CFR Education: Why Scientists Are Watching Greenland

Positives

• Clicking on underlined vocabulary words will allow students to see the term defined, without taking them away from the reading screen.
• The interactive media and maps in this article make it both highly informative and engaging for students.

Additional Prerequisites

• The lesson plan and discussion guide provided have a few items for this specific lesson, but are written to connect to multiple sections.
• Students should understand what climate change is, how humans are contributing to climate change, and the basic effects of climate change on life as we know it.
• Students may need "feedback loops" explained in greater detail prior to starting the lesson.

Differentiation

• Students can research flooding events and/or other weather events that have led to the displacement of people and communities, then discuss how these events may unequally affect low income individuals, people of color, Indigenous peoples, and those of low socio-economic status.
• Students in geography classes can create their own detailed map of a particular region to show what coastal areas will look like if sea levels continue to rise, based on the interactive map included.
• Students can write a public service announcement to warn and inform people about sea level rise.
• Students with low reading stamina can be put in small groups, with each group member reading a section from the article and sharing the most important ideas.
• Science and health classes can discuss the effects of coastal flooding on freshwater resources, which can be contaminated by seawater when flooding events occur.