Debate Lesson Plan: Environmental Justice
Lesson Plan
3 hours 30 minutesGrades9, 10, 11, 12Science, English Language Arts
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Written by Emily Pepitone
About this lesson
Students develop tiered questions and discuss the sugar industry’s impacts in a rhetorical analysis seminar.
Inquire: Students explore how agricultural practices can affect soil health and the impact this has on our planet.
Investigate: Students work in groups to research the varying impacts of the sugarcane industry on Maui and create two sets of leveled questions.
Inspire: Students engage in an interactive seminar and reflect on their participation and experience.
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Suggestions
- This lesson aligns with Hawai’i’s Nā Hopena A‘o HĀ-BREATH Framework.
- The Inquire, Investigate, and Inspire sections can each be done in separate class periods or days. Alternatively, this lesson can be spread out over several days.
- This lesson can be used to teach questioning skills and techniques, or to develop social and listening skills.
- This lesson should be taught in the middle or later in the school year after students have established a level of comfort together in class.
- Students explore social justice, climate justice, soil health, human health, water health, and Hawaiian history.
- The Investigate and Inspire sections should be done on different days and can each be extended into multiple days.
- Kiss the Ground is presented in an engaging format, and the celebrity appearances from Woody Harrelson and Ian Somerhalder will appeal to young viewers.
- Unlike some climate documentaries, this film is presented with a strong message of hope, and it highlights many people working to take action for the climate in their communities.
Prerequisites
- Educators can order a DVD of Kiss the Ground or stream the 45-minute film cut available here (teachers must fill out a form with their email address and school name). If you are choosing to order a copy of the DVD, please do so in advance; if you decide to watch the 45-minute cut of the film, you will receive a link immediately.
- Kiss the Ground has closed captioning and subtitles offered in 17 languages to assist students.
- Students should have some familiarity with the history and impact of the sugar cane industry.
Differentiation
- Allow for uncomfortable silence and let the students lead the discussion.
- A great tool to track participation is Equity Maps (only available on iPads).
- Teachers may wish to assign Making Space for Rewilding as a homework assignment to complete the lesson.
- Teacher could pause Kiss the Ground at regular intervals to allow students to participate in multiple 2-minute downloads if the length of the movie proves challenging for student focus.
- For extension, some students may wish to conduct further research prior to the discussion in order to find more challenging resources.
From the scientist review
This lesson provides scientific evidence on the impacts of the sugarcane industry on soil biodiversity and environmental health and has students develop tactics to address these impacts on the local communities. The lesson is spot on, well-sourced and is recommended for classroom use.
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About the teacher writer
Emily Pepitone
AP Language, 11th Grade English Teacher
Emily Pepitone holds a Master's in education from Moreland University. They have 6 years of experience teaching AP Language, Humanities, Creative Writing, English across grades 7-8-9-10-11-12.
