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Education

Understanding Climate Change Lesson Plan

Length
One 60-minute class period
Grade Level
High School

Learning Objectives

  • Students will explain the greenhouse effect, describe how humans have impacted the greenhouse gas balance, and assess the dangers that continued buildup presents.

Instructional Plan

  1. (Set-up): Set up the session by writing the following three questions on the board.
    • What is climate change? Define it in your own words.
    • What causes it? List whatever you think you know.
    • What’s one thing about climate change that you’re genuinely uncertain or curious about?
  2. (Introduction - 10 minutes) - Open the class session by giving students five minutes to respond privately to the questions on the board, recording their answers either in notebooks or on the session hand-out (attached below). When the five minutes have elapsed, take 3-4 responses from the third question only and write these responses on the board. Explain to students that today’s class session will try to demystify climate change and answer at least some of their questions.
  3. (Video - 10 minutes) Next, have students watch CFR Education’s “What is Climate Change?” video as a class. Have students answer question two on the worksheet as they watch the video. When the video ends, take 3-4 responses from students and use them to build a shared causes and consequences chart on the board. Key points to confirm include:
    • Activities beyond fossil fuel use generate greenhouse gas emissions.
    • Consequences include melting ice, rising seas, severe storms, droughts, flooding, and effects on food and water.
  4. (Guided Independent Reading - 15 minutes) - Leaving the causes and consequences chart on the board, give students 10 minutes to read CFR Education’s “The Greenhouse Effect” independently. Students should answer question three on the worksheet as they read. When 10 minutes have elapsed, facilitate a brief share-out to confirm all students understand the problem: that humans are increasing the number of gases that drive the greenhouse effect, making the atmosphere hotter than it has been in the past.
  5. (Guided Partner Reading - 15 minutes) - Next, have students partner up and take turns reading CFR Education’s “How Climate Change Can Get Even Worse” aloud to each other, from the snowball analogy at the start of the reading through the three feedback loops at the midway point. Once partners have worked through this foundational material, they should choose one of the five tipping points listed at the end of the reading and use the text to answer question four on the session hand-out.
  6. (Concluding Discussion - 10 minutes) - Give students a moment to sit quietly with the information they’ve just read. Then, return to the list of uncertainties or questions that students had at the beginning of class. Have them address as many as possible using the information gained from today’s session. Then, conclude the session with a discussion of the following question:
    • “The greenhouse effect reading says a two-degree temperature change ‘could seem slight.’ Does it still seem slight to you after today’s readings? What changed your thinking - or didn’t?”

Instructor Notes

  • This lesson plan focuses on the scientific evidence for climate change and its physical consequences. Questions of policy - who should act, how, and at what cost - are intentionally deferred. If students raise policy questions - for example, “So what should we do?” - acknowledge the questions genuinely and explain that these questions are important, but that today’s session is focused on understanding the science behind climate change.

Vocabulary

TermDefinition
emissionsrefers to the amount of greenhouse gases an entity, such as a country or company, produces.
greenhouse gasesgases that absorb heat in the atmosphere and re-emit it back toward earth, causing a warming effect.
greenhouse effectthe natural process that keeps the earth at a life-sustaining temperature.

Materials