An award has been made to Kansas State University to establish a Phase I Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) in collaboration with the Center for Instructional Innovation at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The overall goal of the CCEP Phase I project is to establish a coordinated national network of regionally- or thematically-based partnerships devoted to increasing the adoption of effective, high quality educational programs and resources related to the science of climate change and its impacts.
The Central Great Plains (CGP) project will focus on developing effective programs to enhance climate science education for agricultural and rural communities in Kansas and the broader region. Climate variability is characteristic of the central Great Plains and is expected to increase further as a result of climate change, putting increased pressure on managed ecosystems and related agricultural outputs. Given that this region is a major world center of production of edible grains and livestock, resilient and adaptive management decisions will help maintain regional agri-business strength and contributions to global food security. The K-State based CGP-CCEP will engage agricultural and rural community stakeholders in discussions of past climate variability, successful historical adaptations, and projected climate changes (including related impacts) that will lead to greater awareness, preparedness, and adaptive capacity.
The audience targeted by this project includes farmers and ranchers, rural communities, and rural science teachers. The specific goals include developing partnerships with agricultural and rural community stakeholders to learn about their concerns related to climate change, identifying ways in which climate change will impact the lives and livelihoods of agricultural and rural communities, and developing educational programs that will help prepare agricultural and rural communities to effectively adapt to increasingly variable and extreme weather as well as benefit from mitigation opportunities related to agriculture.
By the end of this project, the PIs expect to 1) develop an effective partnership among regional agriculture and rural stakeholders and higher education institutions related to climate change, 2) develop a strategic plan for climate change education in agricultural and rural communities, 3) utilize K-State Research & Extension to deliver climate change education programs in agriculture and rural communities, and 4) expand the partnership and educational efforts beyond Kansas to the greater Central Great Plains region.
For more information on this project, visit www.k-state.edu/cgp-ccep/, or contact the PI, Ben Champion (champion@k-state.edu, 785-313-3085).
Summary: The Central Great Plains Climate Education Partnership (CGP-CEP) was created to develop effective, high quality educational programs in the Central Great Plains region to support agriculture, rural communities, and rural schools. The Central Great Plains already has a highly variable climate, but climate change presents large challenges to agriculture and the sustainability of rural communities in this region. The regions current climate variability is expected to increase further as a result of climate change, putting great pressure especially on agriculture and the economics of rural communities. Given that this region of the U.S. serves as the nation’s breadbasket, and plays a critical role in global food security, agricultural producers and rural community members must understand and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Activities: Strategy 1) Scholars involved in the partnership initially studied academic literature on climate education in order to understand what resources were available as well as challenges and successful strategies for climate education. This initial study of academic literature and strategies for climate education helped the project team to develop the other activities of the project. Strategy 2) The literature did not have much information about the opinions, issues, and concerns of Central Great Plains citizens regarding climate change, so the project team conducted research to better understand the interests of people in the region. The team conducted statewide surveys in Kansas and Nebraska; 33 focus groups throughout Kansas and Nebraska with agricultural producers, rural citizens, and rural teachers; an experimental study at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; a workshop with Kansas STEM teachers to evaluate climate education resources for their potential value in the classroom; and a Deliberative Discussion event with surveys of participants. These research activities all led to valuable conclusions about issues and opportunities for climate education in the Central Great Plains. Strategy 3) Knowledge gained from the existing academic literature and also our own research led to developing different strategies for climate education for each of the project’s three key stakeholder groups: agricultural producers, rural citizens, and rural STEM teachers. These strategies were organized into a strategic plan that was used by the project team to write proposals for additional funding that could be used to fully develop the education initiatives in our strategic plan to benefit the region’s agricultural producers, STEM teachers, and rural communities. Accomplishments: In the process of the research and planning activities above, the CGP-CEP team accomplished a number of valuable outcomes. Several publications were developed for academic audiences as well as the general public. Project team members also presented at a large number of conferences within the region as well as nationally and internationally to share with other climate education scholars about our activities and what we learned. The activities themselves also led to greater networking of organizations serving agricultural producers, rural communities, and rural teachers about climate and climate change ideas. A number of these organizations continue to develop ways to increase their climate-related services and communications, even as the CGP-CEP project has concluded. Intellectual Merit: Cognitive learning scientists in the partnership conducted research about the unique challenges of educating agricultural and rural audiences about regionally specific impacts of climate change. This research, along with conclusions from a funded NSF EPSCoR project on the impacts of climate change specific to this region, informed efforts to develop innovative and place-specific methods of educating agricultural and rural stakeholders about climate change. In addition, the partnership explored the effectiveness of strategies for integrating climate science more directly into rural school curricula and developed relationships with teacher networks in preparation for this integration. Researchers also evaluated the effectiveness of the Deliberative Discussion meeting format, which had not been tried before in communicating about climate change, for enriching citizen understanding of climate and climate change as well as fostering greater interest among meeting participants. Broader Impacts: The partnership will established a collaborative network, linking important national and regional climate science resources with land grant universities in the Central Great Plains and well as agricultural, rural outreach, and rural teacher networks and organizations. Partnership efforts engaged stakeholders in a strategic planning process, improved communication about impacts of climate change to a crucial and under-served audience of farmers and rural communities, and helped prepare Great Plains citizens to address local expressions of global change. Furthermore, the project advanced STEM education for rural areas. Finally, the partnership enhanced regional educational program development capacities through mentoring of early career faculty colleagues.
