Introduction to Climate Resilience: Middle School

Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

• Teaching Tips
  Read through this unit and teacher support guide to consider whether individual lessons, activities, or the entire unit will most benefit your students. Consider the concepts and ideas your students are already familiar with and what might be helpful information/activities for them to engage in before teaching this unit. There are multiple resource pages for teachers included in this lesson, however, the concepts addressed may be difficult for students to grapple with and understand. Students may need significant support to complete the tasks specified in a way that is deeply meaningful to them in the context of their community. There is a surface version of this unit that could be taught, which focuses on only the resources provided and the discussions specified, but it may be less impactful for students. Creating a climate action plan is very challenging in one class period. The activities offered here are useful but may need a significant amount of additional time to provide the support students need to engage.
• About the Science
  This unit focuses on both the social and the physical science aspects of climate change. While the information and data are solid, more support could be provided for both realms of science through outside sources. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
• About the Pedagogy
  This resource includes a comprehensive teacher and student guide for each of the three sessions. A presentation with teacher notes is provided, and pedagogical scaffolding is complete and supportive to stimulate productive discussions and emotionally sensitive role play activities. Students will discuss climate risk, vulnerability and resilience, and gain a deeper understanding of the impact of these terms. This resource supports challenging students' ideas and perspectives as well as collaboration among classmates. The concepts and ideas presented in this activity are very big. Consequently, it's difficult to fit everything into the three lessons this unit describes. Some of the methods, such as role-playing specific cultures and demographics that students may not be familiar with could use more support. Students will be encouraged to learn specific vocabulary to discuss these topics, and research strategies to increase community climate resilience.
• Technical Details/Ease of Use
  All Google links are accessible by Chrome web browser. The webpage link for the teacher presentation with notes directs to an unrelated page, however, this document is easily accessible through the complete Lesson Plan PDF.