CMSCE has leveraged their expertise in pedagogical practices in STEM to work with leading experts from around Rutgers in climate change to create resources for k-12 educators. Rutgers University, New Jersey Audubon, Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership, and Raritan Headwaters have been awarded one of the NJDOE Climate Change Grants - Expanding Access to Climate Change and NJ Student Learning Through Climate Change Learning Collaborative. The overarching goals and expectations of this grant program are to:
Establish a statewide network to support LEAs in implementing climate change education through the creation of a Central NJ CCLC at Rutgers-NB, with the support of CBOs NJ Audubon, Raritan Headwaters, and Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership to engage in place-based environmental education in each region.
The CCLC at Rutgers University serves the following New Jersey counties: Hunterdon, Middlesex, and Somerset.
Upcoming Climate Change PD
Teachers and administrators from New Jersey public schools are eligible to attend Climate Change Learning Collaborative events and use services provided by the Climate Change Learning Collaborative. PDs are sponsored by the NJDOE Climate Change Grant allowing for the PDs to be free of charge. Please make sure to register for any of the PDs you would like to attend.
To register, click : PD for Teachers
Teachers from New Jersey public schools are eligible to receive a stipend for attending Climate Change Learning Collaborative events outside contracted hours and substitute teacher coverage for attending Climate Change Learning Collaborative events held during contracted hours. Teachers will be required to complete a post-event survey to receive a stipend or substitute teacher coverage. If you have any questions please email climatechangeeducation@docs.rutgers.edu.
Please note there are several PDs that are repeated to give access to as many teachers. Make sure when signing up you have not previously attended the PD. If you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out to us.
Please read over updated policies before signing up.
- Attendees at virtual events must: keep their cameras on and facing them for the entirety of the event, ensure they are logged in under the correct name, not operate a vehicle at any time during the event, and remain fully engaged for the entirety of the event.
- Registrants for in-person events must notify the CCLC of registration cancellation at least 24 hours in advance. Failure to do so will result in the registrant automatically being moved to the waitlist for all future events.
- Stipend payments will be issued 6-12 weeks after the request is submitted, provided all of the request forms have been completed and submitted correctly.
- Registrants can only take one CCLC PD at a time across all 4 CCLCs. The CCLCs are collaborating to ensure registration engagement, and any registrants who are double-booked will not be paid for either event they attend on the same date and overlapping times.
| Date | Time | Title | Description | Location |
| 8/11/26 | 9:00 am - 3:00 pm | From Land to Water: Water health in time of climate change | What we do on land does not stay on land. The choices we make on our property can impact the waters nearby, as rain and runoff pick-up and move pollutants from their point of origin to our waterways. In a time of climate change when precipitation is highly variable these pollutants are more likely to affect our local and regional water quality. Join us for a tour of New Brunswick infrastructure and landscape and a boat trip on the Raritan River to learn more about how we monitor water quality in general and pathogen monitoring more specifically, and about solutions to divert the pollutants from our waterways. This full-day workshop will be followed up with a webinar (August 13, 4PM EDT) to explore instructional resources related to the Lower Raritan watershed, and water quality monitoring. | Rutgers Boathouse & Morgan Marina |
| 8/12/26 | 9:00 am - 3:00 pm | From Land to Water: Water health in time of climate change | What we do on land does not stay on land. The choices we make on our property can impact the waters nearby, as rain and runoff pick-up and move pollutants from their point of origin to our waterways. In a time of climate change when precipitation is highly variable these pollutants are more likely to affect our local and regional water quality. Join us for a tour of New Brunswick infrastructure and landscape and a boat trip on the Raritan River to learn more about how we monitor water quality in general and pathogen monitoring more specifically, and about solutions to divert the pollutants from our waterways. This full-day workshop will be followed up with a webinar (August 13, 4PM EDT) to explore instructional resources related to the Lower Raritan watershed, and water quality monitoring. | Rutgers Boathouse & Morgan Marina |
| 8/25/26 | 9:00 am - 1:00 pm | Currents of Change: Ecology by Kayak | Join us for a workshop that brings science and history to life—by kayak! Paddling along the South Branch of the Raritan River, educators will explore the interconnected stories of creatures large and small, from American eels to benthic macroinvertebrates and algae, as well as the lasting impact of dams on aquatic ecosystems. Through hands-on water sampling, species identification, and historical site exploration, teachers will gain practical tools to integrate environmental science, local history, and sustainability into their curriculum. This workshop emphasizes place-based learning and real-world connections to their local watershed. | South Branch Raritan River, 7 Lower Center St, Clinton, NJ 08809 |
| 9/23/26 | 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm | Human Impact, Climate Change, and Water Systems | This 6th-12th professional development supports teachers in addressing Climate Change Education: New Jersey Student Learning Standards by exploring how human activities affect Earth’s systems and climate. The session focuses on water flow, watersheds, aquifers, and clean drinking water, emphasizing systems thinking, cause-and-effect relationships between rain and drought, and local climate impacts. Teachers will engage in hands-on, developmentally appropriate activities that model how students can use observations, simple models, and evidence to understand environmental change. Participants will leave with classroom-ready strategies and resources that integrate science instruction with NJ’s climate literacy expectations | Virtual |
