This activity allows students to explore sea level rise. The experiment allows them to test whether land ice and/or sea ice contribute to sea level rise as they melt.

This classroom resource is a combination of 3 visualizations and accompanying text that illustrate how 3 key natural phenomena - cyclical changes in solar energy output, major volcanic eruptions over the last century, and El Nino/Nina cycles - are insufficient to explain recent global warming.

In this lesson, students combine art and science to interpret and illustrate graphical art. They first learn about artists who develop images based on climate graphs and then create their own.

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students learn where food comes from and the importance of taking care of natural resources.

SCIENTIST NOTES: Soil, air, light, water, and other natural components aid plant growth. When they are perturbed or polluted, it influences plant growth and makes food unhealthy for human and animal consumption. This lesson underscores the correlation between natural resources and food production. It shows students what is required for agricultural production and how they can locate food sources in their local environment. The lesson also provides basic understanding on how the natural resources could be protected from harmful human activities. The materials embedded in the lesson were fact-checked, and this lesson has passed our credibility review process.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson is a great way for students to understand and appreciate the care that goes into growing food.
-Students will get to share their families' food traditions with others.
-Students will feel empowered to help protect natural resources.
-Students will share their new knowledge with others.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-You will need a fruit or vegetable for the beginning of the Inquire section.
-You will need to acquire a copy of Right This Very Minute by Lisl Detlefsen before class begins. You can check your local or school library for a copy of the book.
-You will need to enter an email address to access the PDF lesson plan of Who Polluted the River? the first time you use the Population Education website.
-You will need the following materials for the Who Polluted the River? activity:
-Clear gallon jar or bowl of water
-Small lidded containers
-Printed container labels (printable templates included)
-Printed character name tags (printable templates included)
-Slotted spoon
-Plastic toy fish
-Dry leaves
-Soil
-Baking soda
-Shreds of paper
-Fishing line or dental floss
-Instant coffee
-Water
-Vegetable oil
-Dishwashing soap
-Red and green food coloring

DIFFERENTIATION:
-You can break this lesson up and teach Inquire, Investigate, and Inspire on three separate days.
-The Student Document is provided in four levels.
-Fluent writers can write one or more paragraphs to accompany their informative piece.
-You can go over the Vocabulary Cards at the beginning of the lesson or print the Vocabulary Cards and make a word wall to reference throughout the lesson.

This resource is a high quality video with a an engaging narrative discussing the need to cut carbon dioxide emissions in order to reduce the concentration in the atmosphere.

SYNOPSIS: This lesson introduces students to climate change and the idea that renewable energy sources are a better choice for the planet.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson introduces students to climate change and provides an excellent resource that illustrates how climate change impacts life in New Jersey. The energy independent island Samsø, Denmark is presented through a reading of Energy Island by Alan Drummond, and a Venn diagram is provided so students can compare Samsø to their hometown. Students are tasked with designing a zero emission ferry for Samsø and are challenged to see how climate change affects them and how an 8-12 year old can make a difference. This lesson is recommended for teaching.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson allows for a collaborative learning environment for students as it builds on understanding of climate change.
-This lesson features a problem-based approach to learning where students are immersed in solving a real-world problem.
-Students connect a real idealistic community to their own to see what is possible.
-This lesson follows the engineering design process.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-Students should have a basic understanding of climate change.
-Students should have an understanding of the engineering design process.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Students can think-pair-share during the read aloud where students can make predictions or answer questions.
-You can pause the read aloud for students to make observations and predictions about the story.
-Groups of students with mixed abilities can collaborate on their ferry design challenge project.

SYNOPSIS: This lesson asks students to consider how their communities would look and feel with and without green spaces.

SCIENTIST NOTES: The lesson accentuates the benefits of having green spaces vis-a-vis not having them in their community. We recommend this lesson for students to explore the benefits green spaces have on ecosystem health, mental health, and physical health. Students can also explore the maps to gain skills in urban planning. All the materials have been properly cited, and this lesson has passed our credibility process.

POSITIVES:
-Students have agency over their learning when conducting their own research.
-This can be integrated into an ELA class, as students will be reading informational text when conducting their own research.
-This can be integrated into an art class, as students will be drawing multiple maps.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-This is lesson 4 of 6 in our 3rd-5th grade Green Spaces unit.
-It may be helpful to have a mostly blank map of the school campus or community for students to use.
-Students should have some prior experience conducting research. This lesson uses Kiddle, a kid-friendly search engine.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-You may need to preselect resources for some students who need scaffolding when conducting research.
-Some students may need a blank map of the school campus or community. Other students may wish to draw their maps from scratch using blank paper.
-Some students may prefer to draw, type, or use text-to-speech while taking notes.

This visualization focuses on public acceptance of climate science. The set of interactive maps illustrates public opinion on a variety of climate beliefs, risk perceptions, and policy support. The data is from the Yale Project on Climate Communication.

This resource is based on the 2015 Climate Change Summit, and it shares both environmental and social concerns related to climate change. This is an activity for elementary school students to role-play. It is a UN-style discussion of climate change from different cultures and perspectives around the world.

This is the first teacher's guide book of the collection “The climate in our hands”, a series of volumes on the topic of climate change. The aim of this guide book is to support teachers in carrying out a range of activities on climate change and the ocean and cryosphere in their classrooms, and targets students from the upper end of primary school to the end of lower-secondary school (ages 9 to 15).

This article provides an overview of ePals, a database that connects K12 teachers and classrooms around the world for pen pals and collaborative projects.

Children observe an ice cube in water and discuss the amount of ice above and below the water, discuss density of ice, and make predictions. Based on what they have observed about small ice chunks, the children apply what they have learned to make a prediction about large ice chunks or icebergs.