There are plenty of resources to be found for students of all ages. Check out the links below and feel free to submit additional resources to share. Choose one or a combination of ideas that will work for your school, class, or group!
Turnkey Models to Make Planning Easy:
Lesson Plans and Activities
More Information and Reading
Maryland-Specific Resources
Maryland Climate Teach-In Events From 2024
Towson University Professor James Overduin: During my Thermodynamics course for undergraduate and graduate physics students … I told the students, "Today we're going to do something different! We're going to brainstorm how we might use physics to save the world!" I presented an idea I have been discussing with a research student. We are thinking of combining two ideas: (1) placing reflectors at the stable Lagrange point between the Earth and Sun to deflect some of the Sun's light, helping to reduce global warming, and (2) propelling these sails with a laser array on Earth, rather than using spacecraft. This idea was recently proposed by Yuri Milner in a much more ambitious scheme to propel sails to nearby stars ("Breakthrough Starshot"). Our proposal is more modest—we are only sending sails part of the way toward our own Sun. But doing so might save the Earth! I invited the class to give feedback, and we had a lively discussion.
Prince George’s County Public Schools registered to host 27 climate activities for this year’s Climate Teach-In. PG county students were given access to a wide array of fun and immersive learning experiences, including week-long climate art projects, Earth Day TikTok Challenges, swap meets, and community public service announcements.
The National Aquarium registered to host a variety of climate talks for their visitors at their downtown Baltimore location. The National Aquarium's experienced staff presented several educational carts and climate talks as well as an awesome “Magic Planet” display to represent global issues and solutions that reached 1,155 guests. For Climate Education week, the Aquarium had one-on-one climate-related conversations with 5,482 guests. These typically occur when a staff member stations at an exhibit and speaks to guests about the animal and the impacts on climate change for that animal and ecosystem. Staff were able to focus in on climate change interpretation with at least 6,637 people!
The Primary School, Dian Hansen, Primary Teacher: 73 Pre-K through second-grade students in my school began various units of study that focus on our environment, eco-systems, climate change, renewable energy and recycling. Kindergarten students completed a unit about the importance of fresh water, the water cycle and how climate change is affecting it. They learned that some of the gases in our atmosphere are keeping the sun's heat closer to the Earth. Unusual and severe weather in many places is causing changes in our water cycle. The students made water cycle bags which demonstrate evaporation, condensation and precipitation. Pre-Kers are in the midst of learning the three R's and designing an "I Can Help Our Planet Earth" book made of repurposed materials to better understand composting, recycling, reusing, reducing and other strategies that they can be a part of to benefit our earth.
UMD Global Campus, Sabrina S. Fu, Ph.D., Environmental Portfolio Director: UMGC showed “Dream Big For What You Want to Happen,” a short documentary on Olympic athlete and Coach Pete Vordenberg’s journey to raise the bar on climate conversations and solutions. After watching the documentary, listeners took part in a Q&A.
A second project at UMGC was Climate Stories Across Our Nation: George Donart, fisherman from Alaska, Dr. George Samuel, medical doctor from Maryland, Andrew Eyerly, UMGC alumnus, outdoorsman and conservationist, Keith Ohlinger of Porch View Farm in Maryland, and Dr. Paulo Maurin, coral reef researcher in Hawaii, shared their stories on how climate is affecting them and their professions. We then discussed how various professions and communities can be part of solutions, and we held breakout sessions. This session had people from about 16 states, and Guam, Japan, and Korea.
Towson University, Professor Sarah Haines, Biological Sciences: My class participated in the Climate Teach-In this year through my course 'Water and the Environment". We discussed how global climate change is affecting the water cycle, and how that in turn is affecting agriculture. We have discussed global climate change and its connection to water in many other ways throughout the semester- deforestation, water access, tourism effects, etc.
Bowie State University Professor Sumanth Reddy: In my Elements of Geography class of 22 students, I used the images and video in the following article
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/world/climate-change-photography-paul-nicklen-cristina-mittermeier-c2e-spc-intl-scn-climate/index.html to have a vibrant discussion about climate change. These are very powerful images. We spent the entire 50-minute class discussing this topic, and students had many opinions, questions, and insights.
