On Thursday, 18 January 2024 at the Prof. A. Kamiński Youth Palace in Katowice, the ceremonial inauguration of the Municipal Climate Education Programme ‘Climatic Katowice’ was held.
The programme was developed with seventh-grade school students in mind. It’s goal is to help young people understand the impact of the degradation of the natural environment on their future, as well as to expand their knowledge and skills in the area of climate education. The project is also intended to build engagement among students and increase their sense of agency in counteracting the effects of global warming.
The team developing the programme was appointed by the mayor of Katowice, Marcin Krupa, PhD together with teachers, methodologists, employees and scientists – enthusiasts from schools in Katowice and the University of Silesia – were involved in the preparation of the initiative.
The Municipal Climate Education Programme includes both ready-made lesson plans and practical classes. The authors’ intention was to adopt the interdisciplinary nature of the presented environmental content, return to inter-curricular paths and use methods based on students’ involvement. The lesson plans create a coherent catalogue of content discussing the issue of climate change in four thematic areas: anthropogenic climate change, biodiversity, criticism of consumerism and energy transformation. All the details are available at: Municipal Climate Education Programme ‘Climatic Katowice’. The programme will be complemented with practical classes proposed by the Ecological Education Centre at the Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz School Complex No. 2 in Katowice-Murcki. This area includes, among others: workshops on nature and field activities.
The implementation of the programme is preceded by a pilot project run in five local government primary schools. After its evaluation (in June 2024), starting from the new school year, ‘Climatic Katowice’ will be introduced in all 7th grades of primary schools for which the city of Katowice is the governing body.
The event, during which the Municipal Climate Education Programme was inaugurated, was an opportunity to present the educational project. Participants could see sample classes in physics, chemistry and Polish language. The meeting was opened by the speeches of the Mayor of Katowice, Marcin Krupa, PhD and the Rector of the University of Silesia, Prof. Ryszard Koziołek, as well as a special lecture delivered by Prof. Piotr Skubała. The event was also attended by the city’s vice-presidents – Waldemar Bojarun and Jarosław Makowski.
Photo gallery
In the preparation of the programme participated scientists from the University of Silesia in Katowice, and the coordinating team included: Magdalena Ochwat, PhD (Institute of Polish Studies / Interdisciplinary Centre for Research on Humanistic Education, University of Silesia in Katowice), Prof. Piotr Skubała (Institute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental Protection / Interdisciplinary Centre for Research on Humanistic Education, University of Silesia in Katowice) and Małgorzata Wójcik-Dudek, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof. (Institute of Polish Studies / Interdisciplinary Centre for Research on Humanistic Education, University of Silesia in Katowice).
→ List of people engaged in the preparation of lesson scenarios (text document docx, 16 kB).
Detailed information on the project are available at: www.katowice.eu. A video from the inauguration of the educational programme was prepared by the website wkatowice.eu.
