The federal government could also choose to

• Promote teacher training programs for climate education;

• Develop climate change–related educational tools, materials, and technologies, including web-based materials;

• Set national climate education goals and provide support to states to design and implement climate education standards; and

• Provide guidelines and support for climate change education in informal environments such as museums, zoos, and aquariums.

States could choose to integrate principles of climate literacy into educational standards, such as:

• Expand the definition of climate education beyond the physical science of climate to the interdisciplinary sciences, including the social sciences, needed to respond to climate change;

• Share their expertise and experience, through such groups as the National Coalition for State Science Supervisors;

• Develop and share methods for teacher professional development, and for assessing student learning; and

• Provide guidelines and resources to local schools to implement climate education standards.

Recommendation 10:

The federal government should establish a national task force that includes formal and informal educators, government agencies, policymakers, business leaders, and scientists, among others, to set national goals and objectives, and to develop a coordinated strategy to improve climate change education and communication.