Teaching Activities

Dashiell Young-Saver
This is an activity that uses basic algebra to assess the costs and savings of electric vehicles. It uses math to measure the trade-offs of buying electric versus gas-powered car models.

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), High School (9-12)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Energy:Fossil Fuels, Renewable & Alternative Energy, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Energy, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Climate Change:Mitigation of climate change, Greenhouse gas emissions, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Greenhouse gas emissions
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Renew-a-Bead Game part of CLEAN Collection

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cla_act...

Susan Powers, Jan DeWaters, A number of Clarkson and St. Lawrence University students in the K-12 Project Based Learning Partnership Program
Students work in pairs to pick black and white beads out of a bag to represent the percent of renewable and nonrenewable resources used in different countries, and then graph the information.

Grade Level: Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8)
Online Readiness: Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Energy:Fossil Fuels, Environmental Science:Energy, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Mitigation of climate change, Environmental Science:Energy:Renewable & Alternative Energy, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Black Carbon: Dirty Sidekick of CO2 part of CLEAN Collection

https://ourclimateourfuture.org/resource/black-carbon-di...

Our Climate Our Future
This resource explores the concept of black carbon and its contribution to climate change and human health through videos and discussion questions, and engages students in discussions about these ...

Grade Level: Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8)
Online Readiness: Online Ready
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Anthropogenic causes, Environmental Science:Energy, Energy:Fossil Fuels, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Anthropogenic causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

The Heat is On: Cause and Effect and Climate part of CLEAN Collection

https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/the-he...

California Academy of Sciences
This lesson focuses on causation vs. correlation for temperature rise and includes videos, worksheets, and classroom discussions for exploration. Students pretend to live in Solutionville, where town ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8)
Online Readiness: Online Ready, Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Meteorology:Extreme weather, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Extreme Weather, Environmental Science:Energy:Fossil Fuels, Environmental Science:Energy, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Great Energy Debate part of CLEAN Collection

http://www.need.org//Files/curriculum/guides/GreatEnergy...

This is a debate-style learning activity in which student teams learn about energy sources and are then assigned to represent the different energy sources. Working cooperatively, students develop ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), High School (9-12)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Energy:Nuclear Energy, Renewable & Alternative Energy, Environmental Science:Energy, Energy:Fossil Fuels
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Oceans of Energy  part of CLEAN Collection

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/edu/collection/med...

This lesson focuses on the importance of ocean exploration as a way to learn how to capture, control, and distribute renewable ocean energy resources. Students begin by identifying ways the ocean can ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Energy:Renewable & Alternative Energy, Fossil Fuels, Environmental Science:Energy
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Energy flows part of CLEAN Collection

https://www.need.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Energy-F...

NEED Project - Putting Energy into Education
This activity introduces students to different forms of energy, energy transformations, energy storage, and the flow of energy through systems. Students learn that most energy can be traced back to ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Energy:Energy Infrastructure, Environmental Science:Energy, Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Environmental Science:Energy:Fossil Fuels, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Global energy balance, Solar radiation
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Oil Spill Cleanup part of CLEAN Collection

http://www.teachengineering.com/view_activity.php?url=ht...

Sharon D. Perez-Suarez, Melissa Straten, Malinda Schaefer Zarske, Janet Yowell
This hands-on activity will provide students with an understanding of the issues that surround environmental clean-up. Students will create their own oil spill, try different methods for cleaning it ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Energy, Energy:Fossil Fuels
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Car of the Future part of CLEAN Collection

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/activities/3507_ca...

Jeff Lockwood
In this activity, student teams research and develop a proposal to decrease the carbon footprint of their city's/town's public transportation system and then prepare a report that explains ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Energy, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Mitigation of climate change, Environmental Science:Energy:Renewable & Alternative Energy, Energy Infrastructure, Fossil Fuels
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Plugged in to CO2 part of CLEAN Collection

https://scied.ucar.edu/activity/plugged-co2

Lisa Gardiner, Marie Johnson, Jonathan Hoffman
In this classroom activity, students measure the energy use of various appliances and electronics and calculate how much carbon dioxide (CO2) is released to produce that energy.

Grade Level: Middle (6-8)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Energy, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Mitigation of climate change, Environmental Science:Energy:Fossil Fuels, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary