very explicit with the kind of behaviours I do. So I, I don’t assume they get it by osmosis, I'd- laughs. So, if we’re going out and we’re doing a transition somewhere, the lights go off. Obviously with um, having to keep classroom doors open and things like that at the moment with ventilation, then you know wear your coats, put your coats on, we’re talking about you know, and I will wear my coat, and a scarf, and I will come in with many layers to, to model to them that actually you know we don’t need to have the heating on, or if we do, if the doors are open you know to, to help them stay warm. It’s things like bringing a water bottle to school, and drinking from it and refilling it, and showing that I've got a reusable bottle. And it’s things about being really explicit, and talking about my experiences of our world, um, and bringing those things, bringing those things in, and places where I've been. And I remember a conversation came up recently about the Maldives, and, and they were like ooh, where’s the Maldives, and I showed them, and I said but you know I, I might not get to go, you know. I, I, we need to look after the planet, and they, and just those, you know kind of those kind of conversations of me practising you know what I preach, and showing them that you know there are things we can do, turning light switches off. I talk to them about the fact that my heating is down a degree at home, and we, we make it an active thing to do that, oh the heating is on like this in the classrooms Miss, Miss Morgan, so should we, should we turn it down a couple of degrees. I say, yeah I think we, I think we can, you know. So just be explicit about what it is you're modelling, and what the effect of your behaviour is going to have. So that’s the kinds of things I do.

NAOMI: Amazing.

NAOMI: What do you think Nathan? I mean can a classroom ever be net zero? I think printouts spring to mind, and schools can be a bit cold and draughty, like you said. What do you think?

NATHAN: Yeah, I, I think that’s the dream, to have net zero not just in schools but across the country. I think it’s, it’s a really big ask at this moment in time, particularly with the current climate that we’re in, we have to have the heaters on, because all of our windows are open to try and keep the children safe, but we, we've had those conversations with children, trying to make it clear for the reasons why we have those. But I think it’s really important for them to start small, and for the children to see the impact. So we tend to give lots of our children responsibility. So, Jeannette mentioned about turning the lights off, but we have light monitors, or you know you might leave a projector still on, or my laptop screen is still on. And I always get told off for that, but I think it’s an important thing that the children see that, and they're acting on it, and they can see that it’s going to make a difference in the long run. And then you can go that much bigger than that by getting your school council involved. I think by bringing them on board, giving them a responsibility for improving the schools, the running, and, and to not spend as much money on those things. They really take up on it. So we, we’re a plastic-free school, sorry a, a single-use plastic-free school. So we don’t have any laminate sheeting anymore. And of the plastic cups that you might use for science experiments, and things like that, we make sure we keep them. We, we use them again. It’s not just used once. And we had an artist, Daniel Webb, came in, who, he, he saved all of his rubbish, all of his plastic rubbish for a whole year, and then put it on display, and he, he came and shared that with the children. They were so inspired as to how much plastic one person can generate, and then they started thinking about how much plastic they have at home, and what they need to do to use less plastic. So I, I, I think it’s really important that we give those children those responsibilities. We see the impact that it has on the school, on the environment, and then hopefully they can help to do something about it. Because actually the school, a company called Let’s Go Zero, which is a website which is run by a climate solutions charity, and then sort of pledging the schools to be clim-, sorry carbon free by 2030, and I think that would be a really good opportunity for schools to sign up to that. It’s a programme where they’ll support you to help small goals, with the ambition of becoming you know carbon neutral by, by, by 2030. And there are much bigger dreams here. I, I would love a wind turbine, on, on the school field Naomi laughs. I've had, I've had some conversations with my head about it, but I think it’s important to have those dreams, because those dreams can become reality N: Yeah if you keep pushing, if you keep trying. I think the minute that you stop... nothing’s going to change. N: Yeah, yeah So for me we, we can do it, but we have to have the opportunities and getting the children on board will only help.

NAOMI: That’s amazing. Claire, we know that eco-anxiety can affect children of this age. How can we engage pupils in these topics without installing a sense of hopelessness?

