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© 2016 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

Pickering Creek Audubon Center of Easton, Maryland, developed and tested an introductory science unit on global climate change in six, fifth-grade classes. Through a series of 

lessons led by Pickering Creek educators and classroom teachers, students progressed 

through the topics of carbon, the carbon cycle, greenhouse gases, and climate change. 

Students learned how our actions affect the global climate, how climate change impacts 

local habitats and wildlife, and how we can slow the effects of climate change by decreasing 

our carbon source intake while increasing the planet’s carbon sinks. Pickering Creek 

educators and classroom teachers dispelled common climate change myths and misconceptions, and provided opportunities for students to learn both in the classroom and 

outside in the schoolyard. Students engaged in age-appropriate climate change solutions 

by helping decrease their household’s carbon footprint, increasing the schoolyard’s carbon 

sink, and by sharing their knowledge with the community and encouraging others to 

take action as well. Feedback from teachers, school administrators, and the public has 

been positive and encouraging, and pre- and post-assessment results show an increase in 

student knowledge regarding climate change topics. 

Introduction

Global climate change is a complex topic with far-reaching consequences that is already changing 

our natural communities. Maryland’s Eastern Shore, like many shorelines nationally, will lose 

habitat for people and wildlife because of rising sea levels due to climate change. Students need 

to learn about the issue, its impacts, and what they can do to help mitigate the effects of climate 

change on their current and future communities. This stewardship project implemented the first 

climate change curriculum at Easton Elementary School (EES) and used a popular festival, the 

Waterfowl Festival, as a platform for students to teach their community about climate change. 

The Next Generation Science Standards introduce global climate change as a core idea in middle 

school. Pickering Creek Audubon Center secured funding from NOAA’s Climate Stewards 

Education Project to introduce the topic in upper elementary school. This unit, developed for fifth 

grade science classes, introduces climate change and ties the global issue to their local communities. By providing opportunities for classroom and outdoor learning, a teacher-led class research 

project, and a platform for students to publically take action and share their knowledge, students 

were able to teach their own community about climate change, expected local impacts, and initiate 

Carbon Footprints, Carbon Sinks, 

and Carbon Stewardship: 

A Partnership Between Informal 

Educators and Classroom Teachers

Krysta Hougen and Jaime Bunting, Pickering Creek Audubon Center
Volume XXXII, Issue 1 Page 15

© 2016 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

conversations at home about carbon footprints. Although developed for fifth grade science classes, 

this program can be easily adapted for middle school.

Classroom Lessons and Action Projects

This series of lessons was written as a partnership between informal educators and classroom 

teachers. Though informal educators led the majority of the lessons, the program is more effective 

if the classroom teachers get involved early and develop their own class research projects. The unit 

includes three, hour-long lessons led by instructors from Pickering Creek Audubon Center and 

a teacher-led carbon footprint calculation and research project. The lessons include: Carbon and 

Climate 101, Sinks and Sources, My Carbon Footprint, Teacher-Led Class Research Project, and 

Community Outreach.

Carbon and Climate 101

This introductory lesson covers basic climate and climate change information. We suggest meeting 

with the classroom teacher prior to the lesson to adjust the material based on the students’ background knowledge and to potentially incorporate classroom textbooks and materials. 

The lesson includes the carbon cycle, how various carbon-based molecules contribute to global 

climate change as a greenhouse gas, and what global climate change means for people and wildlife. 

The lesson also addresses three common misconceptions about global climate change: 1) weather 

and climate are the same thing; 2) climate change is not impacted by human actions; and 3) cold 

weather events disprove climate change (McCaffrey & Buhr, 2008).

Sinks and Sources

This hour-long lesson is conducted in the schoolyard and requires permission from the school to 

install a schoolyard garden. If you install a garden, be prepared for year-round garden maintenance. 

The most successful schoolyard gardens have support and help 

from teachers, staff, and parents. Or, as an alternative to creating 

a new garden, ask to add plants to already landscaped areas 

around the school. 

The lesson starts with a review of the Earth’s greenhouse effect, 

carbon sources, and how we use these carbon sources in our 

daily lives. Students learn the difference between carbon sources 

and carbon sinks and expand their school’s own carbon sink 

through planting (Figure 1). The lesson ends with a hopscotch 

game showing how climate change is causing habitats for birds 

and wildlife to change faster than they can adapt. 

