In the mood for climate change

Course description

This will be a fun course that will give your the basic information on the phenomenon of climate change. Even though climate change is a top priority at world level and everybody is talking about it, individuals know little about what it actually means and why it is important to take action to stop the warming up of our planet. This course aims to equip young people with the basic knowledge needed to understand the phenomenon of climate change. It will also introduce you to a different learning environment that can serve both as a tool for personal learning and as a tool for teaching others, while creating the context for grasping the basic information on the topic.

In the first two weeks we will give you the chance to explore the platform, reflect on your learning objectives for this course and get to know each other better. The next three weeks will be dedicated to exploring what climate change is, why it is happening, how can we see it and what are its effects. We will also find out interesting things such as: the difference between global warming and climate change, the difference between weather and climate and how amazing our planet really is. Then, we will spend two weeks looking at what is our role in climate change, what changes are in our power and how we can put pressure on other stakeholders to make changes of their own. Finally, we will evaluate if this course has been useful and how we could make it batter.

Course learning outcomes

On successfully completing this eight-week course, you will be able to:

• explain what climate change is, what are its causes and effects and what is the role of humans

• identify at least three ways of reducing your climate footprint

• focus on climate inter-dependencies and the social challenges it brings for already vulnerable areas

• change your habits and become more aware of what effect human being have on the Earth

• commit to at least one way to take action against climate change

• be able to explain what are third generation rights and what are the SDGs

• feel more motivated to put pressure on your country institutions

• increase your level of knowledge on the youth work of the Council of Europe

Course format

The course is divided into eight weeks with one learning units per week. Every unit consists of a series of lectures. Every lecture consists of text, images, videos or quizes. At the end of each unit, there will be a ungraded quiz which will help you review the most important points raised throughout the unit. The course will not have any graded activities, as the purpose here is not to achieve a certain level but to learn at your own pace in order to be prepared for the international seminar.

Every Monday we will launch a new unit and you will have one week to go through the materials and do the tasks assigned.

Weekly quizzes: There will be one quiz every week on the content of the lectures from a unit. Each quiz will include multiple choice questions that will examine your understanding of the learning materials. The quizzes will not be graded and you will be able to take them several times.

Final quiz: At the end of the course there will be a final quiz, summing up the most important issues we have explored in these 8 weeks.

Final assignment: At the end of the course, there is a final project, in which you will work in teams. The project will be done in small groups and it will presented during the international seminar.