Students should have a basic understanding of climate change prior to beginning this course.
Students will need a computer and Internet connection to use the interactive features.
Differentiation
This course provides two levels of learning. Use the button in the top left of the page to toggle between "Simple" and "Advanced." The "Simple" setting is recommended for middle school students, while the "Advanced" setting is recommended for high school students.
Students can proceed through the content at their own pace, and stronger students can spend time reading and exploring any of the links to scientific papers or reports.
Due to the broad scope of the content provided in this course, it can easily be applied to economics, social studies, ELA, and science lessons.
The resource presents reports on climate-related disasters, the impact of climate change on the economy, people's livelihoods, animal speciation and extinction, flooding, drought, and other natural hazards. The datasets used are valid, and the resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Science
ESS2: Earth's Systems
HS-ESS2-2. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-2. Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
LS4: Biological Evolution
HS-LS4-4. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.
Social Studies
Economics
SS.Econ1.a.m Predict the opportunity costs of various decisions and explain why the opportunity cost might differ from person to person or in different situations. Assess how limited resources (e.g., money, land, natural resources, workers, time) impact the choices of individuals, households, communities, businesses, and countries.