Chemistry & Climate Science
Carbon Cycle & Carbon Footprints
AIR: What does carbon dioxide "parts per million" mean? And why is it important? offers a brief explanation from NASA about carbon including a graph that shows how carbon concentrations naturally fluctuate, but have changed since the industrial revolution. - NASA
International
You Want to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Your Food? Focus on What You Eat, Not Whether Your Food is Local article and graphs help demonstrate in simple terms how emissions within the food chain are not just from transportation, and how food simple choices can help reduce our impact. - Our World in Data
North America
Canada
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources through The Green Classroom Includes lesson plans, activities to do at home, educational take-homes and handouts, action projects as well as "Fun and Games" activities - Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Atmosphere, Climate, & Climate Changes
The following links offer easy-to-follow explanations of important concepts.
It's Cold! Is Global Warming Over? This page explains how "Arctic Oscillation” can cause weather extremes that seems counter to global warming - NASA
Meet The Greenhouse Gases! These interactive character cards help kids learn about important gases including water vapor, ozone, nitrous oxide, CFCs and methane. - NASA
What is an Urban Heat Island? This page offers helpful visual examples of heat islands, plant transpiration, and how different materials or even colours can help reduce or increase heat capture.
What's the difference between weather and climate? This pages offers a video with subtitles, a transcription, and a poster of everything described in the video.
Marine Science
North America
USA
Sea Grant Florida: Promoting Ocean and Coastal Literacy At Every Age "Through hands-on, virtual and citizen science activities, Florida Sea Grant educators provide timely science-based information to audiences so that they better understand how their decisions affect coastal environments."
Lesson Plans
Classroom Activities: Teach "Bring the wonder of space to your students. Explore our universe of science, technology, engineering and math activities and resources." Filter by types, subjects, grades, and topics - Jet Propulsion Labratory, California Institute of Technology, NASA
Make S'Mores with a Solar Oven This is a great opportunity to talk about how green house gases slowly trap more and more heat in our atmosphere, and how impressively warm the sun's energy can be. It's also a good opportunity to get students thinking about fossil-free energy alternatives that can be used at home and elsewhere.
North America
Environmental and Climate Science Lesson Plans includes resources from CLEAN, LEGO, and NASA - Community Resources for Science
Resources for Rethinking is a FREE online database which provides access to over 1,300 high-quality, English and French K-12 classroom resources that have been selected and reviewed by teachers, for teachers. All resources are curriculum-matched and teachers can search by language, jurisdiction, grade, subject, curriculum unit, and sustainability theme in order to get the perfect resource. (also in French)
Canada
Climate Friendly Schools: Resources for Schools - Climate Change Connection
Collaborative for Advanced Landscape Planning (CALP): Teacher Resources "An instructional resource to help educators and teachers engage high school students in climate change education." Includs Lesson Plans for Introduction to Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Urban Forests, Signs of Climate Change, and "Exploring Climate Change in My Community" with more tools including video games to enhance learning about long-term planning - The University of British Colombia
Educational Kits
North America
Canada
EDUKITS "Let's Talk Energy's Edukits deliver the activity plans and materials you need to carry out a series of comprehensive and exciting lessons on energy! Offered in both English and French, Edukits emphasize hands-on activities and Canadian content. They're designed in modules to give you flexibility, allowing you to deliver the units in any order." - Ingenium
USA
California
Water and Energy Conservation for L.A. Middle School Students and Teachers "Through a grant from the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP), The Bay Foundation (TBF) created this engaging and fun water and energy conservation project for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) middle school students and teachers. These materials enhanced current lesson plans regarding water and energy conservation and climate change.
The Project Activity Book, educational videos, infographics, and other resources found here were created just for this project and were presented to hundreds of LAUSD middle school students from Panorama City to South Los Angeles.
The materials can be used freely by teachers, students, and parents, either as part of classroom instruction or by the students independently to supplement their studies."
Games
Terra Nil This is a video game which is currently free if if you have a Netflix account, or available from Steam for around $20 (USD). The player starts out with a dead wasteland and uses technology to start revitalizing the environment. After basic ecosystems have been started and clean water is available, the gamer can then scan for wildlife and adjust biomes to make them appropriate for keystone species to return. For anyone who enjoys games like Civilization or City Skylines, this has a very similar feel, minus the wars and traffic congestion. Students will learn about everything from humidify and soil toxicity to the environmental requirements of specific species including sharks, penguins, bears, beavers, dragon flies and more. The final stages of each level include the use of drones and recycling facilities to retrieve all the technology for use in the next biome!
North America
USA
The PMEL Carbon Group "has been involved in the development of a variety of educational tools for educators, students, and the broader public that describe the ocean carbon cycle and how it is changing over time. Through these resources, we strive to contribute to NOAA's goal to improve the Nation's fundamental understanding of the systems of the natural world, the relationships and interactions between the living and non-living environment, and the ability to understand and utilize scientific evidence to make informed decisions regarding environmental problems."