Curriculum Connections

Teaching about Climate Change

Art, Health, & Technology

• Design visuals (e.g., digital paintings, mosaics, interactive images) to inspire climate change action.
• Build a 3D digital model of an environment affected by climate change.
• Craft a stop-motion or Powtoon animated Ted-Ed video about climate change.
• Design a podcast series about the impact of climate change on health.
• Create a video about the health benefits of alternative transportation (e.g., biking, walking, running).
• Create a sketchnote about climate change.

English/Language Arts & World Languages

• Write a persuasive podcast or video script to inspire climate change action.
• Design a list of interview questions for environmental experts and create a podcast series with the interviews.
• Design a visual of the environmental setting of a book. Then, compare and contrast the environment in books set in the past versus those set in present day or the future.
• Create a multimodal book report for a book about climate change.
• Write a story about climate change and then transform it into a video.
• Design an infographic that compares and contrasts information from nonfiction and fiction books about climate change.
• Compose a song or write a poem about climate change (see How Poetry Can Help Communicate Science). Create captivating visuals to go along with the song or poem.
• Create a meme showcasing what each character in a book thinks about climate change.
• Craft a series of visuals that display climate change information in multiple languages.
• Write a children's book about climate change using tools like Book Creator or Storybird.

Math

• Calculate carbon footprint and create a visual (meme, infographic, poster).
• Calculate the cost of different effects of climate change (e.g., deforestation, air pollution, natural disasters) on the economy and create a podcast series to express the results.
• Explore Teach About Climate Change With These 24 New York Times Graphs, then create an infographic that displays graphs of the changes in the environment during the past century (e.g., sea level, water/air temperature, greenhouse gases, spread of diseases). Use predictive modeling to create graphs of how these numbers will shift in the next 50 years.
• Calculate the savings of various climate change actions (e.g., reducing energy usage, buying local) and showcase the results in a video.
• Collect and analyze data related to climate change (e.g., design a Google form about climate change impacts and share it via social media) and present the results in a series of visuals.
• Use 3D modeling tools (e.g., Tinkercad, Blender, Minecraft) to build a 3D environmental model. Use screen recording software to discuss the geometric features of the model.

Music & Physical Education

• Create the background music for a climate change video or podcast.
• Compose a song about climate change and turn it into a music video (read How composer Matthew Burtner is putting climate change into song).
• Design a climate change dance craze that goes viral.
• Create a music video about how climate change affects sporting opportunities (Climate Change and Physical Education).

Science & Social Studies

• Create a sketchnote of a TED Talk about climate change.
• Conduct a science experiment related to climate change in the local community and present results in a video.
• Design a fact vs. fiction climate change infographic.
• Create a screenrecording of the shifts in environmental resources over time using Google Timelapse.
• Film a United Nations debate about climate change.
• Create an editorial cartoon, TED Talk, or TED-Ed animated video about a climate change topic.
• Engineer a safe structure that can withstand climate change using Minecraft (SDG Shuffle Cards)
• Create a podcast or video about "environmental racism, and the systemic issues that place marginalized peoples at risks (low income housing near factories, power plants, pollution- like the gamut of pollution) vs. people of privilege" (@JHCella)
• Examine the information and facts in the UNICEF Report Unless we act now: The impact of climate change on children and then create a short video displaying key insights from the report.
• Capture sounds of climate change and turn them into a song (read How composer Matthew Burtner is putting climate change into song).
• Need more inspiration? Check out this Twitter thread of ideas from educators.

Teacher Education

Ideas for pre-service and in-service teacher professional learning activities:

• Learn how to use new digital tools for teaching and learning while also learning about climate change (a list of digital tools is available on the Designing Digital Media page).
• Create interdisciplinary learning activities and lesson plans about climate change and turn them into interactive infographics to share with other educators.
• Design a multimodal hyperdoc lesson about climate change.
• Experience the ISTE Standards for Students firsthand by constructing knowledge, curating information from a PLN, examining the credibility of information, collecting and analyzing data, designing innovative solutions, and/or creating multimedia about climate change.