This resource is a 45-minute classroom activity that introduces students to the climate change concepts of adaptation and mitigation.
Students read about the concepts and then categorize solutions as either mitigations or adaptations.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This is a great resource to foster cross-curricular connections between ELA and science.
The teacher's lesson plan contains an answer key, which facilitates implementation.
Additional Prerequisites
The educator should be familiar with the climate change concepts of adaptation and mitigation.
The teacher guide and student handout can be downloaded and used offline or printed.
Differentiation
This lesson is a good way of creating awareness about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially goals 5, 9, and 10.
Students can be encouraged to learn more about climate change adaptations through this course.
Classes can brainstorm and categorize other potential solutions to climate problems not listed on the activity sheet.
Teachers could expand on this topic using the lesson plan called Presenting a Climate Solution, where students choose one solution to research more about and share their findings with the class.
Other helpful resources include this video on potential solutions and adaptations, this collection of images depicting climate solutions, and this table of possible solutions.
Scientist Notes
This resource aims to educate students on the difference between adapting to climate change and mitigating its effects. The resources provided are quite thorough. One caveat is that not all of the information in the UNICEF Climate Change handbook is totally accurate, as it is written for young children, so scientifically there are a couple of errors where they have simplified the information. However, overall it is a good resource. This activity is recommended for teaching.
Standards
English Language Arts
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
3.RI.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
3.RI.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
4.RI.10 By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4-5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
5.RI.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Science
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
4.ESS3.2 Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.
