Since 2012, G-WOW Changing Climate, Changing Culture Institutes have been changing the way classroom and informal educators teach about climate change. These intensive four-day professional development institute increased educators’ climate change core competencies. Educators developed their ability to teach about climate change based on the G-WOW Climate Literacy Model that integrates place-based evidence of climate impacts with the latest scientific research. These summer institutes are offered without charge to up to 30 participants.
What’s Happens After A G-WOW Institute? What happens at a G-WOW Institute doesn’t stay at the Institute! As part of their training, educators completing the G-WOW Institute develop and complete climate service learning projects with their students or in their communities. Projects are posted at www.g-wow.org under the “Talking Circle” icon. We provide follow-up support for teachers and community educators!
Here some highlights and resources from our G-WOW Institute Archives.
2012 & 2013 G-WOW Changing Climate, Changing Culture Institutes
Bad River-Kakagon Wild Rice Climate Investigation
These summer professional development opportunities were selected for support by the nationwide Parks Climate Change Challenge Grant Institutes to train teachers to help students answer the questions, based on the G-WOW model for climate literacy:
✿Does climate change exist?
✿How does it impact our world and us?
✿What can we do about climate change?
Click here to see an Institute agenda and learn more about what we learned at these cool summer climate change professional development opportunities.
A special “thank you” and “miigwech” to the National Parks Foundation-Parks Climate Challenge for providing funding for this Institute!
2014 G-WOW Changing Climate, Changing Culture Institute
2014 G-WOW Institute participants
Funded through a Wisconsin Coastal Management grant to outreach education on how climate change may affect coastal communities the 2014 G-WOW Changing Climate, Changing Culture Institute expanded on experiential climate change learning in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Apostle Islands, and neighboring tribal communities of Bad River and Red Cliff. See what we learned at the Institute! 2014 G-WOW Changing Climate Institute Agenda
2015 G-WOW Changing Climate, Changing Culture Institute
2015 G-WOW Institute participants and directors Cathy Techtmann-UW Extension and Neil Howk-Apostle Islands National Lakeshore after a day investigating place-based climate impacts on Lake Superior’s Stockton Island.
The 2015 G-WOW Changing Climate, Changing Culture Institute was held July 13-16 with a bonus day for NASA Climate Change Tools Training at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College on July 17. Twenty-eight educators participated in this culturally relevant climate change professional development program. Check out the 2015 G-WOW Changing Climate Institute Agenda to see what we learned.
NEW FOR 2015: A free BONUS DAY was offered on Friday, July 17th. G-WOW Institute educators participated in a trip to the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College to take part in an interactive NASA Climate-Change-In-The-Classroom training session and received classroom ready-tools for teaching about climate change.
2016 G-WOW “Hear the Water Speak” Institute
In 2016 funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative provided a special focus on climate change and water. Click here to learn more.
Despite severe flooding and storms, the 2016 G-WOW “Hear the Water Speak” Institute provided climate change professional development training to 28 educators and community leaders. This year’s Institute had a special focus on climate change and “nibi” (Ojibwe for “water”) and aquatic environments. The four-day professional development institute was held July 18-21 at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, in Ashland WI and attracted participants from across the county and Canada, including five First Nations tribal elders. Take a look at the climate change learning experiences we shared at the 2016 G-WOW Hear the Water Speak Institute.
This year’s Institute was professionally filmed and will be used to create a training video to help others to develop G-WOW institutes within their communities and posted on the G-WOW website under the “Resources” tab. The G-WOW web-based curriculum (www.g-wow.org ) was expanded to include a new curriculum unit on water and climate change.
The G-WOW Changing Climate, Changing Culture Institutes are offered by these partners: the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore-National Park Service, Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest-US Forest Service, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, and the University of Wisconsin-Extension.
With assistance from the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts, Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, Bad River and Red Cliff Bands of the Lake Superior Ojibwe, and many others who volunteer their help.
Special thanks to Northland College in Ashland, WI for offering credit for teachers attending these Institutes.