CLAIRE: Now this is a really important issue for us all to bear in mind. There's a, there's a statistic from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and those dealing and working with children and adolescents, report fifty-seven percent of children are concerned about this, and then even today I was talking to somebody about this panel, and she was saying how her children had looked at climate in their education at school, and their children were scared by what they'd been taught. So we absolutely need to be sensitive when we’re, we’re looking at this, this subject. So, we need to acknowledge children’s fears, because they're real and they're founded and it’s important that we acknowledge that, but I think all of us tonight have really pushed this idea of um, really empowering our children as much as we can, giving them opportunities to make those positive changes in their own behaviours, and in their school, and for their community, and really nurturing. Although Jeannette gave us a brilliant list earlier on, didn’t she, with you know, talking about building children’s resilience and senses of empowerment. That’s just so vital. Nathan was talking earlier about how important it is to really nurture our children’s love of the natural world around them, because that helps actually, helps to kind of centre us, doesn’t it, and to, and it’s really good for mental health, and sense of wellbeing. And Kate was talking about using STEM careers as a, as a signpost of the future, you know that there are, there are ways forward, and actually, you know, showing children what the future can look like. So I think if we bring all of those three approaches together, then, then that goes some way in helping to support our, our youngsters, but you know I think we’re all professionals, we all know and love the children that we work with, and we need to be sensitive to their little souls, and remember they're primary school children you know? And the, and the onus is not on them to, to change the world. Actually it’s not just on their little seven-year-old shoulders. That’s a massive burden. Actually it’s on our shoulders.

NAOMI: Yeah, completely. Adam, would you like to come in on that at all? How do we strike that balance in your experience?

ADAM: Yeah, I, I think it’s really difficult, because I think when you're talking about it, it, it can very quickly became scary, and I think empowerment is absolutely the word, and there's one question, or one topic I hear all the time, which disempowers people of all ages, but I'm hearing it from the younger generations more and more, and that question is, is it too late? You know that very simple question, and a lot of people, I think especially a lot of young people, feel that it is, and they’ve heard that it is. And I think a big part of how we navigate that is by avoiding that actually quite scientifically inaccurate way we often talk about climate change, which is as if there's a hard limit, and if we cross that hard limit the world is ruined. Every-, before that limit everything is fine, after that limit everything is ruined. That’s not how climate change works. Climate change is different degrees of, of bad, but then if you flip that the other way around what that means is every single action you take improves the future world. Every single bit of warming we can avoid saves people’s lives. And so um, we need to be, I don't think we need to be bringing up necessarily that question of "Is it too late?" but we have to be mindful that that question is out there in the ether and sooner or later, kids, adults, everyone is going to hear that, and think that... 00:46:30.08 and based on a lot of how we report on climate change, and talk about it, they're going to think things which aren't true, and so, we need to keep ourselves, and keep our kids feeling empowered, and understanding that it’s never too late to make a really profound difference about the future we live in. NAOMI: Ah, all of this advice and guidance is so terrific. I love hearing it, thank you. We’ve had another question come in. Are there any stories you’d recommend to engage children of different ages? Any stories that anyone on the panel has used or goes to by default? Yes, Jeannette.

JEANNETTE: There's a, there's a lovely storybook of Greta Thunberg, and that’s a picture book that I've picked up that I share with the children, and again, that gives them a sense of some hope and agency, and I think that’s you know, when we’re using stories because stories are so powerful, because children can relate to them, I think that becomes really clear to children. I was, I was listening to something recently by Brené Brown. He sic talks about hope, and I think that’s what we’re talking about to, to, to, to come instead of anxiety, we have hope, and hope is not a feeling. Hope is a thought process, and by telling stories where you’ve got this process of: there is a goal, there is a way to the goal, and there is a way to get there via agency. That is what hope is. It’s those three things together, that she talks about, and communicating that with the children: Where do we want to go in our goal? How do we want to get there? and do we have the gumption to get there? using stories to help children say, oh this child who’s not much older than me has, has done that, and in a very kind gentle way and finding other stories, and that’s the one that comes to mind that, that I can think of at the moment. But the power of stories I know and using that idea of hope to counter that anxiety flips it again in that way. So that’s the one I've used, but I, I do communicate the kind of hope being an action, not, not a feeling for the children, N: Yeah so they can grab on to that idea.

NAOMI: Yeah, I really like that. Any other story recommendations? Yeah, Claire.

CLAIRE: So yeah, there's a, a group of stories written by, I think it’s Ellie Jackson. I haven’t got my glasses on, so I can't quite check it, check the author out, sorry, middle-aged eyeballs. But yeah, one of them is called "Duffy’s Lucky Escape". She’s written various books and, and they're all about animals, and, and they talk about how those animals’ lives are affected by climate change, and what people do to, to look after those animals, and, and their, their, their sort of rescue story. So they're really, they're really great. Children love animal books don’t they, and they're, they're a fantastic series. I recommend those.

