Climate Project Course Guide
CLIMATE PROJECT COURSE GUIDENote: Maybe you’ve heard of (or used) the existing Climate Project—Extension course. Based on feedback and internal review, we’ve done a complete overhaul and essentially built this course from the ground up. Check out this preliminary Course Guide to see what Climate Project has to offer.ContentsClimate Project Course Overview.......................................................................................................................2Course Objectives................................................................................................................................................2Alignment to Standards........................................................................................................................................3Course Framework .............................................................................................................................................3Approaches to Instruction ..................................................................................................................................4
2Course GuideClimate Project Course OverviewClimate change presents some of the biggest challenges humanity has ever had to face. However, history has shown that we can solve hard problems. Addressing climate change requires urgent action, and comprehensive climate education is key to equipping young people with the information and skills to be the next generation of change-makers. Climate Project is a course focused on building student understanding and optimism about their role in addressing the climate crisis. It aims to foster a range of skills including research, claim testing, digital literacy, and writing—skills that are essential not only to the discussion of climate change, but can be carried by students to other subjects and their broader lives. Activating skills from social studies, civics, and other disciplines, they’ll see that climate change is not just a problem for scientists—creating the solutions to meet this challenge will require political, cultural, and economic understanding. Climate Project guides students to actively address how we know climate change is real and why it’s such a difficult problem to tackle. Students learn about the impacts of climate change and explore the adaptation and mitigation solutions needed to create a plan to address climate change effectively and equitably. Integrating this knowledge with real-world application, the course presents multiple opportunities for students to carry out their choice of focused action. Teachers can pick from projects of varying topics, outputs, and time requirements, allowing them to select an action based on student interest, classroom logistics, and context.Climate Project encourages a perspective of impatient optimism. By equipping students with a deep understanding of climate change, critical skills, and personal agency, students are positioned to be informed drivers of climate solutions. Like all OER Project courses, Climate Project includes comprehensive teacher support, community engagement, and professional development opportunities to help teachers quickly get up to speed so they’re ready to tackle this urgent challenge. Course ObjectivesBy the end of this course, students will be able to: 1. Understand that climate change is a complex problem, shaped by human actions, that requires a variety of approaches centered on both adaptation and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.2. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on various human and natural systems.3. Engage in meaningful inquiry by analyzing and critiquing various sources from multiple perspectives to gain a deeper understanding of climate change. 4. Create and support evidence-based arguments to communicate conclusions through individual or shared writing. 5. Apply social studies disciplinary literacies including history, geography, government, and career readiness to understand and evaluate climate change problems and solutions.
3Course GuideAlignment to StandardsTwenty-seven US states plus the District of Columbia recognize human-caused climate change in their science standards. Of those, 20 states have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). While not a science course, Climate Project has numerous materials that will directly support NGSS standards. Forty states and the District of Columbia have integrated environmental issues into social studies standards, focusing broadly on the interactions between humans and their environment. Seventeen states have social studies standards that explicitly address climate change. The College, Career, and Civic Life Framework (C3 Framework) is designed to equip young people with the critical-thinking tools needed for inquiry, communication, and informed action. Click here to see Climate Project’s alignment with the C3 Framework.In 2020, New Jersey became the first state to include climate change in its standards across content areas in grades K–12. Click here to read New Jersey’s climate change standards.Five states (Arizona, California, Georgia, New York, and Virginia) require Civics Seals for graduation. Unit 5 of Climate Project offers multiple pathways for students to demonstrate a high level of proficiency in civic knowledge and engagement and therefore help meet these requirements.Course Framework Each Climate Project unit presents students with resources and opportunities to unpack climate change—from the economic forces that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions to the solutions that exist to mitigate damage and opportunities for further action. Here’s a little about what each unit covers. (For more detailed information, follow the links below to our unit guides.)Unit 1: Introduction to Climate Change Driving Question: How can you effectively evaluate information around climate change to more fully understand the causes, impacts, and most powerful ways to address it? Unit 2: The Impacts of Climate Change Driving Question: What are the impacts of climate change and how are these impacts affecting natural and human systems around the world? Unit 3: Adaptation and Innovation Driving Question: How can we leverage innovation and targeted action to effectively and equitably respond to climate change? Unit 4 Solutions to DecarbonizationDriving Question: What are the primary challenges of and key solutions to decarbonization and how can we effectively support these solutions both now and in the future?Unit 5 Taking ActionDriving Question: How can you take action to respond to climate change?Note: This unit has several options for students to learn about and create civic action projects, options such as writing a letter in support of a government policy or exploring careers that work toward climate solutions.
4Course GuideApproaches to Instruction Climate Project is a semester-long course that offers a clear and concise narrative through all its materials. This narrative works in tandem with the modular nature of the lessons and units, which allows teachers to quickly identify the materials that are best aligned to their instructional goals and time available. As a teacher, you don’t have to be an expert in climate change to teach Climate Project. Rooted in student inquiry, research, and critical thinking, the course has teachers take the role of “lead learner” as they facilitate student learning. Climate Project’s comprehensive lesson guides provide step-by-step directions, sample answers, vocabulary, and additional resources to support instruction. OER Project’s Reading, Writing, and Differentiating Instruction Guides offer detailed support to get you started on the right foot.OER Project offers free online and live professional development opportunities aligned to the curricula so teachers can get up to speed quickly, and then continue their development throughout the school year. The OER Project Online Teacher Community is active and open, bringing together the collective wisdom and support of thousands of helpful fellow educators.