This page provides access to six reputable and well-designed curricula (or units of study) about climate change. All of the curricula listed below meet the following requirements:

• They are available online and free of charge
• They have been developed by leading science and education organizations
• The primary focus is climate change
• They are complete. No additional resources are required to teach them
• They are interdisciplinary, well organized, pedagogically sound and clearly connect to national high school learning standards

The following curricula are listed in order of size, from shortest (four lessons) to longest (23 lessons). These sizes should be used only as guidelines, as any of them may be adapted for more or less classroom time. Click on a link to jump to the corresponding curriculum description. For more about standards, click here.

PBS “NOW” lesson plans on global warming

GlobalWarming101.com’s Teacher Curriculum

Climate Literacy Network - Curricula Database

Climate Change: Connections and Solutions.Two-Week Unit for High School

WWF’s Climate Curriculum for Teachers: Your Climate, Your Future

An Inconvenient Truth in the Classroom

CSI: Climate Status Investigations

This image signifies that the curriculum has been reviewed and recommended by Dr. Alec Bozdin, Associate Professor in the Teaching, Learning, & Technology program in the Department of Education & Human Services at Lehigh University. Dr. Bozdin is also a core faculty member of the Lehigh Environmental Initiative (EI) and a graduate faculty member of the Lehigh Learning Sciences and Technology doctoral program.

PBS "NOW" lesson plans on global warming

OVERVIEW:
Author: NOW, an Emmy-winning weekly newsmagazine program produced by PBS
Size: Four or five 50-minute class periods. (Extension options are also provided.)
Content: This curriculum teaches about the science of global warming, effects upon the natural environment and human society, and different perspectives held on the issue
Features and notes: Lessons employ NOW’s documentary videos

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GlobalWarming101.com’s Teacher Curriculum

OVERVIEW:

Author: The Will Steger Foundation, whose programs foster international leadership and cooperation through environmental education and policy

Size: Six lessons

Content: The curriculum poses the following questions: What is global warming? What effects does it have? How can it be prevented?

Features and notes: Has received endorsements from educational bodies, including the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) and the National Education Association (NEA). The World Wildlife Fund curriculum (see below) also draws upon a lot of this material, so there is a fair degree of crossover between the two

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Climate Literacy Network - Curricula Database

OVERVIEW:

Author: The Climate Literacy Network includes an online catalog of resources that is reviewed and annotated by scientists and educators.

Content: Links to numerous curricula.

Features and notes: CLN also has a robust Professional Development section with downloadable resources.

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Climate Change: Connections and Solutions. Two-Week Unit for High School 

OVERVIEW:

Author: Developed by Facing the Future and funded by Hewlett-Packard. Facing the Future develops academic resources covering a range of global issues

Size: Nine lessons designed for a two-week period. Each week of the unit can stand alone, if desired

Content: The lessons within this unit begin with a focus on the scientific foundations of climate change and then lead into its social, economic and environmental ramifications Features and notes: To download this curriculum, click here and scroll down to “Climate Change: Connections and Solutions, Grades 9-12.” You will have to enter your email address to complete the download process

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WWF’s Climate Curriculum for Teachers: Your Climate, Your Future

OVERVIEW:

Author: The World Wildlife Fund, a leading conservation organization with close to five million members worldwide Size: Fifteen lessons, some of which require more than one class period

Content: The WWF has drawn upon others’ lessons and resources and combined them with their own to develop a climate change curriculum. It is organized sequentially into three sections: “What is climate change?” “How does it affect us?” and “What can we do about it?”

Features and notes: Draws upon a lot of the material from the GlobalWarming101.com curriculum (see above), so there is crossover between the two
 

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An Inconvenient Truth in the Classroom

OVERVIEW: Author: The National Wildlife Federation’s Climate Classroom initiative, which seeks to develop projects and curricula focusing on the causes of and remedies for global warming

Size: 14-19 hours, including many options for extension

Content: This curriculum uses the film An Inconvenient Truth as its anchor and is designed to encourage students to analyze the science of global warming as well as its relevance to current events and their daily lives

Features and notes: Includes a thorough and comprehensive guide for action, comprised of large and small projects students may undertake to counteract the effects of global warming

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CSI: Climate Status Investigations

OVERVIEW: Authors: The Keystone Center, which seeks to solve challenging environmental, energy, and public health problems, in conjunction with the Department of Education and the National Energy Technology Laboratory

Size: Twenty-three lessons (many involving multiple class periods) and five options for extension

Content: Encourages students to develop an understanding of the causes of climate change, see the issue from multiple perspectives and devise possible solutions

Features and notes: This curriculum uses a study of fictional countries as one of the lenses through which to observe the ways climate change affects different societies About National High School Learning Standards: Because these curricula are accessible to all teachers, they do not reference any particular state’s learning standards. Rather, they all cite national learning standards.

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More About Standards

These standards have been voluntarily prepared by various organizations, such as the National Academies of Science or the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. National standards are helpful in various ways, from informing the creation of some states’ standards, to explaining the specific subjects being covered in the climate change curricula listed above. If a teacher in California, for example, were to adopt one of the above curricula, they would have to see how the national standards cited within that curriculum compared to their own states’ standards, and proceed accordingly. For listings of national and state content standards, or to read about which national and state standards the ACE presentation addresses, click here.

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