Exploring Resiliency with the NPCC

• In this lesson, students act as project managers tasked with creating an innovative plan to reduce the impacts of extreme heat, coastal flooding, and stormwater, the three main climate change hazards that affect New York City.
• Students analyze data and learn about current adaptation strategies to inform their plans and create posters to share their plans with the class.

Positives

• The lesson connects science and public policy in a real-world application. 
• Teachers can use the insightful discussion questions to help synthesize student learning from the projects.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should understand the evidence for and the causes and effects of climate change.
• There is an accompanying worksheet that you can find by clicking the materials section, then scrolling down and clicking Climate Change Systems Lessons and Worksheets, and then clicking the Exploring Resiliency with the NPCC Worksheet sub-bullet point. You can also click the link here.

Differentiation

• Students can complete the projects by hand using posters and markers or digitally using Google Slides, Canva, etc.
• The lesson plan suggests numerous options for extension, including a mini field trip to a resiliency project site, potential research prompts, and other resources to explore.
• This resource is specific to New York City, but students in other cities could use it to compare the adaptation strategies with their city or learn from the strategies already in place in New York.
• Teachers can use this project as a summative assessment after teaching separate units or lessons about stormwater, extreme heat, and coastal flooding. There are many lessons and activities for these topics in the SubjectToClimate Resource Database.