Lesson Plans & Activities

Design a Resilient Future

This is a lesson that can be used to get ideas and prepare for the Community Resilience Expo. 

In this lesson, students will work in small groups to develop an idea to increase community resilience, utilizing Design Thinking. 
Design Challenge
Colorado-Based
Middle School
High School
Community Resilience Expo Overview

The Expo is best taught at the end of HEART Force unit, after students are familiar with the hazard. 

The Community Resilience Expo is a culminating event for the HEART Force curriculum, where students will develop and present original ideas to increase resilience in their community. 

Unit
Colorado-Based
Middle School
High School
How Can We Decrease Our Impact on the Earth’s Climate at our School?

This is the first lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which was designed to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.

In this design challenge lesson students explore the Denver Public School District’s solid waste plan and discuss how their school can save or decrease emissions by reducing solid waste at our school.

Design Challenge
Colorado-Based
Middle School
High School
How Does Our School Food System Create Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

This is the second lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.

In this design challenge lesson, students examine their school food system and develop an investigation about food waste in order to know what should change.

 

Design Challenge
Colorado-Based
Middle School
High School
How Can We Understand Waste and Emissions in Our School's Food System?

This is the third lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.

This lesson outlines for students how to design and carry out an investigation to audit their school’s food waste system.

Design Challenge
Middle School
High School
How Can We Reduce Emissions Associated with Food Waste in Our School?

This is the fourth lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.

In this activity students utilize the data that is collected and propose solutions to mitigate food waste in their school.

Design Challenge
Middle School
High School
How Can We Present Solutions for Food Waste and Emissions at School?

This is the fifth lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.

This lesson provides guidance for students to create and practice a presentation about their design challenge results that they developed in the previous lessons and how to present it to the school administration.

Design Challenge
Middle School
High School
Wildfire Virtual Expo

This lesson provides a virtual alternative to the HEART Force Expo curriculum.

This is a streamlined lesson for students to prepare for a Community Resilience Expo, focusing on wildfire.

 

Design Challenge
Colorado-Based
Middle School
High School
Flood Virtual Expo

This lesson provides a virtual alternative to the HEART Force Expo curriculum.

This is a streamlined lesson for students to prepare for a Community Resilience Expo, focusing on flood.

Design Challenge
Colorado-Based
Middle School
High School
Drought Virtual Expo

This lesson provides a virtual alternative to the HEART Force Expo curriculum. 

This is a streamlined lesson for students to prepare for a Community Resilience Expo, focusing on drought.
Design Challenge
Colorado-Based
Middle School
High School
HEART Force Curriculum Overview

This unit consists of several lessons and can take anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks to teach, depending on which lesson teacher choose to incorporate.

The HEART Force curriculum builds understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.

Unit
Colorado-Based
Middle School
High School
Arctic Feedbacks: Not All Warming Is Equal

This storyline unit consists of 10 lessons, each tied to NGSS Earth's systems standards

In this MS/HS unit, students engage with 360° virtual field trips, authentic Arctic datasets, and app-based labs to construct models and explanations for the unit driving question, "Why might the Arctic be warming four times as fast as the rest of the world?"
Unit
Polar Science
Middle School
High School
DISCOVER-AQ Curriculum Overview

The four DISCOVER-AQ modules can be completed independently, sequentially, or extended into a larger unit of study.

The DISCOVER-AQ curriculum integrates real-word research with real-life learning to answer the question: What are the causes and effects of air quality issues and how do they affect human health and the environment?

Unit
Middle School
Illustration of two people high-fiving in a work environment

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