NSF Design and Discovery Forum: Climate Science, Children, and the Media

About the series

The National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) invites you to participate in a forum to stimulate a national conversation on the topic of climate science education for children ages 5-11. As scientists continue to study Earth’s changing climate and determine how society can both adapt to ongoing changes and mitigate future effects of climate change, there is a growing need to understand how to best communicate these concepts to young learners and inspire the next generation of scientists. This meeting will explore the potential for the media industry to collaborate with the scientific community to create content that is scientifically accurate and effectively engages children with climate science.

During this forum, panels of invited speakers and audience members will explore:

What media producers need to know about communicating climate science and the impacts of climate change
How to meaningfully engage historically underserved and underrepresented families in the creation of climate science-themed media
Successful science-media collaborations

CSCM-OpeningVideo

Credit:

Recording of the February 11, 2022 Design & Discovery Forum on Climate Science, Children, & the Media Forum, sponsored by NSF's Education and Human Resources Directorate. This session features opening addresses by Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Deputy Director for Climate and Environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Dr. Alexandra Isern, Assistant Director of NSF's Directorate for Geosciences

CSCM-Panel1Video

Credit:

Recording of the February 11, 2022 Design & Discovery Forum on Climate Science, Children, & the Media Forum, sponsored by NSF's Education and Human Resources Directorate. Panel 1, titled "Communicating to children about climate change: A cross-sectoral call to action," features Michael Levine (Noggin), Allison Crimmins (OSTP/EPA), Gary Knell (Boston Consulting Group), Nat Kendall-Taylor (FrameWorks Institute), and Laura Schifter (K12 Climate Action).

CSCM-Panel2Video

Credit:

Recording of the February 11, 2022 Design & Discovery Forum on Climate Science, Children, & the Media Forum, sponsored by NSF's Education and Human Resources Directorate. Panel 2, titled "Inclusive science communication: Creating compelling stories together," features Sunshine Menezes (Metcalf Institute at URI), Kevin Clark, Alicia Torres (Child Trends), Haley Case-Scott (OSTP), Dana Williamson (EPA), and Emily Cloyd (AAAS).

CSCM-Panel3Video

Credit:

Recording of the February 11, 2022 Design & Discovery Forum on Climate Science, Children, & the Media Forum, sponsored by NSF's Education and Human Resources Directorate. Panel 3, titled "Sharing the science: What do kids need to know? What do producers need to know?" features Anya Kamenetz (NPR), Claudia Benitez-Nelson, (University of South Carolina), Kate Marvel (NASA), John Fraser (Knology), and Judith Van Hoorn (University of the Pacific).

CSCM-Panel4Video

Credit:

Recording of the February 11, 2022 Design & Discovery Forum on Climate Science, Children, & the Media Forum, sponsored by NSF's Education and Human Resources Directorate. Panel 4, titled "What works? Successful science-media collaborations," features Gary Knell (BCG), Marisa Nightingale, Patti Miller (Too Small to Fail), Marc Etkind (NASA), Seeta Pai (WGBH), and Amy Friedman (Warner Bros.).

CSCM-Panel5CloseVideo

Credit:

Recording of the February 11, 2022 Design & Discovery Forum on Climate Science, Children, & the Media Forum, sponsored by NSF's Education and Human Resources Directorate. Panel 5, titled "Taking action," features Jean-Claude Brizard (Digital Promise), Carrie McDougall (NOAA), Anuragini Nagar (Sesame Workshop), and Caryl Stern (Walton Foundation). NSF EHR leadership offers closing remarks.

A report of the forum's proceedings written by the Science and Technology Policy Institute is available here.