School Workshop: Climate Challenge

The choices you make and the actions you take make a difference. Using working examples at Eden, students explore how we all, as individuals, can respond positively to the climate emergency and how significant our actions are in terms of influencing our peers, big business and government policies on adaptation and climate change mitigation.

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Workshop overview

We begin in the classroom by clarifying the drivers of climate change and completing an activity which encourages students to discuss some of the potential impacts together with their locations and time scales involved. This highlights the fact that climate change will impact everyone, everywhere sooner or later.

From this point onwards, we take a solution-focused approach to the challenge faced whilst acknowledging that it is a very complicated issue. Students do this by exploring the site at Eden and investigating examples which illustrate how we can all, as individuals, be part of the solution.

Back in the classroom we share our learning and explore how through these actions we also influence the choices and actions of others – a snowball effect.

Finally, we investigate what the climate response might look like at a global level in terms of adaptation and mitigation strategies and importantly the mechanisms by which we as individuals and communities can influence policy makers and big business to adopt these approaches.

Visiting teacher

“ One of the most educationally rich venues to have taken groups to visit. I would hope all pupils at our school could visit on a rite of passage. ”

Practical information

This workshop enables students to:

Explain the causes and some of the impacts of climate change
Describe ways in which individuals can make a positive difference through the choices they make
Discuss how we, as a global community, should respond to the climate challenge, justifying our decision making

We've designed the workshop to help teachers cover the following subject areas:

KS3 Geography - The use of natural resources and how the climate has changed.

KS3 Science - The production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the impact on climate. How organisms affect, and are affected by, their environment. Fuels and energy resources.

GCSE Geography - Changing weather and climate - the causes, consequences of and responses to extreme weather conditions and natural weather hazards, recognising their changing distribution in time and space. The spatial and temporal characteristics, of climatic change and evidence for different causes, including human activity.

AQA GCSE Geography - 16. The evidence and reasons for human induced climate change. The effects of climate change on people and environment. Managing climate change: Mitigation and Adaptation

GCSE Science - Positive and negative human interactions with ecosystems, anthropogenic causes of climate change, potential effects of, and mitigation of, increased levels of carbon dioxide and methane on the Earth’s climate, renewable and non-renewable energy sources used on Earth, changes in how these are used.

AQA GCSE Combined Science - 4.7.3.5 Global warming, 5.9.2.2 Human activities which contribute to an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, 5.9.2.3 Global climate change (effects), 6.1.3 National and global energy resources.

KS3 and KS4 Citizenship - The rights, roles and responsibilities of citizens, the role of parliament and democracy, the role of citizens and parliament in holding those in the power of government to account, actions citizens can take in democratic and electoral processes to influence decisions locally, nationally and beyond, the roles played by public institutions and voluntary groups in society, the ways in which citizens work together to improve their communities

This workshop is accredited under the British Science Association’s CREST Awards scheme and goes towards a Discovery Award. In order to gain the award it is also necessary for the students to have completed some of the suggested pre and post visit activities provided upon booking.

The workshop costs £8.25 per pupil with a minimum charge of £165 per group (includes VAT). Maximum group size is 35. The cost includes:

a facilitated workshop with our Education Team
free access to the Eden site for the day
all equipment needed for the workshop
free teaching resources enabling your class to prepare for the workshop and to follow up on the activity
a personal welcome from the Education Team at the entrance
a base for your bags in our purpose-built education centre, The Core
a space to eat your own lunch

The price includes free entry for accompanying adult helpers, whose participation is essential to the success of the day (please note our suggested adult/pupil ratios are as follows: Early Years Foundation Stage, 1:3; Key Stage 1, 1:6; Key Stage 2 and 3, 1:10; Key Stage 4, 1:15; Key Stage 5, 1:20). You’re welcome to bring more helpers if you’d like. Additional helpers are charged at our group booking rate.

We also offer a free preparatory visit to Eden for teachers wanting to plan their school trip, which should be booked in advance.