WWF - Climate - Climate Curriculum for Teachers

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Climate

Climate Curriculum for Teachers

Your Climate, Your Future
An interdisciplinary approach to incorporating climate change in your classroom

The WWF Climate Change Team has developed a comprehensive educational curriculum that will elevate students' knowledge of the issue and spur dialogue about what each of us can do to make a difference.

The high school-level curriculum is divided into fifteen lessons which include handouts, a glossary of terms and additional resources for ongoing discussions and research. Please feel free to use the lessons you believe your students will most benefit from.

Introduction

Opening Letter and Table of Contents

Section A: Introducing Climate Change

Lesson 1: Climate Change Pretest
Discipline: Natural Sciences
A quick 10-question quiz to test students' current knowledge of climate change so the teacher can determine how much class time is needed for background material on climate change.
Lesson 2: Our Unique Atmosphere
Discipline: Natural Sciences
Read and discuss articles on the atmosphere to understand how heat-trapping gases work in the atmosphere and why they and carbon dioxide are necessary for life on Earth.
Lesson 3: Emissions of Heat-trapping Gases
Discipline: Natural Sciences
Record how much energy they use at home to calculate their own carbon footprint. Students learn about atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping gases and make predictions while identifying the sources of emissions.

Section B: Climate Change and Us

Lesson 4: Communities of Living Things
Discipline: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, English and Humanities
Read and discuss articles on how changing weather patterns, a changing balance of competitors,and changes in the availability of food and shelter can increase uncertainty for communities of living things. Students predict how continued warming may affect communities of living things with which they are familiar.
Lesson 5: Climate Change and People
Discipline: Social Sciences, English and Humanities
Read and discuss real news articles on the social impacts of climate change, and how impacts on the economy and habitat will affect people. In groups, students determine the top-five risks for humans and present to the class.
Lesson 6: Climate Change in My City
Discipline: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences
Analyze climate change at local, regional, and global scales using an historical climate index.
Lesson 7: Climate Change and Disease
Discipline: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences
Research the relationship between hosts, parasites, and vectors for common vector-borne diseases and evaluate how climate change could affect the spread of disease. Students explore how social factors affect the occurrence and spread of disease.
Lesson 8: Climate Change and Ecosystems
Discipline: Natural Sciences
Research the interdependencies among plants and animals in an ecosystem and explore how climate change might affect those interdependencies and the ecosystem as a whole.
Lesson 9: The Forecaster
Discipline: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences
Gather historical climate data for local regions and chart the trends over the past 100 years. Make climate predictions for the next month, semester, and year, and monitor these predictions over that period of time.
Lesson 10: Car Quest
Discipline: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences
Assess the environmental impacts of a fleet of cars and then research and prepare a report about greener transportation choices.

Section C: What We Can Do!

Lesson 11: Energy Watch
Discipline: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences
Keep track of home-energy usage and develop a plan to reduce the home-energy consumption. Track the progress over a period of time, and present the results to the class.
Lesson 12: Write On!
Discipline: Social Sciences, English and Humanities
Express views and knowledge of climate change in the community by writing federal political officials, local political officials, and regional newspapers, giving students a voice on climate change and their concerns for their futures and the future of their community.
Lesson 13: The Stabilization Wedges Game
Discipline: Natural Sciences
Learn about the technologies currently available that can substantially cut carbon emissions, develop critical reasoning skills as they create their own portfolio of strategies to cut emissions, and verbally communicate the rationale for their selections. Working in teams, students develop the skills to negotiate a solution that is physically plausible and politically acceptable, and defend their solution to a larger group.
Lesson 14: The Great Climate Change Debate
Discipline: Social Sciences, English and Humanities
Develop arguments and positions to debate ways to address climate change politically, environmentally, and economically on the regional, national and international level.
Lesson 15: Climate Witness Oral History Project
Discipline: Social Sciences, English and Humanities
Interview elder community members and write their stories of how they have noticed the climate changing over the years. Present these stories in class, offer suggestions to students, discuss relevance of material presented, and publish stories on a Web site.