Why Climate Matters

• This course explains how climate change impacts people, the economy, extinction, life on land, and ocean life. 
• The course contains text, interactive questions, infographics, data charts, links to numerous references, and a final quiz. 

Positives

• There are a number of comprehensive scientific reports and papers linked throughout the document for reference or further study.
• The content is available in a number of different languages.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• This course is part of a series of climate change courses from ClimateScience.
  
• Students should have a basic understanding of climate change prior to beginning this course.
  
• Students will need a computer and Internet connection to use the interactive features.
  

Differentiation

• This course provides two levels of learning. Use the button in the top left of the page to toggle between "Simple" and "Advanced." The "Simple" setting is recommended for middle school students, while the "Advanced" setting is recommended for high school students.
• Students can proceed through the content at their own pace, and stronger students can spend time reading and exploring any of the links to scientific papers or reports.
• Due to the broad scope of the content provided in this course, it can easily be applied to economics, social studies, ELA, and science lessons.
• Other resources related to these topics include this video on the 6th mass extinction, this interactive textbook lesson on climate change in Earth history, and this video on ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience.

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