"Climate Challenge for 7-11 years: Explore the human impact of climate change"
Summary
Climate Challenge for 7-11 years is an Oxfam Education teaching pack on the human impact of climate change, designed for primary-school pupils (ages 7-11) [source: nv-database]. The pack combines science investigations, role play, and a vulnerability game to explore how communities around the world are affected by climate change and how people are responding and adapting; activities are linked to the science, English and geography curricula [source: nv-database]. Published on 12 January 2015 by Oxfam GB, the resource consists of 18 downloadable documents (a teachers’ overview plus six sessions and two slideshows), and is catalogued under active citizenship, climate-change adaptation, sustainability and vulnerability-game keywords [source: nv-database].
Tactics used
- classroom curriculum resource
- role-play and vulnerability game
- science-investigation activity
- slideshow-led classroom sessions
Background
The pack sits within Oxfam GB’s wider Climate Challenge series, which also includes a 3-7-years edition aimed at younger pupils and a 11-14-years edition for secondary transition [source: nv-database]. Its publication in early 2015 falls in the same year as the run-up to COP21 (Paris, November-December 2015) and aligns with the post-Paris-Agreement education push on climate change in UK and European primary schools [source: nv-database].
What happened
The pack was published by Oxfam GB on 12 January 2015 and made freely available as 18 downloadable documents from Oxfam’s open repository [source: nv-database]. The materials are organised into six classroom sessions (Session 1 through Session 6), each paired with a slideshow for teacher-led projection, and accompanied by a 438 KB Teachers’ Overview document; subject links span science, English and geography at Key Stage 2 level [source: nv-database]. The pack’s flagship activity is the “vulnerability game”, a role-play exercise in which pupils explore differential exposure to climate impacts across communities; it is paired with a “consequence web” exercise on cause-and-effect reasoning, and a carbon-footprint audit activity linked to active-citizenship themes [source: nv-database].
Key people & organizations
- Oxfam Education (publisher)
- Oxfam GB Policy & Practice (host platform)
Outcome
Verdict: unknown.
The pack is a freely-available classroom curriculum resource rather than a campaign, so a “won”/“lost” verdict in the conventional sense does not apply; the outcome is unknown because the source describes the resource itself but does not record uptake, classroom usage, or impact data [source: nv-database].
Lessons
- A teaching pack that pairs a single high-engagement activity (here, a vulnerability game) with subject-linked follow-up can integrate climate-change adaptation into mainstream Key Stage 2 curricula without specialist teacher training.
- Releasing all materials as 18 separate downloads from an open repository (rather than as a single locked PDF) lets teachers pick the session-by-session sequence that fits their class timetable.
- Pairing the pack with explicit curriculum cross-references (science, English, geography) raises the chance of adoption by schools that would otherwise de-prioritise a single-issue climate resource.
Sources
Disclaimer: Included as a teaching example of campaign craft, not as endorsement.
Sources & verification
nv-database— grounding: primary — license: link-only- Rewritten: 2026-07-09 via overnight distillation wave (T4)
Learn more
- Oxfam Policy & Practice — Climate Challenge for 7-11 years — original resource page