Learning Activities

The coral reefs of the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu are the backbone of the island's environmental and economic health. Today they face destruction from a silent predator that can rapidly decimate an entire reef. In this video, students learn about how a starfish is destroying the coral reefs of Vanuatu and how the islanders are adapting.

In this video, an entrepreneur is finding new ways to manage the invasive Asian carp problem in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Once introduced to help mitigate an algae problem, the carp became invasive. This video highlights how the local community has adapted to the issue, including how they have gained ideas about how to utilize the carp from other cultures to help mitigate the issue.

This video begins in the lush deltas of Bangladesh. The host of the video learns how communities are adapting to changing monsoons and dangerous sea-level rise. Floating gardens and floating schools are just the start of some of the country's innovative strategies.

This video focuses on animals that have quickly evolved in order to meet their needs from the impacts of climate change.

This activity is an overview of basic weather processes, starting with incoming solar radiation and how that establishes basic atmospheric processes.

Students play the role of carbon atoms to learn about the carbon cycle and how it is changing. Students create two carbon cycle diagramsâvisual models of the cycle before and after the Industrial Revolution. They reflect on the game and how scientists believe humans are impacting this critical Earth system.

Students explore the life of pikas, tiny mammals that live in alpine areas, and how they are being impacted by climate change. After a brief introduction which includes a reading, a short video, and a story that includes a mathematical model, students engage in a kinesthetic simulation to gain first-hand experience of life as a pika and how the animals can be impacted by shrinking habitat. Students then create line graphs with data from the simulation and analyze them.

In this activity, students listen to a podcast and then investigate causes of and solutions to food waste, plant-based recipes to get excited about, and the diversity and variety of heirloom foods.

In this set of activities, high school students model changes in climate and their effects on international relations, investigate local climate impacts and solutions and observe global climate patterns and adaptations. Lessons may be standalone or done in series.

This 11-minute podcast and accompanying lesson guide encourage students to evaluate the supply chain of green technologies in the context of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.