This graphic novel presents the stories of low-income families from five different countries and how they experience climate change.
The teacher guide includes discussion questions, activities, and cross-curricular connections, introducing students to the concept of thinking globally about climate change and adaptation.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This lesson introduces students to some of the people most affected by climate change and the steps they have taken to adapt to the effects.
The graphic novel engages readers through storytelling and illustrations.
This resource includes background information for teachers on the causes and effects of climate change.
Additional Prerequisites
Each of the documents will need to be downloaded.
The graphic novel ends on page 26, and the article begins on page 27 of the student handout.
Students should have a general understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change.
Differentiation
The educator's guide includes activities for geography, English, math, civics, science, health, and drama classes.
Younger students can read the "Climate Change" section of the student handout as a class since they may find the language and concepts to be complex.
Students can complete the discussion questions in groups to ensure they continue to be exposed to a variety of perspectives on the topic of inequality and adaptation.
Have students map out the cities and countries mentioned in the novel to better gauge their location geographically.
Use this activity to learn more about how climate change affects people differently and this article to learn about one community's way of adapting to climate change.
Scientist Notes
This resource is a graphic novel that explores five personal responses to climate change from around the world. Special care is taken throughout to ensure that each story focuses on individuals from less economically developed areas and how they cope with and adapt to climate change. This approach ensures that students will see how climate change affects not just faceless ‘climate victims’ but people similar to them in varied ways. The graphic novel format is also something that most students should be familiar with, and this particular resource guides readers without ever feeling didactic. The included educator guide also features many additional resources and a list of questions and activities for the classroom. This resource is visually striking, based on primary research, and recommended for teaching.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.10.9-12 Analyze the impact and the appropriate roles of personal interests and perspectives on the application of civic virtues, democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights.
Dimension 2: Economics
D2.Eco.1.6-8 Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses, and society.
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.4.6-8 Explain how cultural patterns and economic decisions influence environments and the daily lives of people in both nearby and distant places.
D2.Geo.10.6-8 Analyze the ways in which cultural and environmental characteristics vary among various regions of the world.
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.
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.6.9-12 Use disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses to understand the characteristics and causes of local, regional, and global problems; instances of such problems in multiple contexts; and challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address these problems over time and place.
D4.7.9-12 Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: History/Social Studies (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.10 By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
