TILclimate Guides for Educators

Flexible, ready-to-use climate change activities from MIT

 

TILclimate guides for educators are developed by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative as an extension of our TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate) podcast, to make it easier for you to teach climate change, earth science, and energy topics in the classroom. The short (10-15 minute), science-driven episodes of TILclimate can be used as a substitution for a lecture, a supplemental introduction to a unit, and more. Episodes of TILclimate and the associated educator guides are designed to further student understanding of multiple interlocking aspects of climate change, with a particular focus on solutions.

In each educator guide, you will find a series of activities that can be taught individually or all together, including:

  • One or more short introductory activities for group learning (10-25 minutes)
  • Data-driven deeper dives using trusted visualization and analysis tools (20-45 minutes)
  • Activities that invite students to think about how they would share their learning with family and friends
  • Teacher pages that provide setup instructions, discussion questions, background resources, a summary of relevant skills, standards and disciplinary core ideas, and adaptation suggestions for science, social science, and ELA teachers

Image credit: remixed from a photo by Todd Van Hoosear via Flickr

 

Educator guides are available for these episodes of TILclimate:

Topics

Student Skills

Trees, Forests, and Climate Change Educator Guide

Forests can be an important part of a lower-carbon future—but how does that work? Students experience the carbon cycle as a carbon atom, grounding their understanding of the flux of carbon between earth, air, water, and living things. Using data from Global Forest Watch, students investigate regional and global patterns of forest loss, gain, and carbon emissions to answer the questions: should we plant trees as a solution to climate change? Does location matter? How do we know?
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National Security and Climate Change Educator Guide

Changes to the climate have had and will have dramatic effects on natural disasters, mass movement, and government stability. The ability of governments, organizations, and leaders to plan for, adapt to, and prevent natural disasters will shape the future. In this set of activities, high school students model changes in climate and their effects on international relations, investigate local climate impacts and solutions, and observe global climate patterns and adaptations. Lessons may be standalone or done in series.
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