Climate Science in Arts Classes

Originally published in May 2025

A key challenge for instructors who are addressing climate change topics in the postsecondary system is ensuring that students have a level of climate science knowledge that prepares them to engage meaningfully with climate change discussions and debates. This can be a difficult undertaking in arts and social science courses, given that both instructors and students may lack training in climate science.

In this week’s Teaching Together, TEI offers insights and strategies to enhance your climate pedagogy toolbox, focusing on developing climate science literacy for arts classes.

Thinking critically about climate science and knowledge

A key to an understanding of climate science is recognizing that there is not just one knowledge system that provides insights into climate processes (Houghton et al., 2023). Western science provides essential information about geophysical and ecological realities, i.e., levels of harmful emissions being released into the atmosphere, when Earth’s systems are approaching tipping points, and what technologies offer potential solutions, such as how to sequester emissions. Yet Indigenous knowledge systems offer perspectives, approaches and philosophies that help us understand the interconnectedness of humans and nature, the consequences of seeing nature as something separate from us, and how we can move toward a stewardship model of living with the land. Instructors can learn from Laurier community talks offered by Dr. Darren Thomas (AVP: Office of Indigenous Initiatives) about “The Power of the Good Mind” and “Pathways to Transformational Change” as a place to start or deepen their understanding and practice.

Explore the contrasting and complementary characteristics and contributions of these perspectives on climate sciences with resources, such as the Indigenous Climate Hub or activities in Nature Connection.

Climate Science in the Arts and Social Sciences – What are the gaps?

The survey revealed some basic gaps in student knowledge, despite 66% of respondents indicating that they were somewhat/very confident in the climate knowledge they gained in high school. In fact, only 19% had taken a course on the environment or climate change, and most could not name the course. This supports what we know about climate education in the Ontario secondary system as fragmented and incomplete (Schatz 2021).

The Laurier survey results indicate that, while students seemed to understand the sources of climate change and the need to reduce fossil fuel use, significant numbers of respondents (19%) confused climate change with thinning of the ozone layer and – perhaps of more concern – 24% indicated that there is “a lot of disagreement” among scientists about whether climate change is occurring. Further, most respondents did not know how much the average temperature had increased in Canada, or which country was the largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally.

More generally, in Canada, there are serious concerns about climate science education in the public education system. For example, a study assessing climate change curricula across all provinces (Wynes & Nicholas 2019) revealed that, while most provincial curricula covered physical climate mechanisms, observed temperature increases and the anthropogenic causes of warming, there was little coverage of climate impacts or potential solutions. Further, almost all provinces did not acknowledge the high degree of scientific consensus on climate change, and several provinces included materials from noted climate deniers. In many cases, therefore, universities need to make up for lost ground.

Where can you start? Developing climate science literacy in our students

Climate science literacy includes:

an understanding of the essential principles of Earth’s climate system,
an understanding of the fundamental relationship between humans and the climate system, including the impacts that each has on the other,
how climate observations, modelling, and land-based observations contribute to scientific knowledge about our changing climate.

Deepen your knowledge

Instructors may need to start by scaling up their climate science knowledge. Some great resources include:

2. Establish the class compass

A good place to start is to assess what students already know or don’t know, using a short quiz drawn from either your knowledge or an existing survey, such as EarthDay.org or the Business Development Bank of Canada. These tools can provide insight into what needs to be emphasized in coverage of foundational knowledge.

3. Design course activities to reinforce climate science learning

In addition to integrating Indigenous and Western perspectives to introduce critical understanding of knowledges that inform climate science, other strategies that instructors can adopt to incorporate climate science learning in their courses include:

Introducing students to key resources providing climate science basics and designing a targeted assignment where they interact with these resources (e.g., ask students to identify how climate change impacts food systems, water basins or native species). The Climate Atlas of Canada provides great Canada-specific national and regional information, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the World Meteorological Organization are key sources for international information. Climate Central is another great resource for students.
Engaging students in a citizen climate science activity to illustrate in concrete ways climate change dynamics and impacts, such as: Laurier’s own RinkWatch, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, and National Geographic’s Citizen Science Projects.
Consider incorporating games or game-based learning activities into your course. There are many examples found listed on the Climate Interactive website, including Terra Nil where the player’s focus is to create a healthy, natural landscape from a barren wasteland; The Climate Game, where players try to save the planet from the worst effects of climate change; and the En-Roads Climate Solutions Simulator that provides the player with the ability to test and examine cross-sectoral climate policy solutions. Further, the Extreme Event Game uses role-playing to give participants a sense of how to build community resilience in the face of an extreme natural event.
Consider using case studies as an assessment in your course. Select or invite students to explore contemporary climate change cases using materials from leading organizations in climate issues and activism, or connect UN Sustainability goals with course themes. For example, Northeastern University uses the case study method to teach students about sea level rise and related impacts from climate change. The case study method is also being used to teach students about how Greenland’s ice sheet is changing using yearly albedo data.

4. Align assignments in your field with climate science

Student assignments in climate science and the humanities can investigate the intersections of climate science within various fields such as literature, art, history, and social justice. Consider including projects or assignments where students can:

Conduct a book review of a climate science-focused monograph, such as: We Are the Weather Makers: The History of Climate Change (English, History, Social Sciences) or film reviews of documentaries using climate science (Film Studies, Communication Studies)
Analyze literary works for environmental or climate change themes (English)
Participate in the creation of art installations such as the Climate is Life mural at Laurier (Art)
Research the historical context of climate change (History)
Consider the social and ethical implications of climate action (Social Justice)
Create a social media post, OpEd, or policy recommendation that translates climate science into accessible language for public or political audiences. Students could articulate how climate science informs our understanding of problems and solutions related to uneven access to water, sanitation and hygiene (i.e. WASH) and other food and health security issues (Stein et al., 2024) (Public Policy)

How are Laurier faculty integrating climate science in their arts courses?

Many Laurier faculty are heavily invested in bringing climate science and knowledge into the classroom. Here are two examples:

PO102A Politics Across Borders, Professor Derek Hall

In this large introductory lecture course, students learn the distinction between the greenhouse effect and climate change, and the drivers and extent, both natural and human-caused, of changes over time. Topics covered include:

The greenhouse effect (not the same as climate change)
What causes climate change over time? 1) natural changes, 2) anthropogenic (human-caused) changes: mainly burning fossil fuels and landscape change
Evidence for contemporary climate change –
- drivers such as atmospheric CO2 and global methane sourced from the NOAA Trends in CO2 and CH4 Global Monitoring Laboratory
- extents such as global temperature change.

GG300P Science, Knowledge and Policy for Climate Change, Professor Debora VanNijnatten

This 300-level (3rd and 4th year students) interdisciplinary course in environmental studies serves geography, environmental studies and political science students.

At the beginning of the course, students are introduced to different ‘knowledge systems’, placing Western science alongside Indigenous knowledge.
Students undertake two tasks in the first weeks of class: they complete a 10-question quiz designed in Qualtrics to assess their foundational knowledge of Western climate science, and they develop a positionality statement and land acknowledgment to reflect on the foundations of Indigenous understandings of human-nature relationships.
Students then delve deeply into each, studying Western scientific knowledge systems (carbon cycle, greenhouse gases and sources, etc.) and Indigenous knowledge systems (daily and traditional lifestyles which place communities at the frontlines of climate impacts, validation and transfer of IK across generations).
Students are then provided with concrete examples of how Indigenous local knowledge works in collaboration with Western science (e.g., The Climate Atlas, Canada’s Changing Climate report, etc.), and they undertake a group ‘jigsaw’ project where they approach an environmental problem using different knowledge systems.