Social Studies Lesson: Strength in Community
Lesson Plan
2 hours 30 minutesGrades6, 7, 8Social Studies
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 Ben Charles
About this lesson
In this lesson, students learn about the importance of communities working together to design climate change solutions.
Inquire: Students participate in a community-building web activity and then define and reflect on the term community.
Inquire: Students participate in a community-building web activity and then define and reflect on the term community.
Investigate: Students complete a jigsaw activity with resources about community resilience and strength in relation to climate change solutions.
Inspire: Students work as a class community to design and implement a campaign to lower emissions.
Preview the lesson plan
Better on a bigger screen? Open it in its own tab.View Lesson Plan
Everything you need to teach it
How to edit these materials (video)Teaching tips
Suggestions
- Student Documents can be collected and used as a formative assessment.
- This lesson can be taught in a Social Studies classroom or with any class or after-school club trying to strengthen their sense of community.
- During the web activity, students may discover similarities they share with classmates.
Prerequisites
- Some of the resources in the Investigate section jigsaw may not be developmentally appropriate for all 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. Teachers are encouraged to find resources that are better suited to their unique classroom.
- Books about the importance of building strength in a community include Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown and It’s Not That Radical by Mikaela Loach.
- Students should understand how diversity can strengthen the community, and that no one person can solve a communal problem.
Differentiation
- This lesson could be taught before or after the lesson Solving Problems.
- Optional steps to support students with defining community include:
- Ask if there is a difference between a group of people and a community. For example: Are people standing in line together the same as a sports team?
- Students can think-pair-share ten examples of what they consider to be a community and share them with the class for further discussion.
- Students can identify similar characteristics between the different examples of community.
- Ask the question: Is our class a community? Why?
- As an alternative to the web activity, students can say something kind or something they admire about a classmate before passing them the yarn.
- Students who finish the jigsaw activity early can explore other resources.
Framework for Shifting Paradigms in Climate Education
This resource exemplifies the Transdisciplinary Key Focus Area.
- Core Component 1: Understanding the Interconnected Dynamics of Climate Change
- This lesson explicitly connects community strength to climate solutions, helping students see how climate change is not just a scientific issue but one that intersects with social, political, and economic systems. Through videos, discussion, and real-world examples, students analyze how climate challenges and solutions are shaped by collective action and community dynamics.
- Core Component 2: Holistic Problem Solving Through Multidimensional Perspectives
- By engaging in a jigsaw activity with sources highlighting diverse community-led climate efforts—including perspectives from Indigenous communities, the LGBTQ+ community, and youth—students explore how inclusive decision-making leads to more effective, just, and creative solutions. This multidimensional lens encourages empathy, civic responsibility, and social analysis as students move from learning to action.
- Core Component 3: Encouraging Systems Thinking and Innovative Approaches
- The culminating class campaign requires students to design and implement a strategy to lower emissions, applying democratic principles, collective goal-setting, and systems thinking. They identify root causes, assess impact, and collaborate on an innovative, student-led solution, practicing the kind of integrated, long-term thinking essential for addressing complex global challenges.
From the scientist review
This lesson explores community traits and rethinks community-led approaches to mitigating the effects of climate change on a local scale. It passed our science credibility rating after a thorough review.
Want this to fit your class?
Add your location for local examples, questions, and action ideas.
About the teacher writer
Ben Charles
Chief of Partnerships and Communication
Ben Charles holds a Master's Degree in Teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education. He has nine years of experience teaching grades 3–7 across multiple subject areas. His expertise includes interdisciplinary instruction designed to support diverse learners and foster meaningful student engagement
