1. Plot data points using the Cartesian coordinate system and identify relationships to explore the connections between climate change and life expectancy.

2. Describe how gender inequality creates disproportionate health impacts as a result of climate change.

3. Practice mathematical communication and build math literacy skills through a civic engagement assignment.

4. Describe strategies for addressing climate change using data and mathematical skills.

5. Reflect on ways they can take action to address climate change and their willingness to do so.

I use this activity in a quarter-long (ten weeks) Intermediate Algebra class at a two-year college. This class is the last in a series of pre-college math courses intended for students majoring in STEM; it is an asynchronous, online class with 22 students. Students take this course at a two-year college because they do not know or have not mastered the algebraic concepts needed for the college-level math courses needed to major in a STEM field. Following this course, students go on to college-level math courses. The course is similar to a second-year high-school algebra course and expands students' algebra skills, including mathematical systems, solving equations, inequalities, functions, exponents and logarithms, and coordinate systems. This activity is a short project that takes about 1.5 to 2.5 hours for students to complete on their own. The activity could also be used during class time for an in-person course. Before encountering this activity, students should be familiar with how to plot data points using the Cartesian coordinate system and identify independent and dependent variables, as well as relationships between variables (linear, quadratic, exponential, other, none). I use this activity near the end of a 10-week term, but it could be done earlier in the term right after these mathematical concepts are covered in the course. It would be easy to adapt this activity to a high school algebra course, and it could also be used in a statistics course by asking students to fit a regression line to a scatter plot of their data to find the best fit model of the data used in this activity and draw conclusions using the model. This type of statistical analysis is often included in pre-college intermediate algebra courses that are taught at two-year colleges on the longer 15-week semester system. I use the Canvas learning management system (LMS) to distribute course materials to students, give them feedback on assignments, and assign grades.

Instructor Class Preparation: Prepare PowerPoint presentation for Step 1, post project assignment and civic engagement assignment on a learning management system or (print out handout if doing this activity in a classroom with students), check all web links to videos and articles used in the activity.

Step 1: Introduction to Climate Justice and Life Expectancy (20 minutes). Students start this part of the activity by watching a short video of a lecture that I created using the "Climate Justice Introduction" PowerPoint presentation (below). The lecture is about how climate change impacts life expectancy and health, and includes a definition and examples of climate justice case studies. The lecture also introduces the students to the project that they will complete (Step 2), which is focused on using data to determine whether climate change impacts health and longevity, and whether there is a gender difference in mortality as a result of climate change. I then share two videos with students. The first one, Climate Change and Your Health, by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, focuses on wildfires, flooding, and extreme heat in the United States. The second video, How climate affects community health, describes extreme weather, air quality, and disease as well as solutions; it focuses on groups of people that are more vulnerable, such as children, older adults, pregnant women, athletes, and people who work outside and suggests ways that communities can prepare for these changes.

Climate Justice Introduction.pptx (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 654kB May28 24)

Step 2: Exploring Life Expectancy Using Data and Plots (30 to 60 minutes). For this part of the project, students find life expectancy data and create a plot similar to the plot I showed them on Slide 4 of the "Climate Justice Introduction" PowerPoint presentation (from Step 1 above), with year on the x-axis and age on the y-axis. They can find life expectancy data from anywhere in the world. (If they are unable to find life expectancy data, I provide an Excel file with data that they can use that contains United States Historical Life Expectancy Data, 1950-2024.) To create this plot, they use the Cartesian coordinate system, which is a mathematical concept covered in this intermediate algebra class. Because this is a pre-college intermediate algebra course at a two-year college, I do not expect that students know how to use Excel. They are welcome to use Excel or other software to plot their data, but I also allow them to create the plots by hand. Once they have their plot, they determine whether there is a relationship between year and life expectancy and, if there is, what the relationship is (linear, quadratic, exponential, other, none). In addition to identifying the type of relationship, students also explain how they know that a relationship exists and what type of relationship it is. After creating the plot and identifying the type of relationship between the two variables in the plot, students think about how climate change impacts on health might affect longevity. I ask them to start by looking at their plot, but to then identify other variables or factors that are not in their plot that might also impact longevity over time, as related to the impact of climate change on health. I leave this very open-ended because my goal is for students to explore, think, and analyze beyond the data by identifying other variables that may be confounded with the plots of life expectancy versus time. These are called lurking or confounding variables and are concepts introduced in later math courses, particularly statistics. I don't introduce these variables by name in this course and, instead, keep things very general and encourage students to explore them. I ask the students to post their plots to a class discussion forum on our course learning management system (LMS) so that others in the class can see the data they plotted. Next, students explore a resource on gender inequality and climate change to identify how women are more impacted and then, they apply plots using the Cartesian coordinate system to one research study on gender inequality and climate. For this part, they choose one scientific study from How Climate Change Affects the Health of Women, an interactive map that displays 130 studies done at various locations around the world that illustrate how women are affected differently by climate change. Prior to looking at the map, they also read How climate change disproportionately affects women's health to learn how women are disproportionately affected by climate change. Using the description of the one scientific study they find on the map, students identify two types of data that may have been used by the researchers in the study and explain how the researchers could use these data to create a plot that supports the study's conclusion, as well as the relationship (linear, exponential, quadratic, other, none) they would expect to see.

