CCEP-I: Coastal Areas Climate Change Education (CACCE) Partnership

University Of South Florida, Tampa FL

Investigators

Abstract

An award has been made to the University of South Florida to establish a Phase I Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico, the Florida Aquarium, and the Hillsborough County School System. The overall goal of the CCEP Phase I 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. This project will focus on the impacts of climate change in coastal areas, with sea level change as a core theme. The audience targeted by this project includes higher education and K-12 faculty, informal science educators, and college and K-12 students across the region, toward ultimately reaching the broader community. The specific goals include to: 1) Prepare a new generation of climate scientists, engineers, and technicians; 2) Prepare our region's citizens to understand global climate change and its real-time manifestations, and how to mitigate its impact; 3) Produce new knowledge about climate change, about preparing students to work on climate-related problems, and about means for effectively engaging the broader community in understanding the issue. By the end of this project, the PIs expect to: 1) Develop an inventory of existing climate change education resources with a focus on its effects on coastal regions. 2) Expand the Partnership to include other key players in the region. 3) Develop a comprehensive climate change education plan for coastal regions linked to sea level change. 4) Identify issues with "traction" for effective communication and education on climate change education specific to the coastal areas of the southeast and the Caribbean. 5) Establish a larger partnership with representation from business and industry, community groups, and a broader menu of formal and informal educational institutions in the region. 6) Pilot in Florida and Puerto Rico a "transdisciplinary" model for climate change education and research. 7) Identify new areas of research on climate change education using the data from our evaluation, climate change education inventory, and stakeholder workshops.