What Makes the Climate Change Topic such a Challenge?
Climate change should be one of the most important topics in the curriculum. It affects every single one of us, shapes the future our pupils will inherit, and touches on science, geography, and global citizenship all at once. Yet too often, pupils meet this topic with a sense of helplessness or detachment. Why? Because the effects of climate change, shrinking ice caps, dying coral reefs, disappearing rainforests, are happening thousands of miles away, and the scale of the problem can feel overwhelming.
And with educational visits increasingly out of reach and the most affected ecosystems on the other side of the world, many schools are left asking: how do we make pupils truly care about something they can’t see?
The Distance of the Crisis
Climate change presents unique challenges in the classroom. Unlike rivers or local geography, its effects are spread across the globe. The Arctic is melting thousands of kilometres away. Rainforests are disappearing in countries pupils will never visit. Coral reefs are bleaching beneath oceans they may never swim in. Videos help, but they keep pupils at arm’s length. Diagrams reduce complex systems to graphs and arrows. And without an emotional connection to what’s happening, the topic risks becoming just another set of facts to memorise.
In 2023, The Sutton Trust reported that 50% of senior leaders had cut educational visits, more than double the previous year. For a topic like climate change, where seeing the reality of what’s happening is so central to understanding, this creates a significant gap. When pupils don’t experience the weight of the issue, they struggle to connect with it emotionally. And when they don’t connect, they don’t retain, and they certainly don’t act.
This isn’t just about missing a trip. It’s about missing the moment when a child sees the impact of climate change and feels genuinely moved to do something about it.
The Power of Immersion
That’s where immersive technology comes in. At EduPeopleVR, our mission is simple: to enhance and enrich your curriculum using immersive technology. Our curriculum-aligned VR workshops draw on nearly 15 years of primary teaching and curriculum leadership experience to create unforgettable educational experiences that students don’t just observe, they feel and live.
We deliver VR workshops in schools across the North of England (including Darlington, North Yorkshire, Tees Valley, and County Durham) with a special focus on those hard-to-reach rural schools where enrichment opportunities are often most limited.
Climate Change: A Journey They’ll Never Forget
Our Climate Change workshop is designed to transform this topic from abstract statistics into something pupils will never forget. They witness the dramatic impact of our warming world firsthand. They trek across shrinking Arctic ice alongside endangered polar bears, watching the landscape disappear beneath their feet. They see vibrant rainforests give way to farmland in the blink of an eye. They dive beneath the waves to explore bleaching coral reefs and see what’s being lost. And crucially, they don’t just witness the problem, they learn what we can do to slow it down.
Suddenly, climate change isn’t just a graph on a worksheet, it’s a reality they’ve experienced. Polar bears aren’t just a statistic, they’re creatures they’ve walked alongside. And the vocabulary of environmental science becomes embedded through lived, emotional experience.
Traditional vs Immersive Learning: A Quick Comparison
| Feature | Traditional Classroom Lesson | VR Climate Change Workshop |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement Level | Variable, often reliant on dated footage | High, multi-sensory and emotionally powerful |
| Understanding Scale | Abstract, difficult to grasp global impact | Tangible, pupils experience ecosystems changing |
| Access to Awe & Wonder | Limited to images and videos | Pupils feel present in threatened environments |
| Vocabulary Retention | Often surface-level memorisation | Deepened through lived experience |
| Oracy Opportunities | Teacher-led Q&A | Pupil-led description, questioning, debate |
| Cost per Class | £300–£500 for museum or centre trip (one class) | £600 for up to six classes |
| Teacher Development | Rare during pupil trips | Built-in CPD on immersive tech and oracy |
| Reach | One class per trip | Whole school access in one day |
Why It Works
Here’s what makes our approach so effective:
Presence in threatened places: Pupils don’t just learn about shrinking ice caps, they walk across them. They don’t just read about coral reefs, they swim through them. This creates emotional connections that worksheets simply cannot.
Curriculum alignment: Every workshop is mapped to key objectives from the National Curriculum, so you can be confident it supports your planning and assessment.
Scale made comprehensible: By moving through these ecosystems themselves, pupils develop genuine understanding of how climate change is reshaping the planet in ways that diagrams struggle to convey.
Oracy-rich experiences: Pupils are encouraged to describe what they see, question what they don’t understand, and reflect on humanity’s relationship with the natural world, building scientific vocabulary and confidence.
Teacher development: Whilst pupils explore, teachers gain hands-on experience with immersive tech and oracy strategies they can use across the curriculum.
What Pupils Experience
| Climate Feature | Real-World Example in VR | Curriculum Link |
|---|---|---|
| Arctic Ice Loss | Trekking across shrinking ice with polar bears | Habitats, ice caps, and endangered species |
| Rainforest Destruction | Watching forests transform into farmland | Deforestation, biodiversity, and land use |
| Coral Reef Bleaching | Diving into dying reefs beneath the ocean | Marine ecosystems and ocean warming |
| Solutions and Action | Exploring what we can do to slow climate change | Environmental responsibility and sustainability |
| Global Impact | Seeing how warming affects ecosystems worldwide | The water cycle, weather patterns, and global systems |
Affordable, Inspirational Learning
We know budgets are tight. That’s why our workshops are designed to be cost-effective. For the price of one class visiting a museum or visitor centre, we can transport up to six classes to the Arctic, the Amazon, and the ocean floor, all without leaving the school grounds.
It’s not just a substitute for a trip, it’s access to places no school trip could ever reach, and experiences that could genuinely change the way your pupils see the world.
What Teachers Say
“Children and staff had a wonderful experience taking part in the VR Workshops, which had been put together to exactly what we wanted. Justin was extremely knowledgeable and had a great manner with the children, easily keeping them motivated throughout the sessions. Thank you!” — Lucy Hodges, Deputy Headteacher, Dales MAT
“What a wonderful experience and an engaging way for the children to learn! Our pupils raved about how it felt like they were really there. Justin was brilliant and got the kids really involved in the lesson as well as the VR experience. Cannot recommend this enough!” — Year 3 Teacher, Hummersea Primary School, Loftus
How to Get Started
We make it easy. Whether you’re a curriculum lead, a science coordinator, or a teacher looking to bring some real-world urgency to your climate change topic, we’ll work with you to put together the perfect experience for your pupils.
We bring everything: headsets, resources, and expert facilitation. You bring your curiosity and your class.
Final Thoughts
In a time when enrichment is under threat and the effects of climate change feel impossibly distant, we believe it’s more important than ever to offer pupils experiences that spark joy, curiosity, and genuine wonder. The planet is changing, and so is the way we teach about it.
Let’s help pupils trek across Arctic ice, witness the loss of our rainforests, and understand the environmental challenges that will define their future, not just in theory, but in vivid, unforgettable reality.
Ready to experience climate change like never before?
- Contact us to book your VR workshop
- Visit our website to explore more topics
- Serving Darlington, Yorkshire, Tees Valley, County Durham, and beyond…
Let’s make science unforgettable.
