STEM Framework/Curriculum
Chemistry - Grades 9-10
Section II Topic # 14: Environmental Chemistry I - The Atmosphere
Sub-Topic: Climate crisis
Introduction to concept:
Climate crisis is a term describing global warming and climate change, and their consequences.
The term has been used to describe the threat of global warming to the planet, and to urge
aggressive climate change mitigation.
Topic of the Activity:
Climate Crisis
Determine the key vocabulary words and terms you need to teach based on your focus content
and the prior knowledge and needs of your students.
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Carbon dioxide
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Chlorofluorocarbons
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Climate change
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Global warming
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Greenhouse gases
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Methane
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Nitrous oxide
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Ozone
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Pollutants
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Sector
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Water vapor
Background Content
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Changing Climate, National Geographic
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Climate Action Project
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Climate Change Classroom Resources, Bio Interactive
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Climate Change Collection, Global Oneness Project
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Climate Change Education, Climate Generation
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Climate Change Education, Stanford Earth
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Climate Change Lesson Plans, curated by Climate Change Live
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Climate Change Lesson Plans, National Center for Science Education
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Climate Change Resources, National Science Teaching Association
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Climate Change Resources, World Wildlife Fund
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Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
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Environmental Education Curriculum, Think Earth
Statement of the activity:
In this project students discover the importance of local communities taking action and
implementing a multifaceted approach to solve the climate crisis.
Equipment:
Experimental setup
Learning Goals:
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Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and
inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
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Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human
impact on the environment. *
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Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and
per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.
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Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global
temperatures over the past century.
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Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
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Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with
other information in print and digital texts.
Steps to perform the activity:
The steps are divided into several milestones.
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What is our role in taking action to reverse climate change?
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What are the causes and impacts of climate change?
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How can we use visual data to explain and promote the actions needed to reverse climate
change?
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How can we inform and inspire others in our community to take the needed steps to
address climate change?
Milestone 1: What is our role in taking action to reverse climate change?
Students learn about the important role of individuals and local communities in taking climate
action.
Estimated Duration
1–2 days
Assessment(s)
Need-to-know questions (whole group)
Exit ticket (individual)
Key Student Question
What is our role in taking action to reverse climate change?
Activities
Description
As an entry event, host a guest Help students learn about the issue of climate change,
introducing them to its causes, effects, and potential
speaker or hold a climate
solutions by connecting them with an expert and/or showing
change film festival.
selected videos.
As a formative assessment,
have students reflect on what
they learned about climate
change from the guest
speaker/film festival.
Transition to the driving
question.
Facilitate a Think, Pair, Share discussion in which students
respond to a prompt such as these:
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3-2-1
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How am I feeling? What am I thinking?
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“I used to think . . . , now I think . . .”
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Triangle-Square-Circle
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What Did I Learn Today?
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What? So What? Now What?
After having students share their reflections, reveal the
driving question: how can we use data to take effective
action on climate?
Milestone 2: What are the causes and impacts of climate change?
Students learn about the causes and effects of climate change.
Estimated Duration
3–5 days
Assessment(s)
Written conversation posters (whole group)
Exit ticket (individual)
Key Student Question
What are the causes and impacts of climate change?
Activities
Description
Organize students into
project teams
Facilitate teams as they work together to develop a shared set
of norms and create a team contract. Help students determine
the appropriate roles for the project and which team member
will fill each role.
Engage students in a jigsaw
activity to help them build
background knowledge
Prepare for the jigsaw by reorganizing students into expert
groups in which one member of each team will become an
expert on one of the following questions:
about climate change.
Check for understanding
with a formative assessment
to ensure that students are
ready to move on to the next
milestone.
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How do we know climate change is happening?
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How have humans caused climate change?
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What are the effects of climate change on the
environment?
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What are the effects of climate change on society?
Have students individually complete an exit ticket
responding to questions such as these:
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How do human activities affect climate change?
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Why is climate change accelerating?
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Why is carbon important?
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What causes air pollution?
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What is the greenhouse effect?
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How is climate change affecting the oceans?
Milestone 3: How can we use visual data to explain and promote the actions needed to
reverse climate change?
Students determine needed actions and create infographics to explain and promote those actions
to a targeted audience.
Estimated Duration
5–7 days
Assessment(s)
Draft infographic (team)
Final infographic (team)
Exit ticket (individual)
Key Student Question
How can we use visual data to explain and promote the actions needed to reverse climate
change?
Activities
Description
Introduce teams to
the work of Project
Drawdown
Invite students to browse the nine sectors identified by Project
Drawdown and identify the top three sectors they are most interested
in studying further.
Consider having students look at examples of infographics about
Help students
develop background climate change such as these:
knowledge about
how infographics
can be used to
effectively
communicate a
message.
Support students in
identifying an
appropriate
audience for their
infographic and
designing with that
audience in mind.
Facilitate peer
critique.
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Climate Central
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The Climate Reality Project
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Climate Time Machine, NASA
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Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit
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Imperial College London
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Visme
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Visually
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How can we create an infographic that communicates a clear
and compelling explanation of what needs to be done in this
sector and what will happen if those actions are not taken?
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How can we use data visualization and the design of our
infographic to make information such as the cost and the
impact of this solution relatable to our audience?
Review the project rubric with students, and have teams use the rubric
to self-assess their work before sharing it with classmates for peer
critique.
Milestone 4: How can we inform and inspire others in our community to take the needed
steps to address climate change?
Students present infographics at a community event to promote climate action.
Estimated Duration
2–3 days
Assessment(s)
Presentation to community members (team)
Key Student Question
How can we inform and inspire others in our community to take the needed steps to address
climate change?
Activities
Description
Support teams as
they present their
infographics to
their target
audience.
Help students coordinate as they make arrangements to present their
work to their intended audiences; for example, teams who plan to share
their infographics with policy makers may have greater success hosting
a single event where the local representative(s) can join them via video
conference for the presentation of multiple infographics.
Help students plan,
rehearse, and
prepare to present
their infographics
Support students as they fill out the presentation plan to organize their
goals and plans for presenting their work to the audience.
Facilitate the question-and-answer period as well as the audience
feedback process at the end of the event.
to their target
audience.
Engage students in
a final reflection
and selfassessment.
Encourage students to look inward, backward, and forward as they use
this Taxonomy of Reflection (Based on Bloom’s model) to reflect on
their learnings to inform future projects and classwork.
Resources
Project Files
PBLWorks_Climate_ The Change We Need Project Information Sheet.docx
PBLWorks_Climate_ The Change We Need Rubric.docx
Climate: The Change We Need: Project Information Sheet Google Doc
Climate: The Change We Need: Rubric Google Doc
Real World Example:
Rising temperatures are fueling environmental degradation, natural disasters, weather extremes,
food and water insecurity, economic disruption, conflict, and terrorism. Sea levels are rising, the
Arctic is melting, coral reefs are dying, oceans are acidifying, and forests are burning. All of
these are the current examples of climate crisis.
Reference:
Adapted from Project Library https://my.pblworks.org/