Danish class wins Great Nordic Climate Duel

The Nordic Council of Ministers' new annual initiative to promote teaching about the climate and nature has just come to an end for the first time. The results are impressive and include a wealth of new knowledge for future generations.

The Great Nordic Climate Duel was launched on Nordic Climate Day, 11 November 2014. The teaching concept behind it is an integral part of the Federation of the Norden Associations’ www.nordeniskolen.org, a learning portal that provides teaching materials with a Nordic perspective.

Future generations have to do better

Sustainable thinking and environmental consciousness need to be better integrated into the education system, according to Thomas Mikkelsen, head of development for Climate Duel. Introducing the challenges facing the climate at school age gives the young people of today a chance to become more sustainable consumers than previous generations.

“School students are the consumers of the future, and they need to be able to live in better harmony with the planet's limited resources. We need to change our habits, and that requires a change in people's consciousness, focus and commitment,” he says.

7C has certainly put plenty of thought into the future that awaits them.

“Over-reliance on fossil fuels will lead to flooding and species will die out,” as Frederik Vennervald Møller Hansen summarises it.

“Sustainability is when you use resources but are also able to recycle them. Sustainability is when you save for future generations.”

Nordic teaching concept

Norden i Skolen (The Nordic Region in the School) – the portal of which the Climate Duel forms part – provides teachers throughout the Region with materials of high academic standard and a range of flexible tools. It is also a learning universe that speaks to school students at their own level and encourages them to find out more by themselves.

“The Climate Duel concept has great potential,” says Lone Skafte Jespersen, 7C’s teacher.

“I like the differentiated approach. It allows the students to immerse themselves academically and lets teachers set their own assignments or choose from the ones on the portal. The variety of assignments and the option of spicing things up with an element of competition both encourage involvement.”

The Climate Duel will be repeated during the next school year, starting on Nordic Climate Day, 11 November 2015. All elementary schools in the Region are eligible to take part free of charge.

The materials and functions on the Federation of the Norden Associations’ portal – twinning with classes in other countries, managing assignments, the assignment bank, etc. – are available throughout the year.