2. P4: Taking Action Project Instructions and Assessment
3. P4: Student Presentation to City Officials Exemplar
4. P4: End of Unit Reflection Instructions and Assessment
5. P4: Post-Unit Learning Survey
Student Climate Assembly Phase 4: Taking Action and Presenting to Decision-Makers
Overview
Phase 4: Advocating for Action
In Phase 4, students apply C1.11-12.3 (applying civic virtues and democratic principles) by working together to advocate for their climate action recommendations to local government leaders, promoting civic responsibility and collaboration.
More specifically, the curriculum culminates in this phase with students choosing and carrying out an action to advocate for their recommendations with a focus on organizing and presenting their recommendations to local decision-makers. This real-world application highlights the practical relevance of their work and provides a platform for students' voices to be heard by advocating for their recommendations. Students also reflect on what they have learned. Key components of this final phase include:
- Reviewing and discussing results of whole class voting.
- A small group of students preparing and presenting the class findings and recommendations to local government officials.
- Other students taking action to advocate for their recommendations in a variety of ways, such as writing letters to the editor, emailing council members, creating topical podcasts, and launching social media campaigns.
Final Lesson Overview
This is the final lesson in the Student Climate Assembly Unit. The lesson has three main components:
1. Brainstorming and selecting key statements for all students to use in their advocacy project.
2. Preparation of advocacy projects.
3. Presentation of climate action recommendations through action projects (i.e., slide deck presentation, advocacy letters, emails, or other formats) to local government officials.
The lesson is designed to have a small group of students create and present final climate assembly recommendations to local policymakers and/or key stakeholders while other students prepare an advocacy project of their own. Students will demonstrate their critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills. Their project will also include a brief description of how they and their class came up with their recommendations, and it will include highlights from their STEEP analysis to support their recommendations. Students will also be prepared to answer clarifying questions from local officials or representatives and provide examples to illustrate their points. This will be the culmination of their climate assembly and demonstrate taking action on a civic issue in their community. Students not presenting will take action as well, writing advocacy letters or otherwise advocating for their recommendations to their local officials.
All students will be engaged in meaningful discussions with members of local government and the lesson provides additional strategies and projects (enrichment) for students to take action on climate change at the global level. Informed, actively engaged citizens, including students, are essential in a democratic society. Student voice in supporting a sustainable future is critical for present and future generations. Overall, whether individually or collectively, students will learn they can make a positive difference in addressing issues that confront our local, national, and global communities.
Attribution and License
Attribution
This resource was developed by Pacific Education Institute for the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Deliberative Democratic Climate Change Education Program.
Project Leads: Lisa Eschenbach, David Ketter
Instructional Materials Author: Fernando Reyes, Ryan Hauck
Thank you to the following educators who contributed to planning, development, and material review:
Steven Ayers, Ryan Hauck, Christie Ryba-Johnson and Eric Wickwire
The Washington Social Studies Learning Standards by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction are available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Graphic design by Julianna Patterson.
This work was funded by the Washington State Legislature and administered by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
License
Except where otherwise noted, Washington Student Climate Assembly: Climate Change in the Civics Classroom, copyright Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, is available under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All logos, trademarks, and video are property of their respective owners. Sections used under fair use doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107) are marked.
This resource may contain links to websites operated by third parties. These links are provided for your convenience only and do not constitute or imply any endorsement or monitoring by OSPI. If lessons in this work are adapted, note the substantive changes and re-title, removing any Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction logos.