Exploring the Effect of Climate Change on Nations around the World

The Why: By investigating the effects of climate change, students will begin to understand and address global issues and participate in a global society. Research develops global awareness as they understand the scale and urgency of the problem and motivate them to take action. Climate change is a complex issue that requires novel critical thinking, and young people today are doing amazing things to affect change in their local communities, and have it spread to larger movements worldwide. Climate change is a global issue that affects people's daily lives all over the world. By learning about these effects, students can develop cross-cultural understanding and empathy.  Solutions require collective effort, and as students push towards these solutions, they are encouraged to be better global citizens, starting in their hometown.  

The How:

Warmup: Students view the infographic above and write three sentences to describe SDG 13.  Have students share their response with a partner. 

Video:  PBS News Hour "India's early heat wave has major implications for agriculture". Guiding questions to ask students about the video: How is the heat wave affecting people in poverty more than others? What are some of the consequences of the early heat wave on workers? Farmers? In what ways might climate change impact food production and distribution on a global scale? 

Research: 

In groups of 2, students will create a 5 slide presentation or a poster created on paper.  For each location or topic find/create 2 images and a 3-5 sentence summary based on your research.

Slides 1-2:

Choose 2 countries from the list below. For each country, you can research "How will climate change affect the people of ____________?"

Slide 3: Research the effect of climate change on our state/city. 

 Slide 4-5: What is being done to prevent climate change?

-Research and describe one person or program that a young people are doing to prevent climate disasters. 

-Research and describe one international NGO or government program to prevent climate disaster.

COUNTRIES MOST VULNERABLE TO CLIMATE CHANGE (COP27) 

• Democratic Republic of Congo

• Central African Republic

• Nigeria

• Chad

• Ethiopia

• Bangladesh

• Syria

• Afghanistan

• Somalia

• South Sudan

Planning Considerations: Students should have access to computers and the internet for research and production of a final product.  Students might do a poster on paper or a "one pager" if technology is limited or if students need an opportunity for collaboration more face to face. 

Plan for 60-90 minutes for this activity depending on depth and detail requested. 

Recommendations: 

Reflections:

What went well?

Students seem engaged with current events and researching real world evidence.  

What would you have done differently?

I initially had students do this assignment individually. The interaction of partners/groups works better with this as they can discuss their findings as they work.  

What feedback did you get from your students?

In my end of year survey, some students reported on the current events unit, including this lesson. One year later, a student found me to tell me he remembers this lesson and they are doing a related lesson in another class and appreciated having prior knowledge.  This student did say that when he told his dad about the assignment, the dad expressed concern that I was being overtly political.  There is potential for controversy and depending on your demographic and district policies, a note to parents might be warranted. 

How do you plan to incorporate this activity in the future?

I would love to have students do something, create a personal project for action on climate change. Unfortunately, this content is at the end of the school year when we don't usually have time for more in depth extensions. I'd like to be more aggressive with my scope and sequence to have more time for current issues and presentations to stakeholders. 

What else should be considered when incorporating this activity into instruction?

The PBS news hour clip is from 2022.  The information is relevant even beyond the actual news story as it is partial evidence of a trend. Current news stories about similar topics might be more interesting to students.