This resource contains various guides and toolkits that inform students about the United States legislative process, how to effectively communicate with legislators, the history of climate policy in numerous states, and other topics related to national climate change advocacy.
Students can engage with toolkits that examine several legislative bodies in the United States, provide tips on engaging with legislators, and explore the political landscapes of Texas, Maine, California, and other parts of the United States.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This resource encourages students to be active voices in their community.
This resource is well-organized and easy to use.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should have a basic understanding of the branches of government, their duties, the system of checks and balances, and how a bill becomes law in the United States.
To download any of the toolkits, you have to provide some contact information.
Differentiation
The Legislative Process toolkit can enhance a lesson on how bills become laws in the United States.
Students can use the Texas toolkit for an informative essay on climate policy in the American South.
The Communicating with Legislators toolkit can fit within a larger unit on activism throughout American history.
The various state-specific toolkits can support a classroom discussion on why these states have different approaches to climate change.
This is an excellent resource to support student action in the government. Students can choose an environmental issue that is important to them, and use the toolkits to create a plan of action to address that issue with their local leaders.
Scientist Notes
This resource highlights a series of Policy Toolkits designed to educate and empower students in engaging with climate policies and legislative processes at various levels of government. These toolkits include general resources, such as a "Getting Started Policy Toolkit," covering the legislative process and communication with legislators, and state-specific toolkits for Pennsylvania, Montana, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, California, and Maine. These state-specific resources provide information on existing climate policies, supportive legislators, and guidance on how to draft climate-related bills, facilitating climate advocacy and activism within each respective region. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-1 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
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.
D2.Civ.13.9-12 Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences.
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.
D2.Civ.7.9-12 Apply civic virtues and democratic principles when working with others.
D2.Civ.9.9-12 Use appropriate deliberative processes in multiple settings.
Dimension 2: Economics
D2.Eco.1.9-12 Analyze how incentives influence choices that may result in policies with a range of costs and benefits for different groups.
D2.Eco.12.9-12 Evaluate the selection of monetary and fiscal policies in a variety of economic conditions.
D2.Eco.2.9-12 Use marginal benefits and marginal costs to construct an argument for or against an approach or solution to an economic issue.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.2 Determine two or more central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex analysis; provide an objective summary of the text.
