Empathetic Environmentalists
Grades: 6, 7, 8
Type: Lesson Plans
Focus Area: Activates Student Agency
Subjects: Social Studies, Earth and Space Sciences
Authors: UCI Science Project
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this five-lesson unit, students will learn about the causes and effects of climate change, relate it to their their local environment, and optionally share their findings with someone from a different culture or background to learn about empathy and respectful communication.
- Students will go on a nature walk, interview a community member, research climate change's causes and effects, learn about inspirational youth activists, and create their own climate stories.
- Students will look at images of locations in Arizona, Niger, and Jakarta to see the effects of human activities on the land, read short bios about youth activists in Argentina, Uganda, and Sweden to give students hope, and read a Los Angeles teen's story to inspire students' own climate stories.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- These lessons will help students connect to and find common ground with people with different perspectives and backgrounds.
- The internet research portion provides a set of reputable websites, allowing students to get relevant and accurate information.
- The youth climate activists highlighted in Lesson 3 are inspirational students who show students what a difference young people can make.
- Each lesson ends with a positive news story to leave students with a sense of hope.
Additional Prerequisites
- Each lesson's activities will take multiple days to complete.
- The blue words in some of the documents appear to be links, but the words aren't hyperlinked. Most of the referenced materials are in the Google Drive folder.
- To participate in the Empatico cross-cultural exchange, teachers must sign up for an account and complete additional steps.
Differentiation
- Some students may not have an adult in their life they feel comfortable interviewing. These students will benefit from having teachers available to interview.
- If participating in the cross-cultural exchange, teachers can make geography connections by learning and researching more about the culture and region of the partner class.
- Consider using resources about Indigenous communities from our site as a substitute for interviews, if needed.
- Students in language arts classes can practice writing letters by writing to the students in the partner class or by writing a thank-you letter to their interviewee.
Framework for Shifting Paradigms in Climate Education
This resource exemplifies the Activates Student Agency Key Focus Area.
- Core Component 1: Empowering Students Through Comprehensive Interdisciplinary Climate Action Projects
- This unit invites students to take ownership of their learning through research, interviews, and storytelling that explore real-world climate topics. By weaving together science, writing, SEL, and research skills, students develop a nuanced understanding of climate issues and articulate a personal climate action they can take, grounded in both data and lived experience.
- Core Component 2: Fostering Emotional Resilience and Empowerment in Climate Education
- Through stories of youth climate activists from around the world, students see themselves reflected in movements for change. Each lesson incorporates time to process climate emotions and concludes with an uplifting narrative, reinforcing the message that collective action is possible and hopeful futures are within reach.
- Core Component 3: Nurturing Advocacy and Leadership Capacities
- Students explore their strengths and consider how to apply them to climate action. By learning how to craft and share their personal stories, students build communication skills and confidence, empowering them to lead, advocate, and inspire change in their communities.
This lesson resources doesn't have specific science to review but it emphasizes the value of empathy and climate storytelling in addressing climate change. This is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
