1. A Guide to the 2014 Presidential Climate Science Challenge
Hilary McFall1, Alec Sabatini1, David Pitcher1, George P. Cobb1, Eileen Nottoli2
Department of Environmental Science, Baylor University1; Allen Matkins2
ABSTRACT
A variety of climate science education materials have been developed by multiple ACS
Local Sections in 2013 and 2014 in response to a challenge by ACS President Bassam
Shakhashiri. Materials include presentations, demonstrations, and games suitable for use
by teachers, local sections, or anyone else engaged in educating others about the causes
and effects of climate change. Using this foundation of material the Committee for
Environmental Improvement and ENVR hope to facilitate regionally focused climate
related education, discourse, and activities at Regional Meetings.
The contents of these materials range from carbon footprint exercises to acid rain
demonstrations to workshop outlines for helping teachers explain climate change to their
students. To accomplish this we have created an index that arranges the educational
materials to maximize their accessibility and ease of use. The educational contents have
been organized based on their main concepts and the target audience. Additionally, those
materials suitable for middle and high school audiences have been labeled with how they
fit with the New Generation Science Standards, a new set of educational standards
released in 2013 that incorporates global climate change into the curriculum. The high
quality of these materials deserves the best exposure and distribution to share their benefit
to others and advance climate change education. The process of gathering and indexing
new climate change education materials is ongoing as new effective material is
continually being found.
BACKGROUND
FEATURED LOCAL SECTIONS
INDEX
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT STEPS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Presidential Climate Science Challenge was created to have ACS Local Sections and
Divisions propose and execute innovative ways to use the Climate Science Toolkit. The Toolkit
was developed by an ACS Presidential Climate Science Working Group and is a web-based
resource that explains the basic chemistry and physics of climate change. Its resources are
available to every ACS member and the general public. The Challenge awarded eleven grants
of up to $3,000 dollars to the Local Sections across the country based on their proposals for
educating a wide variety of audiences on the issues of climate change and climate
science. 2014 is the second year of the Challenge and the selected local sections were very
successful engaging the public, educators, and community leaders. The goal of our project was
to highlight what a few of these local sections did to further inspire other ACS sections as well
as make the educational materials created in the process available to any interested parties.
Dallas-Ft Worth
Portland
Puget Sound
Iowa
Illinois
Heartland
Kalamazoo
Maine
New York
Northern West
Virginia
North Carolina
Puerto Rico
 Portland
With a partnership between Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) and four
colleges, Portland Community College (PCC), Portland State University (PSU), Reed
College, and the University of Portland (PSU), the Portland ACS section developed a
workshop to train students in climate science, science communication, and developing
climate change exhibits for the public. During National Chemistry Week, the college
students reached out to an estimated 400 OMSI visitors through interactive activities and
demonstrations. These activities and demonstrations ranged from understanding
greenhouse effects to glacier retreat. The students also went to Portland elementary
schools and reached out to 200 students and their families.
Kalamazoo
ACS held a workshop in Kalamazoo, Michigan hosted by Western Michigan
University to reach out to diverse audiences and discuss climate change’s effects. These
audiences, primarily leaders and faculty of middle-schools, high-schools, scout groups and
faith-based education, participated in a hands-on workshop that provided them with online
resources on the scientific basis of climate change; its ecological and economical
consequences; and potential technological, social, and personal actions. Exercises utilized
included predicting the effects of climate change on trees and birds in the area, making the
effects relevant to Michigan residents. Information was also provided on bio fuels, carbon
footprints, and water footprints. The training, support, and content provided by KACS
and WMU were utilized to help alleviate the difficulty in communicating the serious and
complex threat to the spiritual health of creation, in order to enact change.
Dallas / Fort Worth
The DFW ACS section responded to the Presidential Climate Science Challenge by
organizing a program to help Community College Science faculty teach climate science
and familiarize them with the resources like the ACS Climate Science Toolkit. The
program, titled “Climate Science is the Answer, But What are the Questions?”, included a
one-day symposium held at Texas Wesleyan University for Community College faculty.
Speakers discussed concepts such as climate change as it relates to North Texas and how
to use the ACS toolkit as an educator. The attendees completed surveys before and after
the event, giving insight into their views on climate change and how effective they felt the
symposium was. Materials generated as a part of the program include collections of links
to excellent climate science resources on the web and a multiple choice activity based on
the ACS toolkit. CEI and the Portland, Kalamazo, and Dallas Fort Worth local sections
Local Section Winners:
Dallas – Ft. Worth
Illinois Heartland
Iowa
Kalamazoo
Maine
New York
North Carolina
Northern West Virginia
Portland
Puerto Rico
Puget Sound
A child playing a greenhouse gas matching game at Portland
ACS section’s outreach event. (game developed by Sarah Wright)
A presentation at the DFW ACS sections
symposium for community college teachers
In the coming months, our next goal will create a website or webpage on the ACS website
which will make all the indexed climate education materials accessible. The website will be
organized by target audience and subject to help readers find information relevant to their lives.
Currently the public has a vast array of information to decipher. With a well organized website,
the public can find information that caters best to them. In addition, we hope to receive more
materials from the remaining local sections sections winners of the presidential challenge.
From the education programs put on by the local sections there were some insights on their
target audiences. The DFW section distributed a survey to the participating community college
professors that took part in their symposium. The survey led to some interesting data. Though
these were professors that volunteered to come to a workshop about climate change only 78%
of the participants believed global warming was happening. Also, when asked about if people
are suffering the effects of climate change now, 15% more of the participants believed that
people in other parts of the world were feeling the effects compared then believed that people in
the United States were being effected. For future workshops it could be constructive to spend
more time on climate change effects occurring in the area. The Portland section had college
students reaching out to children with interactive demonstrations. Frequently these interactions
showed the children to be more educated on climate change than the parents. This could be
useful when designing programs and activities for children in the future because they could also
be designed to provide the parent with climate change information too.
Contributing Local Sections:
Kalamazoo
Portland
Dallas/Fort Worth
The code in the Next Generation Science
Standards column refers to the specific learning
standard that the demonstration applies to. As
the index gathers more materials and
potentially gets a website it could be a very
useful tool for educators looking for curriculum
ideas to meet the newly adopted science
standards.