These materials were created by 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 Climate Change in Latin America Teacher Fellows. Each of the materials were created by participants for classroom use.The materials are separated by subject area, but some lessons are cross-curricular in nature. Lessons should be read and adapted by the classroom teacher to fit their specific needs.
Cross Curricular
Created by: Holly Hardin
Grade level: 8
NC Standards:
Math Content Standard(s)
NC.8.SP.1 Construct and interpret scatter plots for bivariate measurement data to investigate patterns of association between two quantities. Investigate and describe patterns such as clustering, outliers, positive or negative association, linear association, and nonlinear association.
NC.8.SP.2 Model the relationship between bivariate quantitative data to: Informally fit a straight line for a scatter plot that suggests a linear association. Informally assess the model fit by judging the closeness of the data points to the line.
NC.8.SP.3 Use the equation of a linear model to solve problems in the context of bivariate quantitative data, interpreting the slope and y-intercept.
Social Studies Content Standard(s)
I.1.10 Identify challenges and opportunities created in addressing local, state, tribal, regional, national, and/or global issues.
I.1.11 Use a range of civic approaches to address problems being investigated.
8.G.1.4 Explain the reasons for and effects of forced and voluntary migration on various groups in North Carolina and the nation.
Science Content Standard(s)
ESS.8.4.2 Engage in argument from evidence to explain the environmental consequences of the various methods of obtaining, transforming, and distributing energy.
ESS.8.4.3 Analyze and interpret data to illustrate the relationship between human activities and global temperatures since industrialization.
Impact of Climate Change on The Catholic Church in the U.S.A
Created by: John Cabascango
Grade level: 9-12; International Baccalaureate World Religions and 20th Century Topics
International Baccalaureate Standards:
Standard 1: The curriculum promotes students’ awareness of individual, local, national, and world issues.
Standard 2: The written curriculum provides opportunities for reflection on human commonality, diversity, and multiple perspectives. – Adapted from Ib Stand C2 Written Curriculum 7.,8.
Environmental Justice in Indigenous Communities
Created by: Tamara Friend
Grade level: 6-8
Essential Questions:
1. How does climate policy impact different Indigenous communities around the world?
2. What role can we play to minimize the negative effects of global warming?
3. What are some of the direct impacts of global warming on local vegetation and culture?
4. What are the primary drivers of the global environmental crisis?
5. How can Traditional Ecological Knowledge help scientists study climate change?
6. What can we learn from indigenous peoples to help us live sustainably in the face of climate change?
English Language Arts
Rhetorical Analysis and Climate Justice
Created by Katie Titler
Grade level: 9-10
Common Core Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.6 – Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.1 – Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.2– Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
Math
Impacts on Maize Production in Mexico
Created by: Stephanie Morgan
Grade level: 9/Math 1
NC Standards:
Standard 1:
NC.M1.A-SSE.1: Interpret expressions that represent a quantity in terms of its context.
NC.M1.A-SSE.1a. Identify and interpret parts of a linear, exponential, or quadratic expression, including terms, factors, coefficients, and exponents.
NC.M1.A-SSE.1b. Interpret a linear, exponential, or quadratic expression made of multiple parts as a combination of entities to give meaning to an expression.
Standard 2:
NC.M1.F-LE.1: Identify situations that can be modeled with linear and exponential functions, and justify the most appropriate model for a situation based on the rate of change over equal intervals.
Standard 3:
NC.M1.S-ID.6: Represent data on two quantitative variables on a scatter plot, and describe how the variables are related.
NC.M1.S-ID.6a.: Fit a least squares regression line to linear data using technology. Use the fitted function to solve problems.
NC.M1.S-ID.6b.: Assess the fit of a linear function by analyzing residuals.
NC.M1.S-ID.6c.: Fit a function to exponential data using technology. Use the fitted function to solve problems.
Understanding Ratios and Proportions through Climate Migration
Created by: Consuelo Johnson
Grade level: 6-8
NC Standards:
6.RP.3 Use ratio reasoning with equivalent whole-number ratios to solve real-world and mathematical problems
6.RP.1 Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language
6.SP.5 Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context.
Science
Adaptation: Human Innovation In Response To Cultural and Environmental Changes
Created by: Thomas Slusser
Grade level/Subject Area: 9-12; AP Environmental Science
College Board Standards:
2.4 – Ecological Tolerance: Ecosystems have structure and diversity that change over time. Ecological tolerance refers to the range of conditions, such as temperature, salinity, flow before injury or death results. Ecological tolerance can apply to individuals and to species.
