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Livermore High School teacher Joey Rodriguez is one of a select group of California educators teaching with the Carbon Cleanup Initiative educational toolkit developed by the Livermore Lab Foundation (LLF).
Rodriguez is bringing the science of carbon neutrality, capture and storage to the classroom, with hands-on activities that students can apply in the real world and even locally in Livermore.
"Compared to lessons used in the past, I felt these activities really helped students understand climate change and the importance of getting to carbon neutrality," said Rodriguez, who teaches conceptual physics and biology.
"By using real world applications and examples, it made the students more invested because they saw something tangible. They were better able to relate to the content, see the problems firsthand, and explore possible solutions in trying to reverse climate change," he added.
Two of his freshman students, Shrish Prenkrishna and Malana Island, echoed similar sentiments.
"I like this curriculum because it was a lot more interactive than the previous things I learned with," Prenkrishna told Livermore Vine, adding that while the curriculum conveyed the severity of climate change, it did so in a way that wasn't "bland."
"A lot of the other curriculum I've been taught sort of teaches you about the effects of climate change but this one really teaches about the cause and it also gives solutions to the problem too, which is really helpful because I think a lot of us our age are — at some point in our lives — going to be working toward reversing climate change," Island added.
The Carbon Cleanup Initiative materials include four distinct units, representing 14 hours of experiential learning for direct classroom implementation, according to the program website. Activities are designed to work in consecutive order or as standalone units with cumulative learning. LLF received funding from the the Clean and Sustainable Energy Fund to develop the educational materials and conduct public outreach.
Both Island and Prenkrishna said that being introduced to the Carbon Cleanup Initiative made them become more aware of the climate change impacts they see in their own lives. Island said she notices the water levels of the creek near her home getting lower each year. She also said that she's noticed on vacations with her family over the years the shift from seeing vibrant coral in the oceans and active wildlife being present to more desolate conditions on recent trips.
Prenkrishna noted the extreme weather changes he's witnessed since moving to California around 2016, including severe wildfires that he said seemingly get worse each year.
Both students also said that after going through the modules and the activities, they enjoyed completing the prompts that asked what they noticed and what they wondered as it gave them the opportunity to reflect more deeply about the content and hear the perspectives of their peers.
Rodriguez has been teaching at Livermore High for eight years and he said that the Climate Cleanup Initiative is a true example of "plug and play" material that is thorough, engaging and very student driven.
"It immediately has that application as opposed to having to create something from scratch — which is something that we still do — but from an emotional standpoint, these past two years, I don't think society really realizes what teachers have been put through and what has been asked of us, so I really like the fact that this was probably the first curriculum that was truly plug and play," Rodriguez said.
LLF is a 501c3 nonprofit organization supporting the fundamental science and research at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL). The Lab has been involved in the research and implications of carbon management for more than 25 years, with approximately 70 scientists, engineers and technicians dedicated to finding solutions, according to the program website.
