A big history approach to teaching climate change

How can we bring climate change into our classrooms without making it ‘small’? Peter Langdon tackled this question by drawing on a ‘big history’ approach to design an enquiry that allowed his students to think about the relationship between humans and climate throughout the whole history of our species. Langdon’s account of his enquiry describes how he used combinations of macro and micro history and paused at different ‘thresholds’ to help his students grasp history on this scale. He also outlines how, by constantly reflecting on the enquiry question, his students were able to revise their judgements and remain alert to the range of possible stories that can be told about humanity and climate change...