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Climate and Human History

For millennia, Earth’s climate controlled humanity's existence. Eventually the human ability to innovate switched the dynamic and caused significant changes to our planet. Explore the complex and interconnected history of our species and our environment in these resources.

How Humans Adapted to Climate Change

In these lessons, students will practice causation and data-literacy skills to discover how humans adapted to their environment, explore the impact of innovation on the Earth’s climate, and use inquiry skills to predict the future of our relationship with the planet.

Human Adaptation and Impacts
Learn about the climate’s influence on how early humans adapted to challenging environments, leading to migration, cities, and agriculture.
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Innovation and a Changing Climate
Explore how the discovery and adoption of new technologies impacted the human-climate relationship and caused the climate to change.
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Envisioning a Climate Future
Discover the choices that will determine the future of our relationship to the climate, and learn how to remain optimistic in the face of challenges.
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More on the Human-Climate Relationship

There’s a lot of ground to cover when it comes to our relationship with the Earth (about 250,000 years of history)! Extend or modify your lesson plans with these teacher-recommended resources.

Explore OER Project Lesson Plans

The lessons in OER Project courses build curious, creative, and connected students. Our free, online resources are designed to support teachers and power amazing classrooms. Explore more of our lesson plans on a variety of social studies topics!

Cold War
We call it the Cold War, but was it HOT? This global conflict sparked full-scale wars, espionage, space races, revolts, and the threat of nuclear holocaust. In these lessons, students investigate just how hot the cold war got.
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The Skill of Sourcing
Source like a historian! Activities, tools, instructional supports, and primary source collections reinforce and give your students plenty of practice with this vital skill.
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Graphic History
Reading comics is serious work! OER Project’s graphic biographies are small stories that challenge big historical narratives. Students develop new literacy skills as they learn to decode these graphic histories.
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  • Ship sailing on a historical map
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