This reading comprehension resource explains how empowering women can have positive impacts on the climate through education, family planning, and equity in opportunities and government.
This resource includes a teacher's guide and printable reading passages with corresponding comprehension questions.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The reading passage included in this resource is very informative, and the comprehension questions do a good job of assessing students' understanding of the material.
The included graphs and charts are beneficial for understanding and will be helpful for visual learners.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should be able to read bar and dot graphs.
Consider distributing the passage and questions digitally to conserve paper.
The article discusses the use of contraceptives for family planning.
The first link in the Sources section does not work.
Differentiation
This resource would work well in a social studies classroom for discussing gender equality, the role of government in establishing policies to protect and empower women, or women in government.
Before reading, have a class brainstorm around the role of women in climate change and how gender equity impacts climate change. Teachers can ask students the following questions:
What were your thoughts on this topic before reading the article?
How did your ideas and opinions change after reading the article?
What did you find surprising?
As a reading comprehension activity, this article provides good examples of using charts and graphs to deepen understanding. This is important nonfiction reading work and can be taught by stopping to read, think about, and analyze the graphs included in the reading passage.
Scientist Notes
This resource is suitable to deepen students' insights on the role women can play in tackling climate change if they are given equal opportunities in education, land ownership, and political participation. The resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
English Language Arts
Reading (K-12)
R.9-12.4 Read various texts closely to determine what each text explicitly says and to make logical inferences; cite specific textual evidence to support conclusions drawn from the texts.
R.9-12.6 Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
R.9-12.7 Interpret words and phrases as they are used in various texts, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
R.9-12.9 Assess how perspective or purpose shapes the content and style of various texts.
Social Studies
Civics & Government
Civics & Government 1 (D2): Students understand the basic ideals, purposes, principles, structures, and processes of constitutional government in Maine and the United States as well as examples of other forms of government in the world by comparing how laws are made in Maine and at the federal level in the United States.
Civics & Government 1 (F2): Students understand the ideals, purposes, principles, structures, and processes of constitutional government in the United States and in the American political system, as well as examples of other forms of government and political systems in the world by explaining how and why democratic institutions and interpretations of democratic ideals and constitutional principles change over time.