Data Plotting Project.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 259kB May28 24)

LIFE EXPECTANCY.xlsx (Excel 2007 (.xlsx) 12kB May16 24)

Step 3: Civic Engagement and Reflection (30 to 60 minutes). For the second part of the project, students continue to practice math skills, specifically identifying data to plot, describing how to plot it, and identifying the relationships (linear, exponential, quadratic, other, none) between the data as shown in the plot. They will also practice mathematical communication skills and build math literacy skills, as well as describe strategies for addressing climate change using data and mathematical skills. Finally, for this part of the project, students reflect on ways they can take action to address climate change and their willingness to do so. They do all of this during a conversation with a family member or a friend about how climate change disproportionately impacts women. I tell students that, while talking about climate change may seem like a small thing, it is actually very important and can sometimes be courageous because we live in a culture of "climate silence." (I offer them this option video to watch, by climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, if they want to learn more: The Most Important Thing You Can Do To Combat Climate Change: Talk About It). I ask students to prepare for their conversation by reading Family Planning and Education for Women and Girls, which is a web page that describes solutions to the climate crisis that come from Project Drawdown. (This project explored the top 100 solutions to the climate crisis and found "Educating Girls" is the #6 out of 100 and "Family Planning" is #7. You can read two short, 1-to-2-page chapters on each in the book Drawdown.) When students read the web page, they identify two types of data they could use to understand whether Family Planning and Education for Women and Girls is working to address climate change, as well as describe how they would plot the data and what relationships (linear, exponential, quadratic, other) they would expect to see. During their conversation, they do a few things. First, they show the person their plot of year and life expectancy, and explain to the person how they used their plot, and the relationships in the plot (linear, exponential, quadratic, none, other), to make conclusions about the impact of climate change on health and longevity. Second, I ask students to describe how women are disproportionately affected by climate change and discuss the scientific study they found on the map (from Step 2). Finally, the conversation ends with students discussing actions they could take to contribute to addressing climate change through family planning and education for women and girls.

Civic Engagement and Reflection.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 20kB May28 24)

For Step 2, most students found their own data, but some chose to use the data set that I provided. Roughly half of the students plotted the data using Excel or other software, while the other half plotted by hand with paper and pencil.

Students really enjoy having a conversation about climate change with a family member or friend. They ended up having long conversations. Talking to other people about the math they are learning about also helps build their skill sets around this, which is especially important in this pre-college intermediate algebra course where these skills do not come naturally to two-year college students. Students who take this course come to the course with a lot of different capacities, skills, and abilities and this exploratory activity is very appropriate for these students.

I tell students as part of the civic engagement activity that one of the most important things we can do for our climate might be something that seems simple: talking about it now. Talking with family and friends can be a powerful--and often new--civic engagement step for students, since talking about climate change can lead to heightened awareness and concern for them as well as the people they talk to, especially in the culture of "climate silence" in which we live. Here are several resources that I have found helpful to learn more about the importance of talking about climate change as civic engagement:

The Most Important Thing You Can Do to Fight Climate Change: Talk About It

Do Something Important on Climate: Talk About It

Who is Most Likely to Talk About Climate

1. Plot data points using the Cartesian coordinate system and identify relationships to explore the connections between climate change and life expectancy.

I assess this learning goal with Questions 1, 2, and 3 under "Tasks" in the "Data Plotting Project" file (see Step 2 above).

2. Describe how gender inequality creates disproportionate health impacts as a result of climate change.

I assess this learning goal with Question 4(a) under "Tasks" in the "Data Plotting Project" file (see Step 2 above) and also Question 2(b) under the Reflection heading in the "Civic Engagement and Reflection" file (see Step 3 above).

3. Practice mathematical communication and build math literacy skills through a civic engagement assignment.

Students practice these skills during their conversation with a family member or a friend. I assess this learning goal using Questions 1 and 2(a) under the Reflection heading in the "Civic Engagement and Reflection" file (see Step 3 above).

4. Describe strategies for understanding and addressing climate impacts using data and mathematical skills.

I assess this learning goal with Question (v) and (vi) near the end of the "Data Plotting Project" file (see Step 2 above).

5. Reflect on ways they can take action to address climate change and their willingness to do so.

Students reflect on their conversation with a family member or a friend. I assess this learning goal using Questions 5 and 6 under the Reflection heading in the "Civic Engagement and Reflection" file (see Step 3 above).

This work is supported in part by NSF IUSE grant DUE 2043535.

Data source for LIFE EXPECTANCY Excel file: United States Historical Life Expectancy Data, 1950-2024

How climate change disproportionately affects women's health(by Carbon Brief, October 2020)

Mapped: How climate change disproportionately affects women's health (by Carbon Brief, data on map from Global Gender and Climate Alliance 2016 report Gender and Climate Change: A Closer Look at Existing Evidence)

TED talkThe Most Important Thing You Can Do To Combat Climate Change: Talk About It by climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe

Family Planning and Education for Women and Girls (web page by Project Drawdown)

Do Something Important on Climate: Talk About It (The Climate Reality Project)

Who is Most Likely to Talk About Climate (Yale Program on Climate Communication, Climate Note, May 2023)

Another good resource, written by a student, is "Breaking the Climate Silence" from the Columbia Climate School at Columbia University.