Extreme Weather and Climate Change Lesson
Lesson Plan
1 hour 30 minutesGrades9, 10, 11, 12Science
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Written by Jeanne Cooper
About this lesson
Students examine the relationship between climate change and the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. Students build a definition of climate justice and explore its relationship to natural disasters.
Inquire: Students discuss their initial thoughts on the severity and frequency of natural disasters, as well as who is impacted the most when disaster strikes.
Investigate: Students use graphs, infographics, and videos to learn how climate change and climate justice are connected to natural disasters.
Inspire: Students continue to work on their posters about a natural disaster.
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Everything you need to teach it
How to edit these materials (video)Teaching tips
Suggestions
- This lesson takes 90 minutes. It is recommended to break the lesson down as follows:
- Day 1: Complete the Inquire section and the part of the Investigate section about climate change
- Day 2: Complete the part of the Investigate section about climate justice and the Inspire section.
- The teacher should use the term natural disaster instead of natural hazard. Students learned the distinction in Lesson 1, and the remainder of this unit focuses on natural disasters.
- This lesson can be taught in earth science, meteorology, environmental science, or biology classes as well as civics and sociology.
Prerequisites
- This is lesson 2 of 3 in our 9-12 grade Extreme Weather Unit Plan.
- Students should have an understanding of climate change, its causes, and its impacts.
- Computer access will be necessary for each group.
- This lesson highlights justice connections for students. These conversations can be difficult to have, and the teacher should be sensitive to students’ experiences.
Differentiation
- The Student Document contains many resources that students can use to further their research into their assigned natural disaster.
- For extension, students could research examples of climate injustice beyond New Jersey.
- This lesson can also be used to extend the conversation around climate justice.
- The video about climate justice is longer than the others. Teacher could stop this video at key moments to check for understanding and allow students to take notes.
- The graph of disaster frequency in New Jersey does not include disease. For extension, students can consider how disease statistics are different from statistics for other natural disasters.
From the scientist review
Students can learn about the causes of natural disasters, how they disproportionately affect communities and individuals, and how to come up with solutions for climate justice in this lesson. After reviewing the materials, it passed our scientific review procedure.
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About the teacher writer
Jeanne Cooper
Jeanne Cooper holds a Doctorate in Geology from Miami University and a Graduate Certificate in Education from the University of North Carolina Charlotte. She has 25 years of teaching experience in mathematics and science for grades 6–12 and has been teaching since 1995. Jeanne holds professional educator licenses in grades 6–9 Mathematics and grades 9–12 Science in North Carolina, as well as grades 9–12 Earth Science in New Jersey.