NAOMI: Kate have you got one? Did you wave?

KATE: Yes, I did. "The Most Important Animal of All", and it’s written by Hannah Bailey, and it is an absolutely beautiful book, and it’s a mixture of actual images, and illustrations and it talks about all the different animals, and animals that are endangered, and it, it’s a beautiful book to use in school.

NAOMI: And would it be a massive spoiler if you told us which is the most important animal of all then? We’d better not ask that now. You have to read the book and find out! Another question here. What's, I like this question, what are some of the most common questions children ask about climate change? What sort of things do they want to know? SILENCE That’s, that’s made you all think, has it?

NATHAN: I, I get quite often asked, how, how can we stop it? What can be done to prevent it, and then obviously that’s a much bigger answer than what I can give to the children, but I think we always talk about making small changes, small changes that we have for ourselves to make a big impact on the environment for everyone else. So it is clear that the children want to do something about it, cos it comes up again, and again, and again. How can we stop this? Why isn't someone doing... N: Yeah..more to, to prevent it? Um, ut yeah, I, I try to give them the idea that we can do small things together, and I think as Claire said, we can't put all that pressure on to those children. It has to be a shared responsibility shouldered by the adults, but also supported with the children as well, cos they can make a difference if we make small changes.

NAOMI: Filling them up with hope. Thank you so much Madeleine for that question. I think we are fast running out of time, but thank you so much for the questions that you’ve sent in. I'm sorry we haven’t had time to go through them all. We are going to finish tonight. I'm going to give a bit of time for this, cos I think I really want to hear what everyone’s got to say. We’re going to finish tonight with one takeaway tip from each of our panellists. So one thing that a school could change from tomorrow, a simple, hopefully low-cost idea. So, Adam, do you want to go first?

ADAM: Sure, I think spending time imagining futures, encouraging young pupils, kids to really imagine the future that they want, and how we could get there. And of course, that has to be tailored differently to different ages, and I think encouraging that kind of storytelling, and focussing on that kind of positive storytelling as well. I think both of those things are so often missing from how we talk about climate change. We’re so often missing stories, and we're so often sadly missing positivity, and so I think combining those things, hopefully could be a really powerful thing for young people.

NAOMI: Yeah, that’s great. Kate, can we come to you next?

KATE: Yes, I would say to be positively proactive. So we, we’ve talked about how it’s really important to keep the children feeling positive, and avoiding eco-anxiety as much as possible, but from my experience just being really proactive, seizing the chances to bring things in to school that aren't necessarily going to cost anything, but there are so many things out there that you can fetch into school for your children to be able to engage with. I've mentioned quite a few. We're involved with nature-friendly schools, and we’ve ended up with a, a meadow, and a, a all-weather equipment for them to wear, and a digital climate area. Uh, there's so many things that we can do to help them to be able to repurpose, and understand about adapting, reusing, and just being positively proactive I would say.

NAOMI: Yeah, that is so good. There are so many ways you can encourage the pupils to bring wildlife into your school grounds. I think even if you don’t have a very big space there are all sorts of things you can do, and it does make a difference, and like Nathan was saying, when the children see that happening, seeing the wildlife visiting, and then capturing it on camera and things, it’s just really exciting for them. So, great opportunities. Jeannette.

JEANNETTE: I would say start your relationship with the outdoors and, and, and just step outside your classroom. It doesn’t have to be for a whole lesson. It can be a ten-minute walk around the grounds, and you can say you know things like how many mathematical things can you see. How many things related to geography can you see? How many things that have changed through technology can you see? What are things in your school grounds that have been affected by sunlight? It might be rust through nails, or it might be the plants have, are using sunlight, or it might be light and shadows. There are so many ways to get them engaged with the environment, relate it to your curriculum, but go outside, start that relationship with your environment, because the minute you're in a relationship with something you want to protect it.

NAOMI: Oh, make my heart sing... Nathan.

NATHAN: Yeah, I, I think much like Jess said about experiences outside, try and get the children outside as much as possible to see the world that they live in, and give those experiences to go to places they may not have the opportunity to go with their parents. We went to the local beach, Joss Bay, down the road, and on that trip, just walking down to the beach, it was only about half an hour walk, we saw so many things that made the children go, "Wow, I've not seen that before." And then giving those children the opportunity to talk about it later. They asked about the wind turbines that we saw out at sea. They asked about the lighthouse that we walked past. And I think that sometimes we take for granted that children... may not have all those experiences.

