Unit 2: Causes of Mass Extinction
During Unit 2, students will learn about the causes of two past mass extinctions and discuss the controversies surrounding these causes and the evidence upon which the theories in the debates are based. Before ...

Using "Dante's Peak" to Discuss Response to Risk
In this classroom activity, students watch the movie "Dante's Peak" up to the point where Harry Dalton's supervisor arrives and talks to the town council. Students then compare and contrast Harry's assessment and advice to that of his supervisor, discuss the reaction of the town council members, and develop their own recommendations for how the scientists and town should proceed.

Using Google Earth to measure seacliff erosion rates
This lab uses Google Earth to measure the rate of seacliff retreat. It touches upon coastal processes, natural hazards, and coastal management issues. The central focus of the lab is in the Monterey Bay area.

Your Own El Nino

This activity allows students to make El Nino in a container, but it might work better as a teacher demonstration. The introduction and information provided describe El Nino, its processes and its ...

Major Storms and Community Resilience

This is Unit 1 of a larger module and centers on the fundamental concepts of major storms and community resilience. In this unit, students acquire a vocabulary related to storm systems and risk, ...

Drought: Identifying Impacts and Evaluating Solutions

In this set of activities, students learn about impacts of drought through news videos of communities facing serious water shortages, analyze drought data and models, and research and evaluate ...

National Security and Climate Change

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 ...

Project Resilience: Case Studies of Coastal Change

Students use primary resources to investigate three case studies of environmental change, including how the combined effects of sea level rise and sinking land are projected to impact the Louisiana ...

Project Resilience: Resilience in Action

In this activity, students explore resilience toolkits to better understand their value. Students then draw upon these toolkits to design a resilience plan for their school campus as the culminating ...

Farming and Climate Change

This resource from MIT includes a 14-minute podcast on the relationship between agriculture and climate change from a NASA scientist, and additional activities that support an understanding of using ...

Data Puzzle: Megadrought in the Colorado River Basin

Through this resource from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), students will define, investigate, and answer questions about what caused the megadrought in the ...

Data Puzzle: Megafire - Rare Occurrences or the New Normal?

This resource uses datasets, videos, text, and discussions to support an understanding of patterns in megafires under climate change conditions. This resource provides an excellent scientific ...

Climate Change in Your Own Backyard

In this lesson set, students begin unpacking the complex aspects of climate change by analyzing the global impacts of extreme weather events. After that, they narrow their focus through various ...

NOAA Ocean Odyssey: Ocean Currents

This lesson provides a demonstration and lesson focused on ocean currents. The demonstration of how cold water and warm water interact is a strong learning tool for the topic.

Extreme Event Game

The Extreme Events Game is an in-person role-playing game that allows participants the experience of building community resilience in the face of disaster. Players work together to make decisions and ...

Wildfire Risk and Impact

This highly engaging course is comprised of five modules. Each one clearly explains the concept using readings and videos. Students are presented with the current fire and climate data and then run ...

Hurricane Resilience Part 1: Hurricanes Affect Us

In this activity, students learn how people prepared for and then responded to a hurricane by analyzing news headlines about Hurricane Florence (2018). Then they analyze data about the amount of ...

Fired Up Over Math: Studying Wildfires from Space

Students learn how scientists assess wildfires using remote sensing, then use some of the same techniques to solve grade-level appropriate math problems.

HEART Force Wildfire Game

In this interactive game, students solve the challenges that their community faces during the course of a wildfire event by using available individual and community resources. Students work in three ...

HEART Force Drought Game

In this interactive game, students solve challenges that their community faces during the course of an extreme drought event by using available individual and community resources. Students work in ...