My Carbon Footprint

The classroom teacher leads the carbon footprint lesson. This is 

a two-part lesson; the first calculation is done prior to the Sinks 

and Sources lesson and the second calculation is repeated a month later to determine if the student 

was able to decrease their family’s carbon footprint. A “My Carbon Footprint” worksheet can be 

found at the link provided in the sidebar above. Using the worksheet and online calculator, students 

determine their current footprint and pledge actions they will take to decrease their footprint and 

think through how those actions may benefit the environment. Students sign a classroom pledge to 

be displayed at a public event or in the hallway. The worksheet can be adjusted based on grade level 

and the chosen carbon calculator. Suggested carbon calculators are listed in the references. 

Lesson plans for Carbon 

and Climate 101, Sinks 

and Sources, and My 

Carbon Footprint can be 

found at the following 

links:

Carbon & Climate 101: 

1.usa.gov/1TwxD

Sinks & Sources: 

1.usa.gov/1L7y2

My Carbon Footprint: 

1.usa.gov/1LFn5

Figure 1. Expanding the 

Schoolyard Garden at Easton 

Elementary School
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© 2016 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Class Research Project

Classroom teachers developed a class research project, with input from Pickering Creek educators, 

examining the effects of global climate change on local wildlife. We learned it was best to keep the 

research focus broad so the teachers would have an opportunity to select a topic interesting to 

them. 

Our partner teachers created the following research projects:

n	 Local Animal Study: each student studied a local animal impacted by global climate change 

and made a model of the animal with recycled materials.

n	 Native Plants: the class created a poster of native plants found in the schoolyard garden. The 

poster included pictures created by the students and information about each plant and its 

wildlife benefits.

n	 Migrating Geese: each student created a goose with construction paper and learned about 

their habitat requirements. The geese were later displayed as a migrating flock in the hallway.

Community Outreach: Sharing Seed Balls and Knowledge

Pickering Creek instructors led the final hour-long lesson. The lesson started with students sharing 

how they planned to reduce their carbon footprint. The goal of the lesson was to create a way for 

students to share their new knowledge with the community and give community members an 

opportunity to take action towards slowing the effects of climate change. The Waterfowl Festival, a 

local event in Easton, proved to be an excellent platform for the students to share their knowledge 

about climate change and carbon footprints. Pickering Creek used their exhibit table at the Festival 

to display the fifth grade class projects to encourage visitors to the Festival to learn about climate 

change from the students’ themselves and to take action like the fifth graders. 

Students created six seed balls each using a soil matrix high in clay and a pinch of native wildflower 

seeds. Each seed ball was placed in a bag and 

stapled shut with a message from a student. 

The students’ messages contained facts 

about wildlife, plants, or climate change, and 

how planting the enclosed seed ball would 

benefit wildlife habitat or reduce climate 

change impacts. Students shared three seed 

balls with friends and family to encourage 

habitat creation and spark a conversation 

about the lesson at home. The remaining 

seed balls were shared with visitors to the 

students’ display (Figure 2) at the public 

Waterfowl Festival. Over 1,000 people interacted with the display and 370 families went 

home with seed balls.

Evaluation and Results 

The program was evaluated through changes 

in student knowledge with a pre- and postassessment. The assessment covered weather 

vs. climate, carbon, and climate change and 

Figure 2. Table at the annual 

Waterfowl Festival displaying the 

fifth grader’s research projects
Volume XXXII, Issue 1 Page 17

© 2016 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

can be found at (1.usa.gov/1RtmUat). Eighty-four students were 

evaluated from five classes; the sixth class was not included in the 

evaluation because the pre-assessment was taken after the first lesson. 

The classroom teachers gave the pre-assessment shortly before the 

program began, and the post-assessment at the conclusion of the 

final lesson. The mean score (Figure 3) for each class increased while 

the median score for all students also increased (Figure 4). The mean 

scores, out of 10 possible points, on the post-assessment (M=6.917 

SD=2.387) were significantly higher than the mean scores on the preassessment (M=4.208 SD=2.126) (t(83)=7.76, p<0.01).

