DVDs carry her lessons on climate's woes
Science teacher Rita Chang is anything but lukewarm on global warming.
She became so passionate about the dangers of climate change -- which experts warn could melt glaciers, stir up violent weather, and redraw coastlines -- that she invited some of the country's leading scientists to her ninth-grade Wellesley High School classroom.
And now through a series of DVDs, Chang hopes to ignite discussion among students nationwide about the weighty questions that drew her into science.
``Basically, how is the planet changing, and what does this mean for us?" said Chang, who leapt into teaching after a career in public health and nonprofit management.
Because many older textbooks don't include current science on climate change, Chang and some other teachers use extras like newspaper clippings to keep students up to date.
``It's hard to stay on top of an emerging science like that," said Chang, who for years was vexed by what she saw as a dearth of instruction on the way humans have affected the earth's climate.
Chang, who has a master's degree in public health, became interested in climate change as director of Harvard Medical School's Center on Health and the Global Environment, where she organized workshops and educational forums.
After leaving Harvard, the Natick resident and mother of two spent several years at home and began writing manuscripts for children's books on science.
``There was that teaching desire in me, and I kept resisting," she recalled. ``I didn't think I could afford to be a teacher."
She stopped resisting in 2001, when she volunteered to lead a section on climate change at Wellesley High. It was exhausting, but she couldn't stay away.
By fall 2002, Chang had signed up to teach a year long freshman course on earth science that includes not only climate issues but oceanography, geology, and astronomy.
In 2004, she began bringing area scientists into her classroom, sparking the idea of sharing the experience with teachers and students elsewhere.
Chang turned the visits of six of the guests -- professors from Harvard, Tufts, and MIT, and a marine biologist from the New England Aquarium -- into the DVD series.
``The DVDs bring the best scientists into any classroom, anywhere," she said, noting that few places in the country are as fortunate as Wellesley to have such experts living down the road.
Chang's students play a role in the series as well, asking the scientists about their research and their career choices.
The series comes as public discussion of climate change reaches a new high, with ``An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary featuring former vice president Al Gore, showing in theaters across the country.
Where the Gore film features state-of-the-art visuals, Chang's videos show bookish professors in a Wellesley science classroom. Instead of computer-generated graphics, ``Classroom Encounters with Global Change Scientists" splices in magic-marker drawings showing how hot air is trapped in the atmosphere.
Daniel Schrag , a Harvard geochemist who appears in the series, applauded Chang's vision.
``Typically things that are new ideas in science or new observations take decades before they are taught at the high school level. . . . Really good teachers change that," said Schrag, who directs the Harvard University Center for the Environment.
``What Rita's doing so beautifully is actually enabling many other teachers," he said.
``To do this at the ninth grade level is pretty extraordinary," said Bill Moomaw, who teaches environmental policy at Tufts University.
He said he was ``blown away" by Chang's students when he gave them an overview on climate change. ``They're just so much better prepared to discuss [it] than their parents or an awful lot of adults."
Since Shimena Li learned about climate change in Chang's class, she's been urging her family to turn off lights and to walk instead of drive.
Li, 15, said that hearing Schrag talk about climate change, and his own career as a scientist, was inspiring. ``He taught us what was really unteachable in an article. He taught us how we can make a difference."
Excerpts from the series, which also includes help from some Wellesley film, music , and art students, will be screened for the first time at the
Chang hopes the showing of excerpts from the series' two completed DVD s -- out of a projected total of six -- will promote donations for the project and sales of the discs, which go for $50 to $60 apiece. About two dozen have been sold so far.
Chang and her partner, New York filmmaker Alan Fine, have reached into their own pockets to help fund the series. They have also had help from the Wellesley Education Foundation, the high school's Parent-Teacher-Student-Organization, and the Oak Foundation.
To RSVP for the event on Saturday, visit the project's website at www.classroomencounters.org. 