INDISTINCT

NATHAN: They may not have those experiences with, with their parents, but we can provide experiences for that with them in school. So give them time to talk. Give them time to see something that inspires them, and then make that into your lesson. And yeah, give them as much time as possible to talk about those things.

NAOMI: That’s brilliant. Er, Claire, can you follow that? Any ideas left? Laughs

CLAIRE: Yeah, definitely! It’s, it’s about getting outside with the kids. It’s so fundamental, but it’s also about removing some of those obstacles that sometimes children face, like equipment. So things like wellington boots and macs, there's no reason why, why schools, and I've done this myself in my classes, where we collected people’s second-hand wellies, because if you go in to anybody’s garage they’ve usually got a pile of Wellies that are not being used, N: Yeah or raincoats that are not being used. So collecting those, and just removing some of those barriers sometimes that children have to overcome that stop them from going outside. So just getting into that reusing culture of, of sharing, sharing those items, and also, just looking for those local spaces, which are near to you, things like, I’ve worked in schools where we've had an allotment. We've gone over to the local park or the local recreation ground. So even if your school doesn’t have a yard or a green space itself actually, just look for those spaces that are near to your school, and just get out there. Don’t let there be any excuse.

NAOMI: Claps Excellent ideas, all round, thank you, thank you so much to our brilliant panellists for joining us tonight. You’ve all been so inspirational. Such valuable advice, and guidance from you all. So, huge thanks for giving up your evening for us. Thank you to you as well for watching this evening. It’s been lovely to have the pleasure of your company. Needless to say you find plenty of resources to support your teaching on the BBC Teach website. It’s vast, and full of fantastic stuff. In particular we have got a new series of live lessons for primary schools, The Regenerators, and The Green Planet. The next one is going to be broadcast live at 11 o’clock next Thursday. That’s the third of February. You can watch it with your class on the BBC Teach website or it’s live on the CBBC channel as well. I'm going to be presenting that one, alongside Mr McPartlin and we are going to be learning how different plants have adapted to survive, the parts of a flowering plant involved in pollination, and the different ways seeds are dispersed in the wild. So it’s well worth a watch if you are working with a key stage two, or a second level class, even if I do say so myself. So, in fact we’re going to leave you this evening with a little clip from one of these live lessons. See if you can tell who is playing the plant. Thanks for joining us. Goodnight.

MCPARTLIN: Well, I can't help but notice there is something different about you, Naomi.

NAOMI: Could it be the fact that I'm dressed up as a massive plant?

MCPARTLIN: No, have you changed your hair?

NAOMI: Laughs

MCPARTLIN: Joking, I am of course referring to your magical transformation into a massive plant, but there is a good reason for this. You lot watching are going to help me label all the different parts of this flower, and Naomi, you’ve got some labels there N: I do for you to stick on yourself.

NAOMI: I do, I'm ready.

MCPARTLIN: Let’s start with something simple, the flower. Which part of Naomi’s fabulous costume is the flower? Shout it out if you know.

NAOMI: Should I give you a bit of a clue? It’s the big colourful pretty part around my face. Yeah, that’s it. Stick that there. This beautiful flower attracts pollinators like butterflies, and bees. They are attracted to it by its colour, and its scent.

MCPARTLIN: Right, the next label says leaf. Can you spot the leaf?

NAOMI: You are doing really well. So, where are my leaves? My leaves are pretty amazing. They turn sunlight into food in a process called photosynthesis.

MCPARTLIN: Absolutely amazing. What's the next label?

NAOMI: Er, the next one...

MCPARTLIN: It’s the stem. Do you know what a stem is? Shout it out if you do.

NAOMI: Er, the stem is there to support the leaves, and carry water and nutrients to different parts of the plant. It also helps the plant to... stand up straight.

MCPARTLIN: Right, so this label must go there.

NAOMI: Yep.

MCPARTLIN: We’re on to our final label, and this one says roots.

NAOMI: Yeah, this one’s a bit of a tricky one. Do you know where the roots would be? Shout out if you do.

MCPARTLIN: I can't actually see any roots, Naomi.

NAOMI: No, that’s because the roots are hidden underground. Roots absorb water, and nutrients from the soil, and they also anchor the plant and keep it steady.