This lesson encourages students to think critically about facts and opinions and how they relate to climate change.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students determine whether statements are facts or opinions and then define the terms fact and opinion.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students watch three climate change videos, identify climate facts and climate opinions, and express their own opinions about climate solutions.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students create a poster about climate change and separate out facts and opinions.

Positives

• Students think critically about facts and opinions before developing their opinions on climate change solutions.

• Students create a project that educates and inspires others using opinions supported by facts.

Additional Prerequisites

• Teachers and students should understand that facts can be proven to be true, but often it depends on the context.

• Teachers and students should understand that not all opinions are credible. Respecting people’s opinions is important, but it is necessary for students to understand how to differentiate between credible and non-credible sources.

Differentiation

• This related SubjectToClimate lesson can support students in developing their opinion on the best solution to climate change.

• Teachers can modify the Climate Change Fact or Opinion Activity in the Inquire section by adding or removing statements.

• Students can come up with their own statements and have the rest of the class determine if they are facts or opinions.

• Teachers can opt for a more active Climate Change Fact or Opinion Activity by having students walk to one side of the room to identify a fact and another side to identify an opinion. Another option is to use one gesture for fact and another gesture for opinion.

• Projects can be completed individually, in groups, or as a whole class.

• Teachers may want to divide the lesson into three days, teaching the Inquire, Investigate, and Inspire sections each on separate days.

This lesson enables students to differentiate credible and non-credible opinions, identify a fact or an opinion in a video, and identify what they believe are the best solutions to addressing climate change. They would also be able to inform others about climate change using facts and opinions they gather for their projects. All materials in the lesson have been rigorously reviewed, and this lesson has passed our credibility review.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.

Supporting Standards

• English Language Arts
  • Speaking & Listening (K-12)
    • SL.6.3 Deconstruct a speaker's argument and specific claims, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not.
  • Writing: History, Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
    • WHST.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.