Rural communities in Colorado face different challenges than urban areas when responding to the impacts of climate change. While these communities may not have access to the financial resources and planning infrastructure that large cities do, close community ties and an entrepreneurial can-do attitude give these communities an advantage to create opportunities for meaningful classroom community engagement. HEART Force is a unique program for secondary students in rural Colorado formal learning settings that educates and empowers students to respond to climate change impacts in the face of increasing likelihood and severity of environmental hazards such as wildfires, floods and drought. The program supports youth partnership with community leaders and experts to build resilience through a three-pronged approach using a curriculum designed to support NGSS. Students begin the unit by learning about the science of environmental hazards and how these hazards will be affected by climate change through analysis of local data. Next, students learn how to manage and respond to hazards in their community in a scenario-based role-play game. The unit culminates in a community resilience expo, giving students the opportunity to address impacts from environmental hazards by developing, presenting, and implementing strategies to increase community resilience. We will share the program design, lessons learned from teacher professional development and support, and preliminary research findings on the program impacts on students and teachers.

Environmental hazards such as wildfire, flood, and drought impact communities throughout Colorado. As climate change ramps up, these environmental hazards are increasing in frequency and severity. These hazards and their impacts provide an excellent access point for students to explore earth science concepts and community well being. The Hazard Education Awareness and Resilience Task Force (HEART Force) is a program for secondary classrooms in rural Colorado designed to help teachers and students move beyond classroom instruction and empower them to lead local efforts to increase resilience to environmental hazards. Colorado has recently adapted and adopted NGSS which provide opportunities for students to engage in real world learning through exploring locally relevant phenomena, yet many classroom teachers are challenged to transition to a new style of teaching driven by student inquiry. With this transition, teachers are being asked to give up some control of the learning process and become facilitators rather than directors of learning. In order to successfully facilitate authentic student engagement, a network of community partners is essential to support students, as well as a supportive school administration and a high level of teacher comfort with risk and uncertainty. The HEART Force program is in the third year of implementation; here we share lessons learned and challenges in supporting teachers in this transition to student-led and community-based learning using resilience education.