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How Cool Is Your Schoolyard?™

Provided by: Green Schoolyards America |Published on: October 6, 2025

Lesson Plans

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Synopsis

In this lesson from Green Schoolyards America, students will collect temperature data for different surfaces on their school grounds to determine which areas require more shade structures and trees.
Students will also have the opportunity to create a proposal to present to their administrator for improving the school grounds, based on their data.

Related Teaching Resources

Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Engineering

Authors: Green Schoolyards America

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

Students will love collecting data outside.
By being based in their everyday environment, students will see the immediate relevance in this learning activity.

Prerequisites

Students should know how to measure temperature using thermometers.
Teachers will need to prepare a map using the provided template and an aerial photo or sketch of their school grounds.
The instructions for the template reference a Google Slides format of the template, but there doesn't appear to be a link for this. Teachers can instead use the PDF and a program like Canva to create their map.

Differentiation & Implementation

To gauge students' background knowledge, before taking data, teachers can ask students to hypothesize where the hottest point on their school grounds may be. Students can research this hypothesis using the scientific method.
If the area being surveyed is large and the research locations are spread out, teachers may want to ask adult volunteers to help monitor, depending on the group of students.
To make connections to health, students can explore the health impacts of extreme heat using this resource.
Teachers can make connections to the UN Sustainable Development Goals by discussing how Goal 3, Good Health and Well-being, and Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities, are interconnected in this context.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

Standards

Resource Type and Format

About the Partner Provider

Green Schoolyards America

Green Schoolyards America partners with school districts and public agencies across the U.S. to establish large-scale living schoolyard programs that transform school grounds into ecologically-rich, park-like green spaces. Our goal is to improve children’s health, learning, and happiness while contributing to communities’ ecological and climate resilience.

We are working to change the paradigm for school ground design, use, and management so all children will have access to the natural world in the places they already visit on a daily basis. We center equity in our work and collaborate with communities that have the greatest need for educational, environmental, health, and open space improvements.

Related Teaching Resources

All resources can be used for your educational purposes with proper attribution to the content provider.