How much do your students know about climate change – what is it causing, what are its consequences and what can we do to stop it?
Thousands of leaders, diplomats and activists are now gathering around COP26, the annual international climate summit to set new greenhouse gas reduction targets. It is considered a crucial moment in the fight against climate change: a new one United Nations report found that some devastating effects of global warming are now inevitable, but there is still a short window of time to keep things from getting worse.
Young people in particular are feeling the physical and emotional effects of a warming planet. In response to our recently Question about student opinion teenagers shared their experiences with us about extreme weather exacerbated by climate change deadly heat waves in Washington, devastating cyclones in North Carolina and even Smoke from the California forest fires in Vermont. They also feel the fear of a future that could be even worse: “How long do I have before the earth becomes uninhabitable? I ask myself that every day, ”a student wrote.
Over the years we’ve created dozens of resources to help young people learn about climate change with New York Times articles, interactive quizzes, graphs, movies, and more. To celebrate this moment, we’re gathering nearly 50 of them in one place along with selected current Times reports and opinion pieces on the subject.
To get you started, we’ve highlighted some of these resources and offered ideas for using them in your classroom. Whether it’s a short video about a teenage climate activist, a math problem on electric vehicles, or a prompt to write about the carbon footprint of their diet, we hope these activities get your students to think and talk about climate change and inspire them, to make a difference.
How do you teach about the climate crisis, its consequences and its solutions? Let us know in the comments.
Ideas for Teaching About Climate Change with The New York Times
1. Understand climate change (and what we can do about it) with a digital children’s book.
The Times has published thousands of stories about climate change over the years, but many of them can be dense and difficult for young people to understand. Use that Instructions for children to help your students learn the basics of the climate crisis and understand the choices that can lead us into a bad or a better future. We have a associated lesson plan help.
2. Evaluate climate decisions with an interactive quiz.
Take advantage of our Hint and miracle protocol to help students analyze New York Times graphs on climate change. In 2019 we rounded up 24 graphics on topics such as melting ice, rising CO2 emissions and the effects of global warming on humans. You can find our latest graphs in our summary below or by searching for “climate change” in ours What is happening in this diagram? Archive.
4. Show a short film about the impact of the climate crisis on a vulnerable community.
As world leaders and activists gather at COP26 this week, they will set new emissions reduction targets to keep the average global temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, the threshold above which the dangers of global warming are growing immensely. But what does it take to get there? In the selection, students take part in a puzzle activity to explore seven solutions to climate change, from renewable energy and electric vehicles to conservation, carbon capture and more.
6. Invite students to share their thoughts, opinions, and concerns using writing prompts.
“How can you not be afraid of climate change? Can’t you feel grief every time you watch news about the state of the planet? I know I do, “wrote one student in response to our request to write:”Are you afraid of the climate?”
What do your students say about climate change? You can comment on this and other questions Ban plastic bags, the Environmental impact of air travel and more. Find them all in our list of writing prompts below.
7. Apply a mathematical concept to a real climate problem: gas or electric cars?
In this lesson, use the familiar formula y = mx + b to help students think through the economic and environmental costs and benefits of electric vehicles. Does “going green” also mean saving some “wallet green”?
8. Learn more about climate activism with a video.
What power do ordinary people around the world have to make a difference in the climate crisis? Invite students to watch this eight-minute opinion video about the young climate activist Greta Thunberg. Then they can share what gives them hope in the fight against climate change in our relatives Movie club.
Students can find out more about Ms. Thunberg and her weekly climate protest here Lesson plan from 2019.
Resources for teaching about climate change from The Learning Network and The New York Times
Here is a collection of selected resources from the Learning Network and the New York Times for teaching and learning about climate change. The Learning Network has lesson plans, writing prompts, movies, graphics, and more. And NYTimes.com has Q&A guides and up-to-date reporting and opinion pieces.
