Back to school and straight into saving the planet!
Earth Day 2025 falls in the first week of the summer term – the perfect time to plug students back in with a jolt of climate awareness and curriculum-linked learning.
This year’s Earth Day theme, "Our Power, Our Planet," offers a brilliant hook for revisiting renewable energy – or introducing it in a meaningful, real-world context. Whether you're teaching KS3, GCSE, or aiming to inspire a sixth-form think tank, Earth Day offers a powerful platform to explore sustainability, climate change, and future career paths.
🌱 Greener Futures, Brighter Careers
A recent report from Engineering UK sheds light on the growing demand for a net-zero workforce – and what skills are needed across different UK regions. It's a valuable resource that supports Gatsby Benchmark 2: ensuring students are using labour market information to make informed decisions about their futures. Bonus: it’s also a helpful tool for engaging parents in future career planning.
🔍 Teaching Resources – Rooted in Relevance
Looking for lesson ideas that don’t cost the Earth? Start with the Earth Day website – head to the Educate and Teachers sections for US-focused toolkits and factsheets. But for homegrown help, STEM Learning have done the heavy lifting with their excellent Earth Day collection. Here are some highlights that pack a punch:
⚡ 1. Green Energy: Building a Better Wind Turbine
From the Royal Society’s Brian Cox School Experiments, this resource revisits a classic wind turbine investigation (veteran teachers may feel a gust of nostalgia from the old controlled assessment days).
Tip: laminate your turbine blades and voilà – they double as water turbines! Former QEGS teacher Mr Charlesworth’s tweak involving water height (GPE) and energy transfer makes for an insightful energy-linked practical.
📺 Watch and explore
🎧 2. Climate Change & Careers
This podcast-and-worksheet combo gets students thinking about how renewable energy and climate science connect with real jobs in the green sector.
📎 Listen and download
🃏 3. Top Trumps and Turbines
The America’s Cup sailing context adds energy (pun intended!) to this pack. A student favourite: Energy Source Top Trumps alongside a worksheet on electricity production and energy transfers – including fossil fuels for comparison.
🃏 Explore the resource
⛏️ 4. Short and Sharp: Non-Renewables Explained
Three minutes well spent – this concise video tackles electricity generation from coal, gas, and uranium. Perfect for a starter or summary.
🎥 Watch here
🔬 5. Data-Driven Design with the ASE & D&T Association
An older gem that still shines – contextualised calculations on efficiency, specific heat capacity and power output, with real UK wind and solar data. Great for stretching your more mathematically-minded students.
📊 Get it here
🧠 Bonus: PowerPoint with Purpose
The Economist Foundation has put together a free Earth Day lesson (best suited to KS2 but adaptable), with a clear message about energy choices and student agency. There’s also a live Earth Day lesson opportunity you can sign your class up for.
💡 View the resource
🖥️ Sign up for the live session
🌍 Why Earth Day Matters
Celebrating Earth Day in school isn’t just a curriculum tick-box or an eco-themed end-of-term filler. It’s a meaningful way to:
- Raise awareness about climate issues
- Empower students to feel they can make a difference
- Link science, geography, and technology to real-world challenges
- Support your school’s work toward Gatsby benchmarks – especially Benchmarks 2, 4 (linking curriculum to careers), and 5 (encounters with employers and employees)
So why not harness your power this April and shine a solar-powered spotlight on sustainability, skills, and green sector jobs?
Because after all, if we don’t engage students in this now… there may not be a planet B!