Climate Detectives is a school project for students between the ages of 8 and 15 run by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the national European Space Education Resource Offices (ESEROs) throughout Europe. ​Starting in 2022-2023, Climate Detectives is also open for school students up to 19 years old.

In this project students will embrace the role of Climate Detectives while learning about Earth’s environment. For that they will identify a local climate problem (Phase 1), investigate it by using real satellite images or their own ground measurements (Phase 2), and finally propose actions to help reduce or monitor the problem. At the end students will share their results with the ESA Climate Detectives community on the project  platform (Phase 3). This way everyone can learn from their work  and students can also raise awareness of the problem they have investigated.

Why participate? ​

By participating in the Climate Detectives project, students will understand Earth’s climate as a complex and changing system as well as learn the importance of respecting our environment. Students will have the opportunity to engage with scientists and climate experts through organised webinars as well as initiating and organising these opportunities themselves with local colleges, universities and other organisations.

The project objectives are:

• To promote the teaching and learning of STEM competences and skills, including scientific methodology, data collection, visualisation and analysis;​

• To improve the younger generation’s awareness and knowledge of Earth’s climate, both as a global issue and in local environments, and prepare them for the climate challenges of this century.​

Timeline​

The project features three phases and takes place every school year, from the middle of September to the end of May. Teams have to register and submit an investigation plan in phase 1 in order to join the project. See the full timeline here.

Phase 1 – Identify a climate problem​

In this phase, students will be asked to identify a climate problem that they would like to investigate as ‘Climate Detectives’.  Students should define the problem based on questions that arise from their school studies and from observations in their local environment. Students will have to plan their investigation of the problem, including their research question and what Earth observation data they need to collect and what field/laboratory studies they require to answer the question. Planning is an important step in any investigation!

Scientists in the field of Earth observation and climate will then review the investigation plans and give their written feedback to all teams participating in the project.​

The steps involved in phase 1:

You can find more information about phase 1 and the different steps in the teacher guide

Phase 2 – Investigate the climate problem​

In this phase, students investigate the climate problem they identified in Phase 1. For that students will collect suitable data, compile this data, analyse their findings and draw conclusions.​

During Phase 2, ESA or, where applicable, the National Coordinator will organize online events in which teams can “Ask a Scientist” and receive background information and tips.

The steps involved in phase 2:

You can find more information about phase 2 and the different steps in the teacher guide

Phase 3 – Share results and make a difference​

Phase 3 is the final phase in the Climate Detectives project. It is a celebration of the work carried out by the students. They have embraced the role of Climate Detectives. Like all detective work this involved identifying a local climate problem, investigating it and finally coming up with a possible solution. Their detective work is complete, and they are ready to propose a way to monitor or mitigate the problem. They are ready to MAKE A DIFFERENCE!​ By the end of the project all teams that share their project will receive a certificate of participation by email.

The steps involved in phase 3: