This lesson plan connects intergenerational justice with the federal budget.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students watch a TED video by Roman Krznaric called “How to Be a Good Ancestor." It allows students to see sustainability from a future perspective.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students explore usaspending.gov and examine spending by federal agency in the fiscal year 2022. In groups, students design a budget for the federal government. Some students represent people living now while other students represent people living seven generations in the future.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students reflect on what it feels like to represent those living now and those living seven generations in the future. Finally, students share, comment, and deepen each other’s ideas and opinions.

This lesson introduces African environmentalist Wangari Maathai and links deforestation with the concepts of governance, poverty, and income opportunities for women in Kenya. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students watch a video explaining ways to monitor the world's forests. Next, students explore the Global Forest Watch Interactive Map showing the health of the world's forests.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students watch a video about Wangari Maathai & The Green Belt Movement. Students answer guided questions as they watch the video.

Step 3 - Inspire: Teacher reads Wangari Maathai’s version of the “hummingbird story.” After listening, students write pledges about how they can contribute to restoring our Earth.

This lesson introduces the idea of green spaces to students. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students examine the idea of a green space and listen to the book Sofia Valdez, Future Prez. 

Step 2 - Investigate: Students learn the definition of green space and explore their neighborhood using Google Maps or Google Earth. 

Step 3 - Inspire: Students design their own "perfect green space."

This lesson explores the benefits of green spaces, how green spaces are disappearing, and how the disappearance of green spaces relates to environmental justice. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Teacher introduces the idea of goods and services. Students brainstorm ideas on how green spaces provide goods and services.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students watch a video on the disappearance of green spaces around the world. Students discuss how this makes them feel. Finally, students watch a video of Jaysa Hunter-Mellers, an environmental activist.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students look at maps to understand that green spaces are not distributed equally in all communities. After learning more about environmental justice, students have the option to write a reflection, draw or write a story, or make a list of ways that green spaces provide goods and services to their community.

This lesson connects Indigenous communities with the natural environment. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Teacher reviews ecosystem services and introduces the four types of ecosystem services: giving services, checking services, supporting services, and cultural services.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students read two articles on Newsela about Indigenous Peoples. One is about government policy, and the other is about climate activism.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students share their notes from the articles and watch one final video on youth climate activists.

This lesson asks students to consider how their communities would look and feel with and without green spaces. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students draw a community without any green space. Students think, notice, and wonder about this community and how it might feel for humans and animals to live in that community.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students learn about a community activist named Ken Sparks who turned his patio into a green space and inspired others to do the same. Then students listen to a read aloud of Bee and Me.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students conduct research to further explore the relationship between green spaces and mental health, physical health, ecosystem health, and climate change. Teacher collects student notes on a word wall. Finally, students draw another map of their community featuring as many green spaces as they would like to include.

This lesson explores ways in which students can address environmental injustice, looking at disparities between two California cities.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students review information from previous lessons and discuss the guiding questions: "How could putting more green spaces into low-income communities help?" and "How would this be an example of environmental justice?"

Step 2 - Investigate: In groups, students compare the two cities of Compton and Pasadena, California. Students discuss income levels, demographics, tree cover, and air pollution.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students watch a video on young climate activists. Then students choose one of three options: learn about Greta Thunberg, create a climate protest sign, or research the 2019 Youth Climate Summit.

In this final lesson in the green spaces unit, students will use their knowledge to take action.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students brainstorm how to incorporate green spaces in their classrooms, school, and community.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students think about which ideas they would like to pursue. Students see an example of one possible action - writing a letter to a government official advocating for more green spaces.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students take action! Students pursue any of their own ideas or collaborate with the teacher to create a classroom or community garden.

This lesson introduces students to air quality. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Using a KWL chart, students brainstorm what they know about air quality and what they want to learn. 

Step 2 - Investigate: Students read Why Is Coco Orange?, a story about a chameleon and how his skin changes color depending on the air quality. 

Step 3 - Inspire: Students complete a journal entry based on the lesson.

In this lesson, students learn how to analyze characters in stories, reread Why Is Coco Orange?, and complete a journal entry. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students learn about and practice identifying character traits.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students read Why Is Coco Orange?

Step 3 - Inspire: Students identify character traits in Coco and Coco's friends. Then students complete a journal entry, choosing one of three provided options.

In this lesson, students learn about particle pollution, motivated by an example in Los Angeles. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students review key concepts from Why Is Coco Orange? and watch a video on air pollution in Los Angeles.

