Abstract
The paper addresses the problem that climate change remains a deeply divisive and politically partician issue and that teacher working in communities where where climate change denial is more prevalent are likely at greater risk of being sanctioned. An approach to address political polarization is to bring local issues and related stories into the classroom. Positioning teaching with through a local environmental issue can shift the story to children’s lives and opportunities, rather than entrenched political debates.
Keywords: Climate change polarization; Political partisanship; Climate change denial; Teacher risk / community sanctions; Localized teaching; Place-based education; Local environmental issues; Story-based pedagogy; Depoliticizing climate change; Community context; Student-centered relevance; Navigating controversial issues
Core Idea: Using Localized, Place-Based Approaches to Navigate Climate Change Polarization in Education
Reference: Climate Justice Literacy: Stories‐We‐Live‐By, Ecolinguistics, and Classroom Practice by Damico, James S.; Baildon, Mark; Panos, Alexandra Journal of adolescent & adult literacy, 05/2020, Volume 63, Issue 6 Literacy educators can guide students to examine the stories we live by, or the larger narratives that guide individual and collective sen… Journal Article: Full Text Online