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Climate Impacts and Solutions En-ROADS Learning Lab Lessons

Provided by: The Climate Initiative

Lesson Plans Grades 9-12

Synopsis

In the 6-lesson unit, students will explore the impact of climate change solutions using the En-ROADS program.
Students will get an introduction to climate change and its impacts, watch a documentary featuring innovative solutions for sea level rise, write a case study about a climate equity and justice issue, participate in a climate action simulation role-playing as leaders in affecting change, test their proposed solutions using En-ROADS, and design a community action project.
This is a companion resource for the student lab.

Related Teaching Resources

Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Civics

Authors: The Climate Initiative

Region: Maine

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

Many students will love the role-playing game portion of the unit!
Using the En-ROADS program that is used by world leaders to evaluate climate decisions will help students feel a sense of authenticity in their work.

Prerequisites

The links for Stanford Climate and Weather and What is Ocean Acidification are broken.
Students should know how to read and analyze graphs.
The teacher slides for Lessons 4 and 5, Annual conferences and events on climate change in Lesson 6, and CAS Briefing Statements in Lesson 3 require teachers to request access, however, most of the Briefing Statements are accessible in the CAS Teams and Materials sheet.
In the Lesson 3 slides, teachers will need to insert the location and dress code information prior to presenting the slides. Additionally, in the Lesson 6 slides, teachers will need to add the due date for the community action project.

Differentiation & Implementation

In videos where information is conveyed through text, students may benefit from slowing the video playback speed or having the text read aloud.
Lessons 1 and 2, the introductions to climate change and its impacts, are extensive and will take multiple class periods. If students are already familiar with climate change impacts, teachers with limited class time may want to skip these lessons. Alternatively, there are lesson guides and student labs for nearly every topic addressed, if teachers wish to extend the learning in a certain area of impact.
If teachers would like to involve the rest of the school or the community, they can invite others to observe the climate action simulation after the first round, tasking students with the responsibility of explaining the activity and summarizing the first round.
Students using Project Drawdown research for their community action project can start with the Table of Solutions and look for ideas that may be relevant to their local context.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

Standards

Resource Type and Format

About the Partner Provider

The Climate Initiative

The Climate Initiative is a nonpartisan, science-based climate change organization based in Kennebunkport, Maine whose mission is to empower youth voices for climate action. Through national education and empowerment initiatives, youth are learning about climate solutions and becoming agents of change in their communities and beyond. Learn more about TCI by connecting with us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.