Climate Crisis: Science, Projects, Mitigation & Adaptation

Slides and lessons from a partnership between Springfield Renaissance (Grade 8, 2022) and Mass Audubon.
Funded by the Massachusetts Culture Council STARS Residency program.

Climate Science Unit

Climate Crisis Unit Matrix

Climate System Science

Sensory Observation: Using Sensory Data in Writing to Convey Experience. Lesson 1 | Slides 1
The Greenhouse Effect: Modeling The Greenhouse Effect on Venus and Earth. Lesson 2 | Slides 2
The Carbon Cycle: Modelling the Earth's Carbon Cycle. Lesson 3 | Slides 3
Weather vs. Climate: Differentiating Weather and Climate. Lesson 4 | Slides 4
Human Made Climate Change: How humans are changing Earth's Carbon Cycle. Lesson 5 | Slides 5
Climate Change is System Change: How changes in the Carbon Cycle change the global climat system. Lesson 6 | Slides 6
Content Review: Reviewing material from Climate Science lessons for Unit Test I. Lesson 7 | Slides 7

Climate Change Projections

Climate Model Projections: Describing Earth System Impacts from the Climate Crisis. Lesson 8 | Slides 8
Unit Test: Summative Assessment of Sciene Content Lesson 9 | Slides 9
Local Climate Projections: Identifying Local Environmental Impacts of Climate Crisis Lesson 10 | Slides 10
Neighborhood Changes: Identify native plants and animals from trip photos. Any population changes? Lesson 11 | Slides 11
Wildlife Population Change: How climate change affects animal populations in Massachusetts. Lesson 12 | Slides 12

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation

Global & National Mitigation: mitigation actions and strategy sets to reduce GHGs. Lesson 13 | Slides 13
Regional & Local Mitigation: Strategies for Lowering GHG Levels Lesson 14 | Slides 14

Climate Change Adaptation

Adapting to a Changing Climate: Strategies for Increasing Climate Resilience Lesson 15 | Slides 15
What is Adaptation? Why do we need to focus both on mitigation and adaptation now? Slides
Neighborhood Changes: Walking tour to identify resilience features and adaptation needs. Tour Plan | Slides
Adaptation for Resilience: What is being done and needs to be done here in Springfield? Slides
Impact, Vulnerability and Adaptation: Data Set identification game. Slides
Climate Impacts and Risks to People: What will happen to people if we don't mitigate the crisis? Slides
Chain of Climate Project: Inputs, Impacts, Risks, Adaptations and Implementation Challenges. Slides

Learning Targets List

The targets covered by the Science section of our Climate unit (Carbon Cycle, Projections, Mitigation & Adaptation) below are LT 2, LT 5, LT 6 & LT 7.

LT 2: Climate Science

Understanding the Carbon Cycle, and the difference between Weather and Climate.

LT 5: Projections

Understanding what changes are happening, likely or possible on a global and regional scale, depending on mitigation levels.

LT 6: Mitigation

Using the bathtub model to apply what we know about natural and human systems to identify ways to slow down climate change.

LT 7.1: Adaptation

Understanding how climate impacts are affecting and will impact vulnerable populations. Finding steps to help survive, the challenges to taking those steps.

Science Materials

At left are slides and lesson plans, with occasional supplemental materials linked both, for about 20 lessons on climate science that kicked off our 2022-23 unit with 8th graders, covering the Carbon Cycle, climate projections, mitigation strategies and adaptation strategies.

We balanced the science work with trips to Abbey Brook Park, a local preserve where students could connect to the natural world and begin to consider human impacts and projections.

Partway through we added interactions with climate justice partners from Puerto Rico, and then youth climate activists from the Massachusetts Youth Climate Coalition and our local Youth Climate Action Now.

Questions?

Contact bmoreinis@springfieldrenaissance.org to get more information on the project

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