Positives

• This map is very easy to work with and understand.
  
• After exploring the map, students may have a better understanding of environmental pollutants and their potential health and lifestyle effects on populations.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should be able to read maps and use basic map tools.
• Some familiarity with the state of California's cities or geography would be helpful but is not necessary.

Differentiation

• Connections could be made in health classes by learning about the health impacts detailed, in social studies classes by working with the population data sets to look for trends, or in math classes by working with the data sets to make graphs or compare values.
• Challenge your students to find the strongest correlations they can between the pollution burdens and the population characteristics. For example, is there a specific place in California that has a strong connection between ozone and asthma, or water pollutants and poverty?
• For individual work, have students choose a California town or city neighborhood to explore. How does the map explain the place's pollution burdens and population characteristics. Based on this research, would the student want to live there? Why or why not? What changes could be proposed?
• Other related resources include this video and lesson about air pollution in Los Angeles, this article about Californians' perception of extreme heat and access to air conditioning, and this video about traffic impacts.