The study that inspired us.

In May 2019, Nature Climate Change published a ground breaking study by Danielle Lawson, Dr. Kathryn Stevenson and Dr. Nils Peterson of North Carolina State - “Children can foster climate change concern among their parents.” The team was interested in intergenerational learning. They wanted to see how 10-14 year old exposure to environmental science (in this case climate science) might influence parent/guardian attitudes, regardless of political persuasion. The unit they used didn’t shy away from the complexities of the science. It talked about the impacts of climate change on local species rather than penguins and polar bears. It included parent/guardian engagement pieces (like interviews) and required the class to participate in an outdoor service project to help. The resulting data showed not only a measurable increase in parent/guardian climate concern but the greatest increase being among those traditionally hardest to convince. This is a big win for community and today we are working with Danielle Lawson to see how well we can bring this successful approach to Illinois schools for free.

There might be something unique about the relationship of middle schoolers/young adolescents to learning and to their parents and guardians. They are at a developmental stage where they can master complex concepts like climate change and environmental science while being less influenced by socio-ideological factors than adults are. These ages also offer a window of opportunity for students to pass on what they have learned in a way that can inspire adults towards higher levels of concern and collective action, irregardless of their parent’s or guardian’s political leanings.

Listen in as SkyDay Director Ben Whitehouse interviews Dr. Kathryn Stevenson about their work on 91.5 WBEZ Chicago’s Worldview program.