In this study, we analyzed the literature on teaching or learning on a topic in Earth science, environmental science, or climate change between 1995 and 2017. We investigated the length of the intervention, intervention setting and instructional level, instructional purpose, pedagogical framing and pedagogical methods (including what materials and activities students used), degree of inquiry afforded to students, and student outcomes. The literature reveals that instructors are attempting to move beyond didactic practices by incorporating new pedagogical methods into existing courses they teach or revamping whole courses at the departmental level. In general, study authors frame their innovations in terms of a need to address student engagement; however, the extent to which studies explicitly link engagement and learning outcomes is mixed. In addition, while study authors express the goal of adopting active learning pedagogies, their theories of change are mostly unexamined. Finally, few researchers reported results relating directly to specific populations of interest, especially those underserved in STEM. We suggest several areas in which further research is needed.