Unit 4 Guide
Unit 4 Guide
2Unit 4: DecarbonizationThis unit of Climate Project asks students to explore the Grand Challenges—the key economic sectors driving carbon emissions. They will investigate these challenges, evaluate the most promising solutions for reducing greenhouse gases, and assess the significance of decarbonization goals at local, national, and global levels. Through this exploration, students will consider how our response to climate change is likely to shape the future.
Unit Learning Objectives1.Understand the primary sources of carbon emissions.2.Identify and assess the solutions most important to reducing emissions.3.Understand the role of global, national, and local policy in reducing emissions. 4.Evaluate the potential future impact of climate change on areas such as health, food, and transportation.For individual lesson learning objectives, please review the Lesson Teaching Guides.
Big Questions In this unit, students will consider the Unit Problem: What are the challenges of and solutions to decarbonization?To help them answer the Unit Problem, they will also consider the following questions in each lesson:1.What are the Grand Challenges?2.How can we reduce emissions?3.How should we implement decarbonization strategies?4.How will climate change shape our future?
Lessons Overview As students move through the lessons of Unit 4, they will use the framework of the Grand Challenges to think about decarbonization solutions and challenges.•Lesson 1: The Grand Challenges—Students explore each of the Grand Challenges and learn how they are connected and the obstacles that make decarbonizing these areas so challenging.•Lesson 2: Decarbonization Solutions—Students examine the most promising decarbonization solutions to understand how we can maximize their impact and what we can do to get them into widespread use.•Lesson 3: Implementing Decarbonization Strategies —Students discover how we can move from goals to action through government policy at local, national, and international levels.•Lesson 5: A Climate Future—Students investigate how a future with climate change might look based on our current path, and what can be done to shape the future we want to see.Follow the links above to explore each lesson in this unit. Look for this symbol to find the lesson guides, which provide teacher guidance, including sample answers.
6Teaching Tips
OpenersYou’ll find quick opener activities like these at the start of each lesson. They’ll help students preview the upcoming material and engage their prior knowledge. Although we’ve written them to align with the content of each lesson, feel free to swap in openers/do-nows/bell ringers that you already use! Openers in Unit 4:•Lesson 4.1 Opener: Emissions Image Sort•Lesson 4.2 Opener: Solutions Sort•Lesson 4.3 Opener: Implementing Climate Solutions•Lesson 4.4 Opener: Action Levels Sort•Lesson 4.5 Opener: Climate Careers ExplorationFor more information, check out Openers & Closers Quick Tips.
InfographicsWe use infographics with intention throughout the course to teach key concepts that we want students to remember as they move through the units. Infographics help students engage in different forms of media literacy, engage critical thinking skills, and encourage students to think flexibly and creatively. This content type uses a mix of data, images, and explanatory text to help boost reading comprehension and embed information in memory. As an added benefit, the graphics are engaging and fun and, compared to blocks of text, can help lessen cognitive load. Infographics in Unit 4:•Lesson 4.1 Infographic: The Grand Challenges•Lesson 4.2 Infographic: Vacuum the Sky -Direct Air CaptureFor more information, check out the Infographics Guide.
ReadingsOER Project includes primary sources and articles written by a diverse range of scholars and OER Project staff. Some of the reading involved in OER Project courses can be challenging, but it is vital for engaging with the course content. All texts in the course—other than those that are part of Investigations or DBQs or are primary source materials—have been Lexile leveled, and each article has three or four versions to accommodate students of all reading levels. (Lexile levels coming soon in Climate Project!)OER Project provides Guiding Questions alongside each reading. These questions encourage students to approach the text at three levels—first by skimming the text, next by reading to answer Key Idea questions, and finally by evaluating the text through questions that encourage connection and synthesis. Readings in Unit 4:•Lesson 4.1 Article: Grand Challenge Overview•Lesson 4.2 Article: Solutions to the Grand Challenges•Lesson 4.3 Article: Decarbonization Goals•Lesson 4.4 Article: A Climate Future: Health•Lesson 4.4 Article: A Climate Future: Food Systems•Lesson 4.4 Article: A Climate Future: TransportationFor more information, check out the Reading Guide.
VideosVideos in Unit 4:•Lesson 4.1 Video: Introduction to the Grand Challenges•Lesson 4.2 Video: Crash Course -Can We Make Electricity Without Fossil Fuels? For more information, see our Video Guide.We use videos to vary the content delivery and provide a visually engaging approach to the course material. Students are often excited to learn that they’ll be watching a video in class. However, as you likely know, video-watching is a skill, just like reading an article. Here are a couple of quick strategies to get you started:•We highly recommend that students read the video description and Guiding Questions first—this serves as a prereadto prepare them. You can also have them open and skim the video transcript. We’ve provided you with time stamps and sample answers, which students will not see. •Most Climate Project videos are 10-13 minutes. We recommend chunking the videos. The easiest way to do this is to use the Key Ideas feature, which is built in to the video viewer. When this is turned on, the video will automatically pause at the times and corresponding Guiding Questions, providing great opportunity for discussion or for students to record their answers for a later discussion. •If you have enough time, you can always play the video twice: the first time without pausing so students can watch all the way through, the second time pausing at the Key Ideas.
ActivitiesLessons contain a variety of activity types all of which are meant maximize student engagement and learning.Activities are an important part of OER Project lessons, and serve to build student understanding. While articles and videos help students learn key content objectives, activities provide opportunities for them to show their understanding in a variety of ways, often through informal writing. Finally, activities provide opportunities for student collaboration through group work and presentations, and deeper engagement through activities like simulations and debates, which get students moving and “doing” history. For all activities in OER Project—except for openers and closers—teachers can find directions and sample answers in the accompanying lesson guides. Some activity types appear in multiple units. This intentional repetition offers students and teachers consistent practice in a variety of skills.
ClosersYou’ll find closer activities at the end of all lessons—they’re meant to give students the opportunity to reflect and show their understanding. While we’ve written them to align with the content of each lesson, feel free to swap in exit tickets or other checks for understanding. Closers in Unit 4:•Lesson 4.1 Closer: Personal Emissions•Lesson 4.2 Closer: Solutions Claim Writing•Lesson 4.3 Closer: Climate Policy News•Lesson 4.4 Closer: A Climate FutureFor more information, check out Openers & Closers Quick Tips.
Unit 4 DBQ Assessment: •4.2.7 Climate Solutions•4.5.5 DecarbonizationClimate Project embeds assessments throughout the course—all activities, including openers and closers, are developed to help both students and teachers gain insight into their understanding. All articles, videos, data explorations, and infographics contain guiding questions, which can be done as a class or individually to assess understanding. We encourage the use of formative assessment (or, as we find it helpful to think about it, informative assessment—assessment that informs) as opposed to the exclusive use of summative assessment. More-formal writing assessments are offered at the end of each unit in the form of a document-based question (DBQ). Each DBQ asks students to analyze documents to respond to the driving question of the unit. The Climate Project Writing Rubric provides support to illuminate writing criteria and help you evaluate student writing.Assessments