Instructify

September 22, 2009

With the Health Care Reform debate in the forefront of national news, other major legislation, such as the Climate Change Bill, has been pushed aside. However, I have no doubt that the climate change issue will rise to the top again. As a teacher, I feel it is my responsibility to make scientifically literate students able to engage in reasonable and logical debate, using sound evidence as their basis. There are many tools available to help me with this, and the United States Global Change Research Program has recently come out with a new one, the Climate Change Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Educators.

This toolkit is actually an updated version of a kit released in 2001. The updated version uses updated climate science data, multimedia resources, and ecoregion case studies to educate students about the effects of climate change. On the main page, you will see the United States divided into 11 ecoregions. Upon clicking on one of the ecoregions (the Eastern Coastline, for example), you are taken to a page with information, activities, data, and other downloads directly related to that ecoregion.

In addition to the region-specific information and activities, the website also provides some general climate change materials to download , including a teacher’s guide, a climate change wheel, fact sheets, and a 12-minute, high-definition video on climate change.This kit is aimed mostly at middle-grades teachers and students. However, I believe that many of the activities could be modified up or down for use in other grade levels.

I think this toolkit is unique because it keys the resources to different ecoregions of the country thus allowing you to make the instruction more real-life and meaningful for your students depending on where you live. I also think this website offers a lot of high-quality information and resources to use to help educate your students before the climate change debate is back in the public eye.

Climate Change Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Educators

Instructifeature: It’s getting hot in here! Teaching about climate change