Some Academic Standards which Relate to Climate Change Curriculum: A Few Examples

First, here is a link to the California State Standards, which are common core standards: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/ There is also an iPhone app: search California Content Standards.

I found some of these by searching through the app.

ELA:

9th&10th Grade:

SL.9-10.2 Speaking and Listening; Comprehension and Collaboration: Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (eg, visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.

SL.9-10.3 Speaking and Listening; Comprehension and Collaboration: Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning and exaggerated or distorted evidence.

Language: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases…

Social Studies: 

8.12 a. Trace patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, use of natural resources, markets, and trade and locate such development on a map.

10.3 World History, Culture, and Geography: The Modern World

Students analyze the effects of the Industrial Revolution in England, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States.

Science: 

ES.6 Energy in the Earth System.

This whole section, understanding what climate is versus weather…

especially d. Students know how computer models are used to predict the effects of the increase in greenhouse gases on climate for the planet as a whole and for specific reasons.

7.4 Earth and Life History (Earth Science) Evidence from rocks allows us to understand the evolution of life on Earth.

g. Students know how to explain significant developments and extinctions of plant and animal life on the geological time scale.

ES.4 Energy in the Earth System: Energy enters the Earth system primarily as solar radiation and escapes as heat. (much more under this standard)

ES.8 Structure and Composition of the Atmosphere

Life has changed Earth’s atmosphere, and changes in the atmosphere affect conditions for life. As a basis for understanding this concept:

b. Students know how the composition of Earth’s atmosphere has evolved over geologic time and know the effect of outgassing, the variations of carbon dioxide concentration, and the origin of atmospheric oxygen.

Mathematics:

It helps to search for “Applications”

Algebra One:

F-IF.4 Functions; Interpreting Functions. Interpret functions that arise in applications in terms of the context. 

For a function that models a relationship between two quantities, interpret key features of the graphs and tables in terms of the quantities, and sketch graphs showing key features given a verbal description of their relationship.

F-LE.3 (not sure of grade level) Functions; Linear, Quadratic, and Exponential Models

Construct and compare linear, quadratic, and exponential models and solve problems

Observe using graphs and tables that a quantity increasing exponentially eventually exceeds a quantity increasing linearly, quadratically, or (more generally) a polynomial function.

6.EE.9 Expressions and Equations Represent and analyze quantitative relationships between dependent and independent variables.

Use variables to represent two quantities in a real-world problem that change in relationship to one another…Analyze the relationship between the dependent and independent variables using graphs and tables, and relate these to the equation.

Health Education Standards:

9-12 Grade:

1.10.P Explain how public health policies and government regulations influence health promotion and disease prevention.

1.11.P Examine ways to prevent and manage asthma.

1.12.P Identify global environmental issues.

1.13.P Describe the impact of air and water pollution on health.

1.14.P Identify ways to reduce pollution and harmful health effects (e.g., by using alternative methods of transportation).

Climate Change Resources for Teachers (for Workshop 10/10/15): 

Just a smattering of what’s out there…

http://www.coolcalifornia.org/article/climate-change-curriculum , provided by the California Air Resources board, provides many links for lesson plans and educator tools. This is the link for the classroom activities page, which is a different page from the curriculum page. http://www.coolcalifornia.org/article/getting-kids-involved

https://acespace.org Alliance for Climate Education; they provide an assembly and other curriculum resources. Apparently, they are already partnered with SFUSD.

http://ncse.com/climate/teaching This is the Website of the “National Center for Science Education: Defending the Teaching of Evolution & Climate Science”.

They provide detailed materials on best practices to teach Climate Change to students, including addressing doubt and denial, and making it relevant.

http://www.climatechangeeducation.org “Web Portal to: K-12 School Lesson Plans, Curriculum and Materials” This site catalogs  lesson plans and resources for all the major academic subjects and all grade levels.

http://climatekids.nasa.gov This website is from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The portal itself is very kid-friendly and colorful, with games and animations. The page for teachers, climatekids.nasa.gov/menu/teach/ provides many helpful links, including a list of content that aligns with Next Generation Science Standards. I also like this link because the material is from the government; I think people trust NASA as a source.

www.cooltheearth.org “Cool The Earth is a free, ready-to-run climate change assembly program that educates K-8 students and their families about climate change and inspires them to take simple actions to reduce their carbon emissions.”  Their website also lists great resources for teachers, parents, and students. They are based in Marin County, CA.

http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication/ The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication shares research on what people know, think, and feel about climate change, and effective ways to communicate about it. They list a report specifically about “American Teens’ Knowledge of Climate Change” . I really like their report on “Global Warming’s Six Americas—six unique audiences segments that view and respond to the issue in distinct ways”. They list specific ways to address each audience. They provide an online quiz to find out which group you fall in. They also provide an empowering page of action suggestions, “What Can I Do?”.

Local (San Francisco Bay Area):

http://www.ecocenterhhp.org The Eco-Center at Heron’s Head Park, located in Bayview Hunters Point held this Science Saturday event in September: “Understanding Climate Change: Global Causes, Local Solutions”. Rumor has it that they will soon be providing climate change lessons for teachers at their school site; they will let me know if and when this develops and I can pass that along to you. Or you can email pia@bay.org with inquiries.

The San Francisco Public Library of course! I met this children’s librarian at Bernal Heights Branch, who is very interested in green literature and activities. Most of the books I brought today were from this branch. She is willing to support your planning. paula.heaney@sfpl.org, 415-355-5663. I have several flyers for today from the “Green Teen Books” collection of the SFPL.

I played a video today from http://rosefdn.org/video/leadership-academy The Climate Justice Youth Leadership Academy, sponsored by the Rose Foundation. A similar training is provided by San Francisco based Greenaction: http://greenaction.org

San Francisco Unified School District has some interesting resources.http://greenthenextgen.org/about/ I’m especially intrigued by the listing of grants available. The person they list as being the Eco-literacy specialist has moved to Denver this year, so I’m not sure what’s happening on this front right now.

Activism:

So many groups, here are a few:

Climate Reality Project https://www.climaterealityproject.org

350.org, 350bayarea.org

http://www.norcalclimatemob.net