MEd for Experienced Educators, Climate Change and Sustainability Education

Meaningful teaching, learning, and action for an ever-changing world.

As educators, we work to lead and inspire students. Sustainability is the response to climate change and its impacts on our daily lives. Children and youth want to learn more about climate change, and as teachers, we need to be ready to bring the topic to our classrooms with hope and opportunities for action. Climate change and sustainability education (CCSE) empowers people with essential knowledge, attitudes, and how to take action individually and collectively. This can be worked into the curriculum using a developmental approach, guiding each age group to learn and take action on a range between caring for nature and increased responsibility for designing solutions. Regardless of your role in education, this concentration will guide you to design and lead climate change and sustainability learning experiences.

This degree is offered by AU New England.

Program Overview

We use a mix of classroom, fieldwork, and online experiences to deliver instruction. You will collaborate with educators and experts from around the country and world who are practicing climate change and sustainability education.

This MEd concentration is inherently transdisciplinary and focuses on understanding the principles of sustainability and systems thinking as foundational for CCSE. Whether your starting point is writing, art, science, or mathematics, investigating climate, environmental change, and our human response will lead to integrated learning experiences. There will be a focus on understanding the science, environmental impact, and social implications of climate change and application with students in your community in ways that are honest and empowering. Collective understanding and action will guide us as the climate changes. We have the opportunity to explore climate impacts with our students, engage them in designing solutions, and guide them to be responsive citizens.

You will be able to make climate change and sustainability a part of your teaching, no matter your focus or age group. This program guides you to increase your knowledge and strengthen your teaching skills for climate change and sustainability.

Degree Requirements

This program can be completed in 5-7 semesters with fully online and low residency options available. Students can begin in any semester and typically take 3-6 credits per term. Optional summer classes are available face-to-face in Keene, NH. To learn the MEd in Foundations of Education: Climate Change and Sustainability Education, students must successfully complete a total of 33 credits.

For course descriptions, please see the current course catalog.

Optional Summer Residencies

If you choose to come to a summer residency instead of doing your program fully online, you can expect one or two weeks of a retreat-like experience in beautiful Keene, NH. Small classes offer lots of hands-on activities, community-based learning opportunities, and a socially engaging week of meeting with your online classmates and AUNE  faculty. In most concentrations, you can choose whether to attend face-to-face classes for either one or two weeks in the summer, and you don’t have to decide in advance. You can consult with your adviser and see what fits your schedule and learning style best.

Dates for residencies

Summer Residency Courses are held the first two full weeks of July following the week of the Fourth of July holiday- typically the first and second or second and third weeks of the month. Depending on your program, you can attend for the first or second week or come for both weeks.

Learning Outcomes