New research presented at a climate education conference connects air and noise exposure to weaker math outcomes and shows climate lessons can build hope.
A new wave of education research is pushing climate conversations out of science class and into the realities students face every day, from the pollution tied to data centers to the noise that follows them into classrooms.
At a conference on climate change and education held in Providence. Rhode Island. researchers and educators shared preliminary findings suggesting that where students learn can shape not only what they think about the environment. but how well they perform in core subjects like math.. The event was organized by SustainableED. a Brown University program launched last year by education and economics professor Matthew Kraft to support research on schools. learning. and climate change and to bring that work to policymakers.
Kraft argued that climate education needs to be discussed alongside issues people already care about. including students’ health. their academic success. and their sense of community and belonging.. In his framing. climate change can be treated not only as an environmental topic. but also in terms of school operations and day-to-day performance. including how buildings function and how resources are managed.
University research presented at the conference also tackled a different pathway: whether schooling itself can influence pro-environmental behavior.. Harry Patrinos. a professor at the University of Arkansas. presented a review of existing studies. including research linked to compulsory education laws in Europe. finding that an additional year of schooling was associated with greater awareness and concern about climate change and with alignment with green political parties.
That focus on learning time and long-term attitudes set the stage for conference findings that turn to immediate environmental impacts in school settings.. Samantha Kane. a postdoctoral research associate at Brown. presented preliminary results indicating that math performance drops for students attending schools within a mile of data centers.. In that analysis. students in those closer schools saw declines larger than those observed for students in schools located between one and two miles away.
Kane’s findings also suggested that exposure may intensify when students attend schools near multiple data centers.. Children in schools near more than one center saw even sharper declines in math. a pattern the research connected to harmful pollutants from the facilities that have been linked to asthma and other health problems.. While the work was described as preliminary. it underscores a potential link between environmental hazards outside the classroom and academic outcomes inside it.
Noise. another environmental factor that can be present regardless of a school’s curriculum. was also tied to math outcomes in research presented by Josh Aarons. a doctoral student at the University of California San Diego.. He studied schools in “noise corridors” near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and found that math scores there saw a significant decrease.
Aarons’ work pointed toward a practical response for districts: investment in noise insulation in classrooms.. The idea. framed during the conference discussion. is that even when climate education covers environmental themes. students may still be negotiating other stressors that affect learning every day.
Beyond risk factors outside school, conference research also explored what happens when climate concepts are actually taught.. In a study discussed by Ashutosh Bhuradia, a Ph.D.. candidate at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. students in India participated in a randomized controlled trial that delivered only three 60-minute lessons focused on air pollution.
The results, as presented at the conference, showed that those students were more likely to understand the environmental problem.. Importantly. the findings did not necessarily show changes in behaviors aimed at reducing the problem. suggesting that knowledge gains may come faster than direct shifts in day-to-day action.
The conference also highlighted how lesson design and subject framing might shape student engagement.. In research presented by Margaret Wang. a cofounder of SubjecttoClimate—a group that connects teachers with climate lessons—students received multiple climate-related lessons. roughly an hour each. delivered across four subject areas: art. algebra. English. and science.
According to Wang’s presentation. students reported knowing more about climate change and described a greater sense of purpose around climate action after participating in those lessons.. The conference framed that sense of purpose as a potential bridge between understanding and motivation. even when behavior change proves more difficult.
Questions about behavior change were central to the discussion of “how much” instruction is required and what students might do in response.. Bhuradia’s study suggested that students were not less likely to take a climate-related action. even if behavior shift varied across outcomes.. In that case. students chose an environmentally friendly incense rather than a regular one and were also more likely to donate to a classroom “clean air fund.”
Wang’s research indicated a somewhat broader willingness to take certain steps. with students reporting greater interest in actions such as buying energy-saving lightbulbs. washing clothes at lower temperatures. and writing to elected officials.. Taken together. the two sets of findings point to an important distinction raised throughout the conference: understanding and motivation can rise with relatively limited instruction. but translating that into specific behavior can depend on how actions are framed and how students are prompted.
While individual lessons and classroom experiences were a major focus. the conference also examined how schools and districts are responding through policy.. Carine Verschueren. a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. reported that 60 of the nation’s 200 largest school districts had adopted environmental and sustainability policies. compared with 51 in 2020.
Verschueren said a growing share of these policies explicitly discussed climate change and climate justice. and that many documents referenced student activism.. She also noted that districts adopted the policies for multiple reasons: conserving resources. promoting student and staff health. saving money. and empowering students—factors that connect climate goals to school priorities.
For educators and decision-makers. the conference’s different strands—academic performance. health-linked exposures. classroom instruction. and district policy—created a single. clearer picture of how climate education and climate impacts intersect.. If pollution and noise can influence math achievement. then climate readiness is not limited to curricula; it also touches the conditions in which children learn.
At the same time. the studies presented suggested that even small doses of instruction can produce measurable shifts in what students know and how they feel about acting.. That combination may help explain why school systems increasingly pair environmental goals with health and student engagement strategies. and why policymakers appear to be looking beyond science standards toward broader educational outcomes.
For students, those outcomes may matter as much as what they learn about the climate.. A conference theme repeated across presentations was that climate education can be tied to belonging and purpose—elements that educators see as essential for learning.. When students also face environmental stressors near schools. the path to climate resilience may require both better teaching and safer. quieter. cleaner learning environments.
The research shared during the conference was largely described as preliminary. but the questions it raises are already shaping conversations about what schools owe children as the climate challenge escalates.. SustainableED’s effort to connect school-based research with policymakers suggests the next step is not just more data. but policy choices that reflect how environmental conditions and learning experiences influence each other.
This story about climate education in schools was produced by Misryoum, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
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