Step 2 - Investigate: Teacher plays The Cilia Game with students.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students explore an interactive map of air quality and complete a journaling entry.

In this lesson, students learn about vehicle idling, gather and interpret data, and take action at their school. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students learn about car idling and its harmful impacts on human health.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students study idling vehicles at their school by making observations, creating graphs, and interpreting data.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students take action by creating an awareness poster, bumper sticker, or launching a No Idling Campaign at their school!

In this lesson, students learn about renewable and nonrenewable sources, ways they use energy, and ways to conserve energy. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students learn the definition of energy and brainstorm about their own energy use. 

Step 2 - Investigate: Students learn about renewable and nonrenewable energy and complete an energy sort. 

Step 3 - Inspire: Students learn how energy relates to water, gasoline, cooking, electricity, and AC/heat. Students begin filling in their energy audits.

In this lesson, students reflect on their personal energy use, make a bar graph to analyze data from the class, and create a conservation poster for display. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students use their personal energy audits to create a bar graph.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students create an inspirational conservation poster.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students display their conservation posters around the classroom or school.

This lesson introduces students to renewable and nonrenewable energy resources. Students read about an energy resource, complete a graphic organizer, explain to their classmates why their energy resource is the best, and vote for their favorite type of energy. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students practice turning their energy on and off with a mindfulness exercise.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students read a nonfiction book on a specific type of energy and take notes in a graphic organizer.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students "pitch" their energy resource in a mock town hall, hoping to gain the most votes from their classmates to adopt their energy resource. Students vote for their favorite energy to decide a winner.

In this lesson, students learn the story of William Kamkwamba, build their own renewable-powered project, and share their project with the broader school community. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students listen to a read aloud of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a story about a Malawian boy named William Kamkwamba who helped bring energy to his community.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students build a renewable-powered project.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students write about their project and share their project with the broader school community.

In this lesson, students analyze how much renewable energy is used around the world. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students recall what they learned in previous lessons and use Google Maps to browse renewable energy projects around the world. 

Step 2 - Investigate: Students research one or more countries and complete worksheets analyzing how much renewable energy is used in each country.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students watch a video on Iceland and geothermal energy and discuss what life would be like if the United States used as much renewable energy as Iceland.

In this lesson, students advocate for renewable energy in their schools and communities, motivated by the success of Santa Monica, California students.

Step 1 - Inquire: Teacher shares the story of Team Marine, a group of youth activists from California who fought to ban plastic bags in their neighborhood.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students choose from a variety of projects to advocate for more renewable energy in their schools and communities. Students can write letters, create videos, write speeches, or choose another way to advocate for a cleaner world!

Step 3 - Inspire: Students follow through with their advocacy by sending letters and videos, delivering speeches, etc. Finally, students reflect on their activism experience.

This lesson introduces carbon emissions and the idea of carbon and ecological footprints to students. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students reflect on what they know about photosynthesis and how plants transform carbon dioxide into oxygen. 

Step 2 - Investigate: Students learn about the greenhouse effect and calculate their ecological footprint. 

Step 3 - Inspire: Students generate ideas on how to reduce their carbon footprint and impact on the environment.

In this lesson, students compare and contrast emissions from different modes of transportation and explore the concept of transportation planning. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students analyze a bar graph of carbon dioxide emissions by different modes of transportation and calculate the most environmentally conscious modes of travel based on emissions.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students analyze commuter survey results of the top concerns with public transportation and complete real-world math problems based on different transportation scenarios, calculating the difference in carbon emission outputs.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students learn about transportation planners and watch a video about Hong Kong's transit system.

This lesson explores different transit systems around the world and unpacks the decision-making process behind transportation planning. 

Step 1 - Inquire: Students analyze the transit route maps of four different cities.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students explore in greater depth the elements and features of four different transit systems.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students recall transit rider concerns and create a reimagined metro system to appeal to more riders in the community.

This lesson promotes students' understanding of the power and influence of the media. Students will leverage this understanding to develop their own media campaigns for their reimagined metro systems.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students reflect on how their reimagined metro systems address the top ten concerns riders had with the metro.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students think critically about how different transportation advertisements get consumers to want to use their services or purchase their products.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students brainstorm an advertisement for their reimagined metro system.

In this lesson, students explore critical media literacy and begin creating their advertisements.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students explore the definition and guiding questions of critical media literacy.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students analyze a video about car-free cities.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students begin creating their own advertisement for their metro designs.