The National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) is hosting a forum to stimulate a national conversation on the topic of climate science education for children ages 5-11. As scientists continue to study Earth’s changing climate and determine how society can both adapt to ongoing changes and mitigate future effects of climate change, there is a growing need to understand how to best communicate these concepts to young learners and inspire the next generation of scientists. This meeting will explore the potential for the media industry to collaborate with the scientific community to create content that is scientifically accurate and effectively engages children with climate science.

During this forum, panels of invited speakers and audience members will explore:

• What media producers need to know about communicating climate science and the impacts of climate change;

• How to meaningfully engage historically underserved and underrepresented families in the creation of climate science-themed media;

• Successful science-media collaborations

• The roles that the philanthropy, government, and formal/informal education sectors can play in supporting these collaborations.

Confirmed panelists include leaders from NSF, NASA, NOAA, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Sesame Workshop, YouTube, NPR, Nickelodeon, The Aspen Institute, EPA, AAAS, the FrameWorks Institute, and many others. The event will encourage cross-sectoral conversation and result in the identification of specific opportunities for meaningful and effective collaboration.