Climate Change Learning Collaborative

Climate Change Learning Collaborative: What Is It?

Anyone living in New Jersey is likely already directly experiencing the impacts of climate change, such as more severe storms and flooding, which impact on our communities and homes. New Jersey educators are at the forefront shaping learners’ understanding of this complex and contentious issue and improving student ability to engage and stay resilient dealing with climate change.
Great Swamp Watershed Association, in partnership with Ramapo College, is part of the statewide Climate Change Learning Collaborative (CCLC) funded by the New Jersey Department of Education. The goal is to support public school teachers, curriculum planners, and administrators to help integrate climate science into teaching practice, across all grades and subjects through on-site professional development opportunities, funded by a NJDOE Year 2 grant and aligned with mandated New Jersey state standards.
GSWA and our partners are offering many amazing hands-on workshops and learning opportunities. Workshop attendees will participate in experiential, place-based, locally relevant activities. How does climate change differentially impact New Jersey’s urban and suburban communities and what does that look like? GSWA staff will provide carefully vetted, science-based resources across all subject areas. GSWA will demonstrate lessons and interactive models and leave participants with the resources needed to turnkey these resources in their classrooms.

More Information:

For more information about the CCLC, click here.
To register for workshops, click here.
For information about the workshops, see below:👇

Professional Development at GSWA

We have workshops in the summer and during the school year.
  • Geared toward grades 5–12; cross-curricular
  • Suitable for both new and returning Year 1 participants
  • Stipend: $180 per full day; $90 per half day
  • Full Day: 6 hours with field and classroom components, held during summer break
  • Half Day: 3-4 hours on weekends and after school
To see workshop dates and to register for workshops, click here.

Professional Development at Your School

PD Workshops will take place at your site- they can include faculty at your site or specific grade levels and subject staff from your district. Participants will experience place-based, locally relevant, and hands-on experiential activities. GSWA staff will provide highly vetted, science-based resources across all subject areas. GSWA will demonstrate lessons and interactive models and leave participants with the resources needed to turnkey these resources in their classrooms.

Workshops are:

  • Geared toward grades 5–12, cross-curricular
  • Customizable to your curriculum, school-specific units/projects and site
  • Underwritten by the CCLC grant
  • Capacity: 10–30 participants
  • Duration: 3 hours (AM, PM, or post early-dismissal days)
  • Can be scheduled to meet your availability/space
Priority given to CCLC grant recipient districts

Programs are:

  • Taught by Master Ecologists and scientists who understand these issues
  • Involve hands-on, place-based learning to engage in real world issues and solutions
  • Focus on how climate education can be taught effectively across the school curriculum
  • Focus on how climate change impacts affect New Jersey
  • Link to the NGSS Climate standard bands
  • Are solutions-focused and based on high quality science, research, and data
  • Leave educators with turnkey-ready resources for implementing lessons into classrooms

To book an on-site PD training, please reach out to Alex Sloane at asloane@greatswamp.org

Student Experiential Learning

Great Swamp Watershed Association, in partnership with Ramapo College, is part of the statewide Climate Change Learning Collaborative funded by the New Jersey Department of Education.  Our goal is to support teachers, curriculum planners and administrators to help integrate climate change into their teaching, across all grades and subject areas through multiple types of professional development opportunities as well as classroom and field experiences for students, all funded by the second year of a grant from NJDOE.
We bring GSWA’s focus on water quality and ecological conservation to your grades 5–12 students while exploring how a changing climate will impact their communities. Whether we’re bringing hands-on climate science into the classroom to help students create resilient communities, or you’re bringing your students into the field for a day spent gathering data and analyzing impacts, students from all subject areas will learn by undertaking climate science experiments and place-based experiential learning.
Student learning days are offered first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to CCLC grant awarded districts and underwritten by the CCLC grant. Student bussing and subs are reimbursed by Ramapo College and all student fees associated with the experiential learning are covered through the CCLC grant.
To book an on-site PD training, please reach out to Alex Sloane at asloane@greatswamp.org.

In-Field Visits

Capacity: 48 students with one chaperone for every ten students. Trips are full-day experiences (up to five hours) in the field, with lunch provided by the school. GSWA staff will lead students through “a day in the life” of a field scientist, assessing environmental health and resilience through water quality monitoring and ecological assessments. Students participate in hands-on water quality science and undertake ecological thinking as they walk our restored floodplain forest exploring microhabitats and assessing ecological values of preserved lands. Students will engage meaningfully in how environmental health and climate change impacts human communities in the Passaic watershed.

To book an on-site PD training, please reach out to Alex Sloane at asloane@greatswamp.org.

In-Class Visits

We can teach up to five classes on your scheduled day. GSWA staff will come to your classroom to explore issues surrounding water quality and quantity, the real New Jersey water cycle, and how water moves through natural and human-built ecosystems. Students will undertake guided activities and interactive lessons to explore local water quality and environmental issues.  Our science staff will tailor information to be locally relevant, place-based, and relatable to your students.

To book an on-site PD training, please reach out to Alex Sloane at asloane@greatswamp.org.