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Fostering Climate Resilience Through Education and Arts (2024-2025)

The Ready, Set, Resilience project examined how integrating the arts into middle school classrooms can strengthen environmental literacy and climate resilience education. Building on an existing curriculum of poetry, illustration and writing, this year’s team expanded the program to include puppetry, working with professional puppeteers and faculty at the Duke Puppetry Studio to develop age-appropriate projects for students in Durham and Carteret counties. Middle schoolers created their own puppets and staged performances of resilience-themed fables, deepening their engagement with climate challenges through creative expression.

Over the past year, the initiative produced a wide range of outcomes beyond arts integration. The team organized six professional development workshops for educators, supported two new Kenan Fellowships for public school teachers, provided weekly classroom assistance from Duke students, hosted a climate resilience community day at the Museum of Life and Science and developed updated standards-aligned lesson plans. The team built lasting partnerships with teachers and schools, refining curriculum materials, supporting classroom instruction and sharing findings at the Duke Climate X PopHealth Symposium.

The project also expanded geographically, extending its reach to western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. Teachers in Buncombe and Yancey counties invited the team to support classrooms impacted by the storm, leading to tailored resources and new collaborations in the region. The Ready, Set, Resilience curriculum demonstrated its adaptability and potential for long-term impact. By combining creative arts, teacher support and community-based programming, the project offers a distinctive model for building climate resilience in schools.

Timing

Summer 2024 – Spring 2025

Team Outputs

Co-created Products from Community Engaged Climate Resilience Education (Poster presented at the Duke Climate X PopHealth Symposium: Innovative Strategies for Addressing Climate-Related Health Challenges Symposium, April 8, 2025)

Fostering Climate Resilience Through Education and the Arts (Poster presentation at the Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, April 16, 2025)

Hosted a Climate Resilience Community Day at the Museum of Life and Science

Updated lesson plans

See earlier related team, Exploring Links Among Ecological, Social and Personal Resilience (2022-2023).

 

Image: Sunrise at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort, NC, by Jared Lazarus

Team Leaders

  • Nicolette Cagle, Nicholas School of the Environment, Nicholas School of the Environment: Environmental Sciences and Policy
  • Elizabeth DeMattia, Nicholas School of the Environment: Marine Science and Conservation
  • Laura Martinez, Nicholas School of the Environment
  • Aurora McCollum, Nicholas School of the Environment: Marine Science and Conservation

Graduate Team Members

  • Spence Herrington, Theological Studies-MTS
  • Louisa Pitney, Coastal & Marine Systems (Env); Envrn Economics & Policy (Mgmt)
  • Elizabeth Zajaczkowski, Coastal & Marine Systems (Env); Comm Engage & Envrn Jus (Mgmt)

Undergraduate Team Members

  • Hannah Baetge, Marine Sci & Conservation (BS)
  • Takoa Cartwright, Biology (BS)
  • Samantha George, Marine Sci & Conservation (AB); Environmental Sci/Policy (AB2)
  • Grace Hayward, Public Policy (AB)
  • Olivia Hayward, Public Policy (AB)
  • Mia Wang, Marine Science and ConservationEnvrn Economics & Policy (Mgmt); Coastal & Marine Systems (Env)

Community Team Members

  • Kathryn Stevenson, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University

Team Contributors

  • Leslie Babinski, Sanford School of Public Policy, Sanford School of Public Policy: Center for Child and Family Policy, Social Science Research Institute: Center for Child and Family Policy
  • Lisa Campbell, Nicholas School of the Environment: Marine Science and Conservation

Themes