In this section, students will learn about the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, how this is different from previous climate agreements, and what progress countries have made towards their goals.
This is the ninth section of the World 101 Climate Change module and includes interactive graphs, colorful images, a linked lesson plan for the policy-related sections of the module, and a discussion guide for higher education classes.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This lesson has many terms that may be new for students but it does an excellent job of providing the definitions, either in context or by clicking the terms.
Students get to see the timeline of the Paris Agreement.
Additional Prerequisites
At the top of the article, there are links for the lesson plan and a discussion guide for higher education. Question 6 in the discussion guide pertains to this article in particular, however the rest of the resources are for classrooms using other sections as well.
Students should understand what climate change is, that human-produced carbon emissions are contributing to climate change, and that these emissions are primarily due to the use of fossil fuels.
Differentiation
Students in civics classes can look at their own country's nationally determined contributions and discuss how effective they seem to be and/or what they are lacking. These students can also discuss the ways in which a government can ensure that these measures take place, including what kinds of regulations and/or new laws would need to be enacted.
Students can propose nationally determined contributions for their own country, looking at the many climate solutions available from this table.
Students in math classes can download the data, interpret the graphs provided, and answer questions about them.
Scientist Notes
This article explains what the Paris Agreement is, why it is important, and the shortcomings of the agreement. The article also discusses the U.S. involvement in the agreement. The article is a good example of what world leaders are trying to do to combat climate change and why these actions are likely not enough. Climate change is briefly explained in the article but it would be helpful for students to have a general understanding of the topic before reading the article. The page does define key vocabulary words and links to related resources. This information presented is accurate and this resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-4 Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.1.9-12 Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of local, state, tribal, national, and international civic and political institutions.
D2.Civ.11.9-12 Evaluate multiple procedures for making governmental decisions at the local, state, national, and international levels in terms of the civic purposes achieved.
D2.Civ.12.9-12 Analyze how people use and challenge local, state, national, and international laws to address a variety of public issues.
D2.Civ.5.9-12 Evaluate citizens' and institutions' effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.9.9-12 Evaluate the influence of long-term climate variability on human migration and settlement patterns, resource use, and land uses at local-to-global scales.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
