This video features a short interview with an individual who helped to reduce traffic congestion and emissions in Pittsburgh as she worked with the city to design and manage bicycle infrastructure.
Students will learn about the many benefits of bicycle infrastructure and will be encouraged to join campaigns that might build this infrastructure within their own communities.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video provides a hopeful perspective about one way to address an aspect of the climate crisis.
The discussion questions beneath the video serve as an excellent way to begin classroom discussion or could serve as writing prompts.
Additional Prerequisites
It may benefit students to know a little bit about the city of Pittsburg, including size and landscape, in order to better understand some of the issues the speaker might have faced in improving infrastructure.
This resource provides additional information, such as more about Paige's story and links to other solutions, that teachers can preview for background information or extension work.
Differentiation
Before viewing the video, put students into groups and have them discuss and chart their background knowledge about the benefits of strong bicycle infrastructure and also the barriers to getting more people biking.
Have students work in groups to research what elements of bicycle infrastructure are in place in their own communities and what they might be able to do to help encourage more bicycling.
Science classes could use this SubjectToClimate lesson plan to help students better understand the environmental impacts of different modes of transportation.
Consider having students watch this video to learn how Paris rapidly changed its bicycle infrastructure or this video about a system of bicycle-only roads in the Netherlands and compare how different cities are tackling this issue.
Other resources on this topic include this video about the benefits of reducing car traffic in cities, this podcast about how to get more people biking, and this resource outlining the steps students can take to organize a school-wide "Walk and Roll Day."
Scientist Notes
Young people are encouraged by this video to support community-wide campaigns to build bike infrastructure. Biking activity is vital for both human and environmental health. The video is suggested for teaching because it contains no misconceptions.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
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.
ETS1: Engineering Design
MS-ETS1-1 Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
HS-ETS1-3 Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.12.6-8 Assess specific rules and laws (both actual and proposed) as means of addressing public problems.
D2.Civ.13.6-8 Analyze the purposes, implementation, and consequences of public policies in multiple settings.
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.7.6-8 Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
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.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.3 Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and relevance and sufficiency of the evidence and identifying when irrelevant evidence is introduced.