2.6 – Adaptations: Organisms adapt to their environment over time, both in short- and long-term scales, via incremental changes at the genetic level. Environmental changes, either sudden or gradual, may threaten a species’ survival, requiring individuals to alter behaviors, move, or perish.
9.5 – Global Climate Change: Local and regional human activities can have impacts at the global level. Changes in climate, both short- and long-term, impact ecosystems.
Created by: Mike Bowen
Grade level/Subject area: 9-12; AP Environmental Science
College Board Standards:
Environmental Solutions: Propose and justify solutions to environmental problems.
7.A Describe environmental problems.
7.B Describe potential responses or approaches to environmental problems.
7.C Describe disadvantages, advantages, or unintended consequences for potential solutions.
7.D Use data and evidence to support a potential solution.
7.E Make a claim that proposes a solution to an environmental problem in an applied context.
7.F Justify a proposed solution, by explaining potential advantages.
Ensuring Biodiversity, One Seed at a Time
Created by: Wendi Pillars
Grade level/Subject Area: 6-8 Earth Science; 9-10 Biology
NC Standards:
Bio.2.1: Analyze the interdependence of living organisms within their environments.
Bio.2.2: Understand the impact of human activities on the environment (one generation affects the next).
EEn.2.7: Explain how the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere individually and collectively affect the biosphere.
EEn.2.8: Evaluate human behaviors in terms of how likely they are to ensure the ability to live sustainably on Earth.
To Understand Water Use and Depletion in Mexico City from Pre-Colonial Times to the Present
Created by: Maureen Legaria
Grade level/Subject Area: 9-10 Biology
NC Standards:
Bio 2.2.2: Explain how the use, protection, and conservation of natural resources by humans impact the environment from one generation to the next.
EEn 2.4.1: Evaluate human influences on freshwater availability.
EEn 2.6.3: Analyze the impacts that human activities have on global climate change.
Understanding Human Population Growth and Decline in the Face of Climate Change
Created by: Lydia Paulk
Grade Level/Subject Area: 11-12 AP Environmental Science
College Board Standards:
3.5 Explain how resource availability affects population growth.
3.7 Explain factors that affect total fertility rate in human populations.
3.8 Explain how human populations experience growth and decline.
9.5 Explain how changes in climate, both short- and long- term, impact ecosystems.
Climate Change in Latin America Mini Unit
Created by: Kristen Davenport
Grade level: 9-12; Earth and Environmental Science; Biology
NC Standards:
ESS.EES.5: Evaluate how human consumption patterns impact Earth’s systems.
Bio.5: Understand ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience.
Bio.5.2: Engage in argument from evidence to evaluate various solutions to reduce the impact of human activities on biodiversity and ecosystem health.
Social Studies
Latin America: Climate in Crisis
Created by: Elizabeth Viernes
Grade level/Subject Area: 9; World History
NC Standards:
WH.G.2: Analyze the intentional and unintentional consequences of human-environment interaction.
WH.G.2.2: Differentiate technological innovation and human-environment interaction in terms of intentional and unintentional consequences, now and in the past.
World Languages
El cambio climático en América Latina
Created by: Katie Mundell Barnwell
Grade level: 10-11
NC Standards:
Standard 1: Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions in Spanish.
Standard 2: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices, products, and perspectives of Spanish-speaking cultures.
Subestimamos el impacto del cambio climático en la educación (Spanish)
Created by: Vilma Perdomo-Seymour
Grade level: 9-12/International Baccalaureate
NC Standards:
Numbering: IM – Intermediate Mid Proficiency Level or IH – Intermediate High
IM.CMT.2.1 Recognize information about practices, products, and perspectives presented in texts on familiar and unfamiliar topics.
IM.COD.1.1 Understand how to participate in discussions on familiar academic topics and in uncomplicated settings.
IM.CLL.1.2 Use conversation skills to join and participate in a spontaneous discussion on a variety of familiar topics.
IM.CMT.2.1 Recognize information about practices, products, and perspectives presented in texts on familiar and unfamiliar topics.
IM.CLL.1.2 Use conversation skills to join and participate in a spontaneous discussion on a variety