Art is a powerful and effective tool that has been used for thousands of years to educate, create awareness, and invoke change. Incorporating climate change art project ideas is an effective and engaging way to educate, inspire, and give students a tool that they can use to create awareness and change in those around them. Teaching climate change education through the perspectives of artists allows students to contemplate the emotional response of the artists to these complex issues as well as their own. This is why I was inspired to create the unit Art for the Earth.

Art for the Earth is a six lesson unit that features artworks created by artist and climate scientist, Jill Pelto, to teach environmental issues, student action, data collection, analysis techniques, and watercolor knowledge and skills. Art for the Earth guides students through their own localized data art creation, intended to inspire and encourage students in their abilities in creating climate awareness in their local community.

Do you want to include art in your climate change teaching experiences? Are you uncertain where to start? Keep reading to learn how I have embedded art throughout the grade 3-5 unit Art for the Earth. Not a 3-5 teacher? Keep reading! The lesson outlines below include valuable ideas and resources you can incorporate into any grade level. The following lessons can be used independently or as a complete 6 lesson unit which includes lesson plans, slides, vocabulary cards, worksheets, and more.

Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy (Art for the Earth #1)

Grades: 3rd, 4th, 5th

Subjects: Science, Earth and Space Sciences, English Language Arts, Art, Social-Emotional Learning

Resource Type: Lesson Plan

Inquire

Students discuss and evaluate artwork by Jill Pelto and learn more about her career.

Investigate

Students learn the definitions of renewable and nonrenewable energy, read Sven's Search for Clean Energy, and take notes on renewable and nonrenewable energy.

Inspire

Students write a paragraph or draw a comic to demonstrate their new knowledge.

When creating activist artworks and advocating for change, our students must have a foundational understanding of the topics they are exploring. One way to achieve this is by including both scientific information alongside the exploration of climate change artworks in lessons.  

The inquire phase of lesson one, introduces students to two of Jill Pelto’s thought-provoking artworks, Habitat Degradation: Arctic Melt and Decline in Glacier Mass Balance. Students are exposed to the idea that art can be incorporated with science, sparking discussions about the meaning and power of her work. Students then work collaboratively to analyze and reflect on their thoughts and ideas. 

In the investigate phase, students deepen their climate knowledge and practice their research skills by investigating renewable and nonrenewable energy through the teacher’s choice of a picture book or a research task. This resource choice ensures that the information is suitable and accessible for students across the 3 to 5 grade levels and for all learning abilities. 

The inspire phase provides opportunities for students to apply and connect their new scientific knowledge to Jill’s artworks. Students further reflect and consolidate their understanding by creating either a written paragraph or a hand-drawn comic to demonstrate their knowledge. 

Teaching Tips

• Exposing students to scientific content in various formats encourages engagement and involvement from all students regardless of their interests and learning abilities.

Deforestation and Habitat Destruction (Art for the Earth #2)

Grades: 3rd, 4th, 5th

Subjects: Science, Earth and Space Sciences, Art, Social-Emotional Learning

Resource Type: Lesson Plan

Inquire

Students activate background knowledge about deforestation, watch a timelapse video of deforestation, and learn the different parts of the word "deforestation."

Investigate

Students analyze and reflect upon two paintings featuring themes of deforestation.

Inspire

Students watch a video about climate activist Felix Finkbeiner and choose one of two options: learn more about Felix's inspiration Wangari Maathai or design a climate action plan related to deforestation.

Deforestation is the second topic explored in this unit, and one Jill Pelto encapsulated beautifully in her moving artworks Habitat Degradation: Deforestation and Increasing Forest Fire Activity. The inquire phase starts this lesson by demonstrating to students the severity of forest reduction through a Google Earth time lapse from 1984 to 2020. 

After students have a sound understanding of deforestation and its impacts, they begin the investigate phase using Jill’s two artworks. Students focus on their emotions tied to the images, sharing with their peers, and writing self-reflections. Analyzing and reflecting on thoughts and feelings about artworks is the perfect opportunity for peer and group discussion to deepen their knowledge, understanding, and own perspectives about topics. 

To inspire students, they are introduced to German youth activist Felix Finkbeiner. The students are then given two choices after the whole class exploration; continue to deepen their knowledge about deforestation and be inspired by the courageous Wangari Maathai and her fierce actions, or design a climate action plan individually or in groups.

Teaching Tips

• Google Earth time-lapse is an engaging tool for many climate change topics to help students visualize and understand the expanse of climate impacts.
• Allowing multiple ways for students to reflect on their learning, and begin to explore opportunities for change allows for all students to feel empowered and capable.

Plastic World (Art for the Earth #3)

Grades: 3rd, 4th, 5th

Subjects: Science, Earth and Space Sciences, Art

Resource Type: Lesson Plan

Inquire

Students complete a KWL on plastic pollution and view six images of plastic pollution around the world.

Investigate

Students watch a video on plastic pollution and discuss.

Inspire

Students analyze artwork with a partner and then choose one artwork to analyze using the art critique star.

Plastic pollution is an environmental issue that many students have first-hand experience with, but may not understand the global impacts and their ability to create awareness and change. This lesson engages students in this topic through images and a video about the issue. Students are exposed to different perspectives about the problem through viewing and participating in discussions about the responsibilities of both individuals and large-scale companies. 

