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Provided by: OER Project |Published on: September 12, 2025
Lesson Plans
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Synopsis
In this module from OER Project: Climate, students learn about the direct and indirect effects of climate change on people and communities, such as more fires, droughts, heat waves, and floods, as well as sea level rise and polar air shifts in the winter.
Students will see how climate models help identify the degree of warming we might expect and the severity of climate effects we may experience.
This is one of many lessons in the online Climate course by OER Project.
Seeing how climate change impacts their own lives will help students see the importance of climate action.
The readings for this resource are student-friendly and brief.
Prerequisites
Learning about the harsh realities of climate change may be difficult for some students, especially when discussing personal impacts. Teachers should give these students opportunities to process their emotions as they arise.
To access a teaching guide for this module, teachers will need to create a free account.
Differentiation & Implementation
When completing the Impacts Personal Inventory, students may need help seeing how climate change can affect them in indirect ways. For example, they may not experience wildfires directly, but the smoke from distant wildfires may prevent them from playing outside for a few days.
Teachers can use the section Defining Indirect Impacts to explain how the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13, Climate Action, is a critical component of sustainable development, as its impacts affect many systems related to the other SDGs.
Teachers may want students to complete short research projects to learn more about one of the direct impacts of climate change and record all of the indirect impacts that stem from it.
Scientist Notes
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
About the Partner Provider
OER Project
OER Project equips teachers with free, innovative curricula and teaching tools that spark curiosity and inspire critical thinking in students. Our courses place student inquiry at the center of learning, and are designed to be adaptable across age levels and state standards.
Related Teaching Resources
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