Asli Sezen-Barrie Leads International Project Linking AI and Climate Education
By Carol Jean Tomoguchi
December 11, 2025
December 11, 2025
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape education, Asli Sezen-Barrie, Stacey Nicholas Endowed Chair of Climate and Environmental Education and an associate professor at the School of Education, is leading a groundbreaking international collaboration to ensure that the next generation of teachers learns to use AI both responsibly and sustainably. Co-leading the project are Arya Karumanthra of Indiana University Bloomington and Neli Heidari, lecturer in Geography Education at the University of Bremen, Germany.
Asli Sezen-Barrie
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Arya Karumanthra
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Neli Heidari
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The new project, TEACH-AI (Teacher Education for AI and Climate Harmony), unites researchers from UC Irvine, Indiana University Bloomington, and the University of Bremen to prepare future educators for the thoughtful use of artificial intelligence in environmental and climate-related learning. Funded by the Foundation on German-American Academic Relations (Stiftung Deutsch-Amerikanische Wissenschaftsbeziehungen), the one-year initiative runs from November 2025 through October 2026.
“AI can be a powerful tool for environmental learning, but only when used with an awareness of its environmental footprint and conceptual limitations,” said Sezen-Barrie. “Our program helps future teachers build the critical environmental AI literacy needed to recognize where AI is helpful—and where human judgment, ethical reasoning, and disciplinary expertise must lead.”
“AI can be a powerful tool for environmental learning, but only when used with an awareness of its environmental footprint and conceptual limitations,” said Sezen-Barrie. “Our program helps future teachers build the critical environmental AI literacy needed to recognize where AI is helpful—and where human judgment, ethical reasoning, and disciplinary expertise must lead.”
TEACH-AI brings together complementary strengths: U.S. innovation and policy momentum in AI education and Germany’s longstanding expertise in environmental and geography education. Together, the partners are co-designing a transatlantic course that integrates AI literacy into Geography and Environmental Science Education, with a focus on climate change, sustainability, and ethics.
In its first phase, the project will survey and interview teacher candidates in both countries to explore how AI is currently incorporated into teacher education and to identify concerns about its use. Those findings will shape new course modules that teach future educators to design lessons using AI responsibly—for example, evaluating AI-generated climate data or simulating environmental scenarios while considering bias, transparency, and sustainability.
“AI offers significant opportunities, as students can be guided to reflect on the ecological impacts of AI use—for example, services like ChatGPT require vast amounts of energy and water,” said Heidari, lecturer in Geography Education at the University of Bremen. “This raises an important question: How can AI help future teachers meaningfully expand their practice, rather than simply automate tasks?”
Karumanthra added that the project’s cross-national collaboration ensures a more global understanding of responsible AI use: “Our modules engage future teachers in designing lessons that integrate AI tools for analyzing climate data while emphasizing ethical, accurate, and sustainable practice.”
By comparing the evolving U.S. approach to AI education—including California’s new AB 285 climate education initiative—with Germany’s deeply rooted environmental curriculum, TEACH-AI aims to reimagine how AI and climate literacy intersect in teacher preparation.
In its first phase, the project will survey and interview teacher candidates in both countries to explore how AI is currently incorporated into teacher education and to identify concerns about its use. Those findings will shape new course modules that teach future educators to design lessons using AI responsibly—for example, evaluating AI-generated climate data or simulating environmental scenarios while considering bias, transparency, and sustainability.
“AI offers significant opportunities, as students can be guided to reflect on the ecological impacts of AI use—for example, services like ChatGPT require vast amounts of energy and water,” said Heidari, lecturer in Geography Education at the University of Bremen. “This raises an important question: How can AI help future teachers meaningfully expand their practice, rather than simply automate tasks?”
Karumanthra added that the project’s cross-national collaboration ensures a more global understanding of responsible AI use: “Our modules engage future teachers in designing lessons that integrate AI tools for analyzing climate data while emphasizing ethical, accurate, and sustainable practice.”
By comparing the evolving U.S. approach to AI education—including California’s new AB 285 climate education initiative—with Germany’s deeply rooted environmental curriculum, TEACH-AI aims to reimagine how AI and climate literacy intersect in teacher preparation.
