Air Quality Lesson: Environmental Justice
Lesson Plan
50 minutesGrades3, 4, 5Geography, English Language Arts
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 →
Written by Emiliano Amaro, Lindsey Pockl
About this lesson
In this lesson, students connect air quality with environmental justice.
Inquire: Students discuss their journals with their classmates, sharing learnings and reflections from the last few lessons.
Investigate: Students learn the concept of environmental justice.
Inspire: Students explore the EPA's Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool and complete a journal entry.
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Everything you need to teach it
How to edit these materials (video)Teaching tips
Suggestions
- This lesson allows students to create their own meaning of environmental justice before viewing the explanatory video.
- The Inspire section can be extended so that students can explore the EPA's Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool.
- Teachers should determine set amounts of time for students to first explore the tool on their own, then look up their neighborhoods.
- Teachers can model exploring the tool as a whole class, focusing on the environmental health indicators of the school’s neighborhood, then have students look up their own community neighborhood.
- This lesson can be extended into a math class and reading data. Students can practice reasoning using data, answering the question, “Is our community healthy?” and using 1–2 pieces of evidence from the map/chart.
Prerequisites
- This is lesson 4 of 5 in our 3rd-5th grade Air Quality unit.
- Teachers should familiarize themselves with the EPA's Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool, and provide some structure for students to explore.
- The video explaining environmental justice might be tough for 3rd-5th graders to understand. Students should understand the core message in the video, even if they might not understand all the details. Teachers should preview the movie to find places to stop and summarize or discuss. Teachers can also prepare guiding questions for scaffolding understanding or examples for deeper learning.
Differentiation
- Some students may want more time to explore the EPA's Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool.
- Teachers can print out maps or screenshots with highlighted regions to reduce tech navigation challenges.
- Teachers can use sentence starters to help students explore the tool, such as “I wonder why…,” “I notice that…,” “I think this means…”
- Students can use a simple chart with 2–3 indicators, such as air quality, traffic proximity, and access to green space, pulled from EJScreen for their area. Students then color in smiley or sad faces or bar charts showing which areas are healthier or less healthy.
- Students can use sentence stems or graphic organizers to help them record their thinking.
- The reflection journal at the end of the lesson has options for student creativity and imagination.
From the scientist review
This lesson introduces the relationship between environment and justice. Students understand if their community is healthy and what to do to create a fair, just, equitable, and sustainable planet for all to thrive. Additional materials are suitable to broaden their understanding on a wide range of topics such as segregation, the connection between climate and justice, racial justice, and social justice. All materials in this lesson are properly cited and are void of scientific contradictions. In this light, this lesson has passed our science credibility process.
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About the teacher writers
Emiliano Amaro
3-5 ELD and ELA Teacher
Emiliano Amaro holds a Bachelor's degree in Society and Environment from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Education from the UCLA Teacher Education Program. He has been teaching since 2020 and has six years of experience in elementary education, middle school English, and middle school mathematics. Emiliano holds a California Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and specializes in social and environmental justice through interdisciplinary teaching and environmental education.
Lindsey Pockl
Lindsey worked with SubjectToClimate to develop accompanying materials for lesson plans for grades 3-12.
