What is Climate Change?

Learn about the greenhouse effect and its impact on the planet.
Ages 5-10 / 30
min Activity
Self-Awareness
Perspective Taking
Collaboration
STEM

Objectives

  • ‍Understand how the greenhouse effect causes global warming and has been exacerbated due to human activities
  • ‍Plan actions that can help mitigate the negative effects of human activities on the environment

Supporting Research

In order to mitigate students’ anxiety around climate change and foster a willingness to take action, researchers have identified the importance of educational programming in which students are empowered to lead personal actions and educate others about climate change. During this activity, educators should encourage students to practice self-awareness and perspective taking to consider the impacts of climate change on their own community, as well as communities around the world, and collaboration to identify climate actions that they can take together.

To learn more about these skills, and how they promote students’ healthy growth and the development of empathy, please check out our Empathy Framework.

Materials

Activity Partners

Instructions

  1. Introduce the greenhouse effect to students, and how it leads to rising temperatures.

    You might say: “The atmosphere is like a blanket that surrounds the earth. When we do certain human activities, like driving a car or burning coal and natural gas for energy (also known as burning fossil fuels), we add carbon dioxide and other gases to this blanket. This makes the blanket thicker, and the thicker it gets, the more heat the blanket traps underneath. This is called the greenhouse effect, and it leads to warmer temperatures, which changes the climate. This has been happening for many years, so our planet is becoming warmer and warmer, which has been creating climate change. We can see the effects of climate change in communities around the world, through heat waves, flooding from heavy rain, rising sea levels, and droughts.”  
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  2. Ask students to think about the following question: how are human actions connected to the changing climate of the Earth?

    Then, explain some of the causes of climate change, such as:
    • Using fossil fuels to generate energy (e.g., for cars, trucks, coal-powered factories)
    • Cutting down forests and releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
    • Raising livestock (e.g., cows) for meat and dairy consumption
    • Burning wood, trash, and farm lands 
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  3. Next, show students a video about climate change from the age-appropriate options below.
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  4. Finally, invite students to share ideas for taking climate action. For example, you might ask:
    • What are some ways that we can help protect and restore the environment in our local community? For example, our class might organize a tree planting day to plant indigenous trees, organize a community clean-up day, or start a recycling or composting program at our school. We can also calculate our carbon footprint and make lifestyle changes like eating less meat and dairy products, purchasing produce from local farmers, or using public transportation.
    • Part of taking action is educating others about climate change. Think of someone who might not know about climate change - like a family member or a student from another class. How can you explain climate change to them? What message would you want to convey to them? How can you involve them in our class’s climate action?

‍Students Ages 5-8 Years Old

Show this video to students, which explores human actions that are causing climate change, and how communities around the world are being impacted by rising temperatures. Then, engage students in a discussion by asking the following questions: 

  • What emotions did you feel when you watched the video?
  • The video talks about how climate change is causing warmer temperatures, storms becoming stronger, and places becoming drier. Have you observed any of these challenges in our community?
  • How does climate change affect people who live in different communities around the world? How do you think climate change makes them feel? Why?
  • What is something new that you learned? Were you surprised by anything? 

Students Ages 8-11 Years Old

Show this video to students, which explores human actions that are causing climate change, and how communities around the world are being impacted by rising temperatures. Then, engage students in a discussion by asking the following questions: 

  • The video talks about how climate change is causing higher water levels, more extreme weather, more difficulty with growing food, and higher cases of asthma and other health issues. Have you observed any of these challenges in our community?
  • Do you think other communities around the world are experiencing similar or different challenges? What types of challenges did you see in the video?
  • What emotions did you experience when you watched this video? 
  • How does climate change affect people who live in different communities around the world? How do you think climate change makes them feel? Why?
  • What is something new that you learned? Were you surprised by anything? 

If students in both classes have individual devices (e.g., mobile phone, tablet, laptop, etc.)...

Use a platform such as Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams which allows you to screen-share during a video call. 
One educator should set up the Kahoot! game and share the code with students in both classes by following this tutorial about using Kahoot! in a remote learning environment, and share their screen so everyone can follow along.

If students in either class don’t have individual devices...

Follow the same instructions above, with one educator starting the game and sharing their screen so both classes can follow along.  
Instead of students joining the game to answer the questions, they can hold up their fingers, call out their answer, or use a paper template to indicate their response.

If you prefer not using Kahoot!...

Use this document (Spanish version) to prompt students.