| 9/24/26 | 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Using NJ Adapt In Your Classroom: Lesson Development | Join us for a hands-on professional development session focused on integrating NJ ADAPT—a suite of data visualization and mapping tools developed by Rutgers University—into your classroom instruction. Using NJ Climate Change Education Standards as a framework, participants will collaborate to create climate- and data-based lessons that foster student engagement and real-world learning. This in-person session will kick off the lesson design process, followed by a virtual follow-up meeting in January to share progress and refine ideas. We encourage participants to bring a colleague to co-develop lessons and exchange feedback. Rutgers faculty and staff will be available throughout the session to provide guidance and technical support in using NJ ADAPT effectively. | Virtual |
| 9/29/26 | 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm | Dealing with Climate Emotions | We described/defined various climate emotions and offered strategies for students and teachers on how to manage those feelings. We help teachers and students identify feelings, normalize the feelings, and give examples of youth advocating for climate justice. | Virtual |
| 10/3/26 | 9:00am - 12:00 pm | Up Above and Down Below: Birds and Amphibians in a Changing Climate | Learn how bird and amphibian populations are changing due to climate change, and how to bring citizen science projects into your classroom to study wildlife with your students. With activities that are adaptable for any grade level and discipline, we will share a few mini lessons, lots of background information, and have plenty of time for brainstorming and collaboration. Educators will have the opportunity to learn about NJ wildlife, explore a variety of habitats, and adapt lessons to their community. Part of this workshop will take place outdoors so please dress for the weather! | Raritan Headwaters |
| 10/6/26 | 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm | Incorporating Informational Text Across Content Areas | A cross-disciplinary approach to deepen understanding of real-world issues, like climate change, through informational text, while meeting literacy standards in science, social studies, and language arts. | Virtual |
| 10/6/26 | 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm | Healing justice: Centering Care in the Struggle to Fight Climate Change | Young people are among the more vulnerable groups to the impacts of climate change. Even those students who have not been directly affected by climate change may struggle emotionally when learning about climate change and its impacts. In this workshop we draw on the healing justice framework with its emphasis on self-expression through art and storytelling. We will focus on strategies, in particular movement-based approaches, for creating learning environments that center care and support students in finding the power and joy to fight climate change. | Rutgers Science Learning Center |
| 10/8/26 | 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm | Air quality, health, and weather: climate change’s effect on air quality (New Year 3) | We will discuss how air quality is affected by weather and how it can affect human health. We will then discuss how climate change may exacerbate these impacts and how to mitigate poor air quality. | Virtual |
| 10/16/26 | 10:00 am - 2:00 pm | Investigating Climate Change through Dance: How to leverage climate change standards in your content’s curriculum | Come one, come all! A dance workshop for ALL content areas! This session will focus on the latest New Jersey climate change standards, and how you can use movement as the key to bring them to life in your classroom through arts strategies, arts enhancement, and arts integration. You will walk away with a reinvigorated approach to your teaching and lesson ideas you can implement immediately. | Mason Gross School of the Arts Department of Dance |
The Rutgers University Climate Change Learning Collaborative is funded by a grant from the New Jersey Department of Education. This material and any opinions, results, conclusions, or recommendations expressed within are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the New Jersey Department of Education nor constitute an endorsement thereof.
Climate Change Learning Collaboratives
Looking for more support, information, and resources to Climate Change Education check out the following sites.
LEAs District Partners
Dunellen Public Schools Somerville Public School District Sayreville School District
Climate Change PD Reviews & Feedback
Rutgers Today - Rutgers Partners with New Jersey Schools to Develop Historic Climate Change Curriculum
NJ Spotlight News - Climate Change: Rutgers helps teachers to include it in curriculum
NorthJersey.com -Climate Change is now part of NJ school curricula. Rutgers shares its resources.
The Daily Targum - NJ First Lady Tammy Murphy visits U., speaks to public school teachers about climate education
Feedback from our April 27, 2023 Climate Change Workshop:
A NJ High School teacher said "Thank you so much for hosting an amazing event. I have been teaching a bit, and sometimes I can be jaded about workshops and conferences, my standard for success is if I have a meaningful takeaway, and yesterday I had a ton of takeaways, I am very grateful for the live document (that is brilliant) and even with that, I have 4 pages of ideas I wrote down during the workshop. The content was very meaningful and will be changing the content I am working on for the rest of the year, and how I will be doing things next year. Seeing different disciplines each talk about the same graph left me gobsmacked. That was a wow, and I hope that it was filmed, and can be put as a vignette on youtube or somewhere other platform."