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Database Provider

Authors

Arctic Athabaskan Council, PBS Learning Media

Grades

6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th

Subjects

Science, Social Studies, Earth and Space Sciences

Resource Types

  • Videos, 2 minutes, 59 seconds, CC
  • Activity - Classroom
  • Articles and Websites

Regional Focus

North America, United States, USA - West, Polar Regions

A Subsistence Culture Impacted by Climate Change

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Synopsis
  • This video shows how the Athabaskan people in Alaska are being affected by climate change. 
  • Students will learn that changes in the climate have disrupted the ecosystems, causing salmon, blueberries, and other sources of food to decrease. 
  • This resource includes an article and discussion questions. 
Teaching Tips

Positives

  • Students can read the essay for background context before watching the video.
  • This is a good activity for virtual learning as there is a button to share the resource on Google Classroom.
  • This video shows a concrete example of how climate change affects people and the environment.

Additional Prerequisites

  • The article provides additional information about why the salmon population has decreased in Alaska.

Differentiation

  • Social studies or geography classes could use this video to show students how climate change impacts the environment as well as culture.
  • Students could work individually or in small groups to answer the discussion questions.
  • Other resources on this topic include this documentary film on how climate change is affecting Alaskan wildlife and this article on Native Alaskan youth activists.
Scientist Notes
This resource includes a short video that shows how indigenous Athabaskan communities live a subsistence lifestyle using resources from their surrounding environment and how this lifestyle is threatened by climate change. The resource includes a supporting essay and discussion questions. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
  • Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
    • ESS2: Earth's Systems
      • HS-ESS2-2 Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
    • ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
      • MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
      • MS-ESS3-4 Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
      • HS-ESS3-6 Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
  • College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
    • Dimension 2: Geography
      • D2.Geo.5.6-8 Analyze the combinations of cultural and environmental characteristics that make places both similar to and different from other places.
      • D2.Geo.10.6-8 Analyze the ways in which cultural and environmental characteristics vary among various regions of the world.
      • D2.Geo.10.9-12 Evaluate how changes in the environmental and cultural characteristics of a place or region influence spatial patterns of trade and land use.
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