Students then return to viewing and analyzing artworks, guided by the discussion cards included in the unit. Students move away from analyzing Jill’s artwork in this lesson and begin viewing different art forms, including street art and recycled sculptures. After students practice their discussion skills, they can create an art critiquing star to reflect on why and how one of the artworks inspired them.

Teaching Tips

• It’s essential to include artworks from different perspectives, communities, and cultures when using them as an educational tool. This lesson includes artwork from several different communities and cultures.

What Can YOUth Do? (Art for the Earth #4)

Grades: 3rd, 4th, 5th

Subjects: Science, Social Studies, Earth and Space Sciences, Civics, Social-Emotional Learning

Resource Type: Lesson Plan

Inquire

Students share their concerns about the environment and assess their ability to make change.

Investigate

Students either watch a video about a youth activist in Wisconsin, USA and conduct research on youth activists or listen to a read aloud of the book Old Enough to Save the Planet.

Inspire

Students choose an environmental campaign. Students create a piece of writing about the campaign, create a data collection plan, and collect data.

Are your students worried, scared, and perhaps even feeling helpless about climate change-related issues? They are not alone. Climate change is an issue that concerns many learners of all ages. It is crucial that as part of climate change education, students are guided to understand their capacity to undertake change too.

In the fourth lesson, ‘What Can YOUth do?’, students begin inquiring to themselves and their peers about how they feel about climate change and their ability to take action. Students are given the opportunity in this stage to reflect deeply on their emotions regarding this. 

Students then investigate the idea that they CAN take action to help the environment by researching youth that is taking measures to help improve our current global state. Students learn about various youth activists from around the globe and what they have done to either create awareness or directly produce a change in their communities. 

This investigation should have inspired and excited students to create their own projects. The class will need to decide on their environmental campaign to collect data about and create a Climate Awareness art project to create awareness and change in their community. 

Teaching Tips

• Two options are available in this section to ensure that students of various ages and abilities can access the information. Students can conduct their research or listen to a story about young activists.
• Incorporating various subject areas with art encourages students of varied interests to be engaged in the different areas of climate change education. 

Additional Resources

Data Review and Action Plan (Art for the Earth #5)

Grades: 3rd, 4th, 5th

Subjects: Science, Earth and Space Sciences, Math, Art

Resource Type: Lesson Plan

Inquire

Students analyze their own data from the previous lesson.

Investigate

Students create a line graph and conduct research on their topic.

Inspire

Students plan their data art project.

It is time for students to begin their climate action! Students will be required to continue to utilize their math skills in this lesson in order to analyze and graph the data they have collected. 

The lesson takes students through the inquiry of discussing their collected data with their peers with the guidance of question prompts and sentence starters featured in the included slideshow. 

Students then investigate, going through steps of creating an easily readable graph that they can then evaluate and further discuss the results with their peers. After, students research the direct environmental impacts their data-set is proposing, followed by inspiring student discussions. 

The inspiration level of students will be through the roof at this point, perfect for the next phase of their project - beginning the sketching process of their draft! My students have produced the most interesting and thought-provoking artwork ideas through the freedom to create their sketches without any other requirements. A class group creating art pieces about plastic pollution had a great variety of creations, from animals being visibly impacted by plastic, an ocean made solely of plastic, to animal-shaped plastic creatures.

Teaching Tips

• Creating a student action project based on their local area allows for a deeper understanding and desire for change for students.

Create and Evaluate (Art for the Earth #6)

Grades: 3rd, 4th, 5th

Subjects: Science, Earth and Space Sciences, Art, Social-Emotional Learning

Resource Type: Lesson Plan

It is time for students to create! This last lesson in the unit introduces artistic techniques to use in their art project. The students work together to identify their intended audience and decide upon success measures to create a rubric for their art project. The inquire phase has students viewing Jill’s artworks, identifying the emotions the artworks are creating in them, and discussing how they think the artworks are achieving this. 

Students learn the essentials of creating emotions. They will also explore the relationship between color choices and emotions and watercolor painting techniques that can change the focus and emotional expression of their work. The slideshow included in the lesson resources has a great guide for teachers and students to create their watercolor masterpieces.  Take a look at the images below, for some further inspiration! 

The investigate phase engages students in the creation of a rubric for their project.  Students are encouraged to apply the knowledge they have learned through their artwork analysis to create emotional and thought-provoking artworks to educate and inspire their audience. This allows students to take ownership and have a clear understanding of their target audience, displaying, and final evaluation. Including students in the rubric, making process allows for a deepened understanding of the requirements and helps set the students up for success. Some students I’ve guided through this unit decided to display these artworks at their school art show. The artworks were a great highlight and provoked many interesting discussions between students and their parents.

As educators, we must help students feel capable of creating change in the world, especially when it comes to issues as large, complex, and anxiety-inducing as climate change. I wanted to create a unit that allowed all students of different interests and abilities access to learn about climate change, but most importantly to feel capable of student action from their findings. This art unit encourages students to do this and guides both students and teachers step-by-step through the process. 

About the Author

Monica teaches science at the elementary school level in Australia.