AAAS Conference on “Climate Literacy and Informal Learning”

In the two days leading up to their annual conference in San Diego later this month, AAAS will be sponsoring a two-day workshop on improving climate change literacy through informal education activities.

I will be participating in one of the panels and I hope to be blogging summaries of the event. Below is a description of the special invitation only conference and go here for an agenda.

More than 150 educators from informal science institutions and projects–including science centers, museums, zoos, and aquariums; media projects; and community programs–will gather in San Diego to expand their understanding of climate change science and public outreach on this important issue. Invited participants in the NSF-sponsored Conference on Promoting Climate Literacy through Informal Science will explore synergies across a wide range of informal science experiences aimed at climate literacy and will also attend the 2010 AAAS Annual Meeting.

The invitational Climate Literacy Conference is designed to (1) bring together educators working in a wide range of informal science environments for a two-day professional development conference that will focus exclusively on climate literacy in all of its dimensions and (2) provide opportunities for informal science educators to interact on the topic of climate change with scientists and science media who will be participating in the 2010 AAAS Annual Meeting that immediately follows. In addition to presentations on climate literacy and what it entails for informal science professionals and for the public, the Climate Literacy Conference will also provide hands-on opportunities for participants to apply their new knowledge and skills to their own programs and projects. Day One of the conference will take place at the Birch Aquarium, part of the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. Day Two activities will be held at the San Diego Convention Center, site of the AAAS Annual Meeting.