Students in the aquaponics/gardening club at John P. Faber Elementary School in Dunellen tend to the raised vegetable garden beds in the schoolyard.
At John P. Faber Elementary School in Dunellen, students aren’t just learning about climate change — they are growing solutions. Third, fourth and fifth graders not only plant and harvest vegetables in a schoolyard garden, they use two aquaponic systems and hydroponics to cultivate plants from seed in nutrient-rich water.
“It’s getting the issue of climate change in the kids’ heads,” said third grade teacher Kristin Gunther, who runs the aquaponics/gardening club. “It finds its way into conversation all the time.” Gunther and eight schoolchildren will present their work at Rutgers University’s Climate Education Summit on March 12, along with students from Sayreville Middle School and Somerville High School.
New Jersey in 2020 became the first state to make climate change education mandatory across all K-12 subjects, with developmentally appropriate curriculum standards that took effect in September 2022. The state Department of Education last May awarded grants to 34 schools for implementing the standards. Rutgers–New Brunswick is one of four universities leading a Climate Change Learning Collaborative, supporting schools in Hunterdon, Middlesex, and Somerset counties with training, technical assistance, and hands-on learning.
“In New Jersey, sea levels are rising at twice the national average and we’re seeing more extreme weather events, so we need to support our students and teachers to be informed changemakers,” said Rutgers Professor Edward Cohen, associate director of the Center for Math, Science and Computer Science Education in Rutgers’ Division of Continuing Studies and one of the summit organizers.
Hands-On Climate Learning in Action
Hosted by Rutgers and New Jersey Audubon, with lunch provided by Forward Education, the summit will showcase what has been accomplished over the past year and introduce second-year initiatives. The 65 students and 20 teachers attending the summit will engage in hands-on learning workshops. As examples, they will help build electric skateboards from Lectec, and use NJ Adapt, Rutgers’ online climate change resource center, to see the anticipated risk of flooding events in any community.
“The goal is to move climate change from an abstract concept into something tangible and empowering,” said Brielle Kociolek, senior iSTEM education coordinator at Rutgers and summit co-organizer.
Since September, Rutgers has run nearly three dozen professional development courses that introduce fundamentals of climate change and project-based learning. Rutgers instructors also teach how-tos on topics such as conducting habitat exploration and starting schoolyard gardens. In lessons beyond the classroom, teachers have hit the seas on a Rutgers research boat, while students toured a landfill, Cohen said.
Edward Cohen leads a discussion with K-12 educators during a professional development outing on the Raritan River in August 2024.
Investing in Teachers: Training and Support
A third of Rutgers' first-year $325,000 grant — and the $300,000 allocated for 2025 — goes directly to compensating teachers and school districts for climate change professional development. Courses are free and the grant covers the cost of substitutes for attendees or pays teachers $50 an hour for attending on their own time, Cohen noted.
“This financial piece is important to support districts and educators as they pursue lifelong learning during financial strenuous times in order to provide students with the most up-to-date content taught in research-based teaching strategies,” he said.
Expanding Resources for Schools
Rutgers continues to build resources to help more schools implement climate change education. New initiatives include a climate learning lending library that allows schools to borrow hands-on materials, including electric skateboard and scooter kits and wind turbine models for classroom experiments. Rutgers also is establishing a student advisory committee: students representing grant-funded schools will meet quarterly to exchange ideas, expand their climate knowledge, and bring lessons back to their communities, Kociolek said.
At Dunellen’s elementary school, educators are careful to emphasize student empowerment in addressing climate change. “We present it in a ‘how can we help’ kind of way,” Gunther said.
The two aquaponics systems at her school are self-sustaining ecosystems in which fish feces fertilize plants, and the plants clean water for the fish. The larger of the two handles up to 284 plants and 65 tilapia. “It is a great tool because it’s so hands-on,” Gunther noted.
Through Rutgers’ support, teachers and students alike are moving beyond awareness to action, equipping the next generation with the tools to tackle climate change head-on.
“Students are gaining a science-based understanding,” Gunther said. “They think about the long-term impact of how our planet will be for future generations and how we need to make changes before the problem gets away from us."