Author: Calum Gibb, CISS
On the morning of 10 November 2021, colleagues from across the globe joined ‘Climate Ready Classrooms – Innovations in Transnational Education’, an online webinar hosted by SCILT Depute Director, Lisa Hanna.
Over the course of two hours, the CISS team shared the background, successes and potential future application of the Climate Ready Classrooms pilot, which linked over 400 primary students across 12 schools in Scotland and Tianjin, China. This multi-disciplinary approach to climate education combined language learning, science, IT, and cross-cultural communication to tackle one of the most pressing issues of our time.
SCILT Director Fhiona Mackay and Ms Junyang Wang of the Tianjin Municipal Education Committee opened the event and were followed by a series of short films which guided the audience through the evolution of the project from the initial proposals back in 2018, the practicalities of training and operational planning, and the successful delivery of the project in September 2021.
During a lively panel discussion, participants from King’s Park (Glasgow), Culross and Fossoway Primaries recounted the many ways in which the project expanded beyond their classrooms into the school and wider communities. They shared examples of the impact on student behaviour and climate knowledge, as well as feeding back a universal excitement amongst their students at discovering an outlet to use new language with classmates on the other side of the world.
Amidst COP26, hearing young learners from two nations share the various ways we can all help make our environment and world better, truly underlined the importance and broad potential of this format. From all parties, there seemed to be a universal desire that this project continue, and we look forward to seeing how the Climate Ready Classrooms concept develops and expands moving forwards.
If you would like to view the videos from the showcase, visit the CISS channel on Vimeo.