Discussion

This program provides an effective introduction to climate change. 

The lessons were designed for fifth graders but can be adjusted, with 

a few changes, for middle school. Grade-appropriate changes may be 

best made in the My Carbon Footprint lesson by choosing a Carbon 

Calculator appropriate for the age (the calculators listed in the reference section represent varying levels of difficulty) when developing 

the class research topic.

The program can be led by a classroom teacher; however, the partnership between informal environmental educators and the school made 

the program stronger. Pickering Creek Audubon Center developed the 

lessons after participation in climate education professional development trainings and was able to provide grant-awarded funding for 

materials. Classroom teachers provided much needed time outside of 

the Pickering Creek-led lessons to clarify any questions or prepare for 

the next lesson. Asking teachers to develop their own class research 

topic resulted in thoughtful and creative projects, which helped 

attract visitors to the fifth grader’s display at the Waterfowl Festival 

and allowed both students and teachers to take ownership of the 

project as a whole. Though we do not know how public opinion or 

knowledge changed because of the Festival display, it did initiate many conversations over the threeday public event with visitors and staff from Pickering Creek Audubon Center about the school’s 

climate change education and the impacts of climate change on local wildlife.

Conclusion

Knowing their class research projects would be seen by hundreds of visitors at the Waterfowl 

Festival and that their seed balls would travel the region in the hands of festival visitors kept the 

students enthusiastic throughout the program. Many students brought their families to the festival 

to proudly show-off their work and share what they learned. The Festival aspect, in addition to the 

carbon calculator, worked great at involving students’ families in the project. 

We started this program prepared to talk with many climate change skeptics, but we have been 

pleasantly surprised to meet very few. Instead, we have received positive feedback and encouragement from the community to continue climate change education at local schools. 

Figure 3 (top). Average scores

increased from the pre- to postassessments for each 5th grade 

class at Easton Elementary 

during the Fall of 2014. A total of

84 students completed both the 

pre- and post-assessment

Figure 4 (bottom). The median

assessment scores increased 

after completion of the program

Data was collected from 84 

students in 5 different classes at 

Easton Elementary during the Fall 

of 2014
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© 2016 National Earth Science Teachers Association. All Rights Reserved.

Acknowledgement

This program was funded through the NOAA Climate Stewards Education 

Project. We thank the CSEP team for their support and feedback throughout the 

project. Thank you to the Easton Elementary School fifth grader teachers and the 

Talbot County Public Schools administration for their support and time. We also 

would like to thank the Waterfowl Festival for providing an opportunity to share 

the students’ work.

References

Zero Footprint Youth Calculator. (2010). In International Education and Resource 

Network. Retrieved November 10, 2015, from calc.zerofootprint.net

Carbon Footprint Calculator. (2015). In United States Environmental Protection Agency. 

Retrieved November 10, 2015, from http://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/

International Student Carbon Footprint Challenge. (2015). In Inquiry to Student 

Environmental Action. Retrieved November 10, 2015, from http://web.stanford.edu/

group/inquiry2insight/cgi-bin/i2sea-r1b/i2s.php?page=fpcalc#

McCaffrey, M.S., & Buhr, S.M. (2008). Clarifying Climate Confusion: Addressing Systemic 

Holes, Cognitive Gaps, and Misconceptions Through Climate Literacy, Physical 

Geography, 29(6), 512-528.

About the Authors

Krysta Hougen is a Teacher Naturalist 

and the Summer EcoCamp Director at 

Pickering Creek Audubon Center in Easton, 

MD. She has an M.S. in Plant Biology fr

Ohio University. Krysta can be reached at

khougen@audubon.or

Jaime Bunting is the Education Manager 

at Pickering Creek Audubon Center in 

Easton, MD. She has an M.S. in Natur

Resources with a concentration in 

Environmental Education and Interpretation 

from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens 

Point. Previously, Jaime worked as a Field

Instructor in Wisconsin at Conserve School 

and UWSP-Treehaven, and as an Interpretive 

Naturalist and Environmental Educator for 

Delaware State Parks. Jaime can be reached

at jbunting@audubon.org