Climate anxiety is a big issue for young people: research from across the world says it is significant and growing. In schools it is difficult to know how to tackle this challenge because it is multi-faceted and the curriculum is already so crowded.
But I believe that when young people have genuine agency in developing real climate solutions, anxiety is transformed into empowerment. The question is: how do we create that agency?
I founded Project Earth to provide part of the answer. Project Earth believes that young people are not future leaders, they are leaders now. They produce ideas that are bold, practical and transformative. And so we support those aged 8 to 18 to bring their ideas to life (your students can submit their ideas here).
AI teaching tool
We have now pushed things further by providing a completely free tool for schools to help young people innovate through guided inquiry.
The tool is an AI guide called Scout. It helps students to refine ideas and test assumptions, and encourages independence without removing ownership. It uses Socratic questioning to guide students through developing climate, biodiversity and sustainability solutions. It also suggests future opportunities and green careers.
What it does not do is complete the work for students. In fact, it has been trained to deliberately refuse to provide answers. Instead it helps students through Project Earth’s five-stage innovation framework - from initial idea to final presentation - adapting its approach based on age and maintaining conversation memory across sessions.
Socratic questioning
By asking the right questions at the right time, Scout helps students to discover their own capacity for innovation, and they certainly have immense creativity and imagination.
Project Earth students are already developing remarkable innovations. For example, we supported a project to remove methane from barns holding cattle and a project to increase biodiversity around the bottom of sea-based wind turbines.
These are the types of innovations that are possible when we trust young people, empower them with the right tools and let their creativity and imagination be applied to real-world solutions.
Whether it is part of curriculum or extra curricular, schools can help your students channel their anxiety, intelligence and motivation to have a real impact. Our hope is that Scout will help to make that a little easier for schools, and also be that encouragement to young people that the solutions are within them - we just need to help get them out into the world.
Professor Becky Parker is founder and director of Project Earth. Scout will be freely available to Project Earth participants worldwide via the website, with no cost to access
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