about the project

The Pacific Islands Climate Change Education Partnership (PCEP), led by WestEd and Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), is part of a national network of regionally and thematically based partnerships devoted to creating effective, high-quality education programs and resources related to the science of climate change and its impacts.

As part of this national network funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), PCEP focuses on how climate change impacts the coastal ecosystems that are vital to the lives and cultures of inhabitants of the Pacific Islands region.

PCEP targets educators, students, and community members in a region that is among the most vulnerable to climate change impacts, including changes in weather patterns, sea-level rise, coastal erosion, coral-reef bleaching, ocean acidification, and contamination of freshwater resources by salt water. All of these impacts cause great harm to the local ecosystems.

Project activities include:

• Strategically planning a culturally responsive adoption of high-quality K–14 climate change education programs and resources
• Involving local communities in developing K-14 climate education initiatives that build upon local knowledge, particularly indigenous ways of knowing
• Collaborating with other Climate Change Education Partnerships as a member of an NSF-coordinated network that plays a national leadership role in climate change education
• Developing a general, multidisciplinary K–14 climate change science education framework

Other core partners in the PCEP include the University of Washington and the Pacific Curriculum and Instruction Council.