When it comes to educating children about the environment, the entire world is a classroom. Here are some resources to get students engaged in their world, and the topics of global warming and climate change. The One Million Acts of Green Program works closely with the National Wildlife Federation, The Climate Project, and its website partner GreenNexxus to provide what we believe are high-quality, age-appropriate resources for K-12, and beyond.
"What’s Up with Global Warming?” A Slideshow and Presenter’s Guide
The slideshow, for students in grades 5 through 12, can be shown as part of a science class, social studies class, or after-school environmental club meeting. You’ll be able to explain how global warming works, when it started, how it’s measured, and how students can help.
This slideshow and its accompanying guide were designed in accordance with the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guidelines for Environmental Education and the National Science Education Standards.
The Green Hour: 60 Minutes Outdoors
Most adults of a certain age have childhood memories of carefree days spent playing outdoors - climbing, digging, collecting, building, and exploring the natural world around them, at their own pace, in their own way.
But today's overscheduled kids are increasingly plugged in to electronic devices and media and unplugged from the experience of nature. Their senses - including, most sadly, their sense of wonder – can be bombarded, overwhelmed, and ultimately diminished.
Indeed, a
Kaiser Family Foundation study found that the average American child spends 44 hours per week (more than six hours a day) staring at some kind of electronic screen. Now, a growing wave of research indicates that children who spend time outdoors are healthier, overall, than their indoor counterparts.
The National Wildlife Federation recommends that parents give their kids a "Green Hour" every day, a time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world. This can take place in a garden, a backyard, the park down the street, or any place that provides safe and accessible green spaces where children can learn and play.
To give parents, teachers, and caregivers the information, tools, and inspiration to get children outside, NWF has created
GREENHOUR.COM, a website that provides a weekly parenting publication, rich in
family-friendly content. The site also hosts
a virtual community where families can learn, explore, and share their outdoor experiences and backyard adventures.
Visit
www.greenhour.com
Parents’ Guide for Talking about Climate Change
Is your child wondering what global warming is? Or worrying about the consequences? Review these tips to help you talk about global warming together now, and to equip your child to better understand and deal with the issue in the future.
Answering Kids’ Questions
What is global warming? Is it a big deal? How did it start? Do we have to fix it right now? Chances are, that if your children know about climate change, they’re asking questions you may need help answering. Take a look at these questions and answers for suggestions on how to answer the questions.
Green Your Game
This activity guide for schools, “Green Your Game,” is a five-day program that teaches K-8 students how to become fans of the planet.
The program is filled with environmental athletic games that address water, energy, waste and transportation, and delivers an underlying message that eco-friendliness can be cool and fun. Games are designed to help children identify symbols, phrases, and practices that are good for the environment, as well as help teach how families can benefit from sustainable practices.
Cool the Earth
Cool The Earth is a transformational school-based climate change program that educates children and their families about climate change and motivates them to take simple, measurable actions at home to reduce their carbon footprint.
The 3-5 month program launches with a school-wide assembly featuring an age-appropriate play, which educates children about global warming and empowers them to take 20 low or no-cost actions to reduce their energy use at home. The program measures the actions the children and their families take from a coupon book which goes home with the kids, and celebrates the results on a visible banner at school. This program is available to any elementary school in the country at http:coolthearth.org.
The program has already motivated over 44,000 kids and their families to take over 80,000 actions to reduce their carbon emissions, eliminating 60 million pounds of global warming gases from the atmosphere.
Teaching Teens
“What’s Up with Global Warming?” A Slideshow and Presenter’s Guide
The slideshow, for students in grades 5 through 12, can be shown as part of a science class, social studies class, or after-school environmental club meeting. You’ll be able to explain how global warming works, when it started, how it’s measured, and how students can help.
This slideshow and its accompanying guide were designed in accordance with the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guidelines for Environmental Education and the National Science Education Standards.
Teens Take Action
See some examples of teens working together to raise awareness of issues of concern in their schools and communities, while making meaningful connections between what is learned and what can be changed. Action students build new skills in analyzing issues, public speaking, marketing, and creativity. Getting students involved in action projects make a difference in their environments by implementing their own solutions, ultimately linking education with accomplishment.
Find out more about how teens can take action, and download an action plan.
Working Toward a Green Future
There’s a wide range of careers focused on the environment, due in part to the fact that the environment affects nearly all aspects of our lives. The guide, “Toward a Green Career” can help teens build on many of the things they enjoy doing in their everyday lives into an environmental focus.
The guide is designed to help teens focus on the environment and wildlife protection in all areas of life – now and for the future. And, it will help them explore careers that complement both their in-school and out-of-school interests. The guide also provides information on the variety of careers that are available, as well as tips on how to match skills and interests with those careers.
An Inconvenient Truth: In The Classroom Curriculum
This curriculum focuses on global warming and what teens can do about it. It’s unique because it:
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Uses current environmental education materials to get compelling science instruction into classrooms
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Offers tailored and age appropriate contents for all ages and levels of development
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Offers educators a way to connect with students using activity-oriented lessons and projects
Register for “An Inconvenient Truth: In the Classroom”
See a sample lesson plan.
The Climate Project Onsite Presentation
The Climate Project (TCP) consists of 2,600 volunteers from throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Spain, and the UK, all personally trained by Al Gore to educate the public about climate change. TCP presenters have reached a combined 4 million people worldwide.
These volunteers hope to raise the awareness of fellow citizens about this crisis and informing them about potential solutions. Through this awareness, its members believe that all of us, together, can preserve the climate balance on which humanity and our planet depend.
About Climate Classroom
Environmental Education to Inspire the Next Generation of Leaders
Through its formation of the Climate Classroom, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is committed to creating developmentally appropriate curricula to educate students about the causes of and remedies for global warming.
NWF recently worked with the former Vice President Al Gore and the makers of the award-winning film “An Inconvenient Truth” to bring the issue of climate change from the big screen to the classroom.
Working with The Climate Project
NWF served as project advisers, curriculum developers, and faculty for The Climate Project Training Program. In its first year, this project taught 1,000 Americans and hundreds of community leaders in Australia and the United Kingdom to spread film’s message by equipping them with the skills to deliver Mr. Gore’s presentation in their communities.
Since then, NWF has created training programs and presentations for natural resource agency staff, gardeners, birders, and others in the industry. On the heels of these successful projects, the organization is pleased to release a high school curriculum as its latest addition to the Climate Classroom education initiative.
The curriculum featured on this page encourages students to analyze the science of global warming and its relevance to current events and their daily lives.
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