What’s the Best Solution to Climate Change?

In this lesson, students learn about climate change, choose one solution to climate change, and write a claim-evidence-reasoning paragraph explaining why they believe it is the best solution to climate change.

Step 1 - Inquire: Students watch a video on the basics of climate change.

Step 2 - Investigate: Students take notes while watching four videos of solutions to climate change.

Step 3 - Inspire: Students select one of the solutions to climate change and write a paragraph explaining why they believe it is the best solution to climate change.

Positives

• This lesson is terrific for teaching paragraph structure.
• The color coding of the sentences in the paragraph is really helpful, especially for concrete thinkers.

Additional Prerequisites

• Project Drawdown is an excellent organization that quantifies solutions to climate change. This is great background reading before the lesson. If you sort the solutions by scenario 1 (2°C temperature rise by 2100, then reduced food waste is the #1 solution. If you sort the solutions by scenario 2 (1.5°C temperature rise by 2100), then onshore wind turbines are the #1 solution. These two solutions (food waste and renewable energy) are two of the four solutions presented in this lesson.
• Encourage the students to use as many hard facts as possible in their supporting sentences. These include dates, names, places, and specific events.
• You can use 2-3 videos of solutions to climate change if you do not want to use all of them.
• This lesson can be paired with the StC Lesson Plan What's the Worst Impact of Climate Change?

Differentiation

• Most students will benefit from color coding their sentences. Encourage them to keep their text highlighted as they write. They can even keep their paragraphs highlighted after they finish.

• Weaker students may write only five sentences. Stronger students may expand more in their supporting sentences.
• If students are struggling with their closing sentences, ask them to read their claim sentences aloud. Sometimes this helps guide their thinking.
• Stronger students who finish early can read their paragraphs to one another, discuss the writing process, and discuss the climate crisis.

Although there is no silver bullet to addressing climate change, combining multiple solutions and prioritizing the best ones are important strategies to combat present and future climate risk. This lesson introduces students to explore the best solutions to address climate change. Data in the resources, accompanying materials, and videos are accurate. Accordingly, this lesson has passed our science review.

Primary Standards

• Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
  • Writing (K-12)
    • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
    • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
    • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

Supporting Standard

• Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
  • ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
    • MS-ESS3-5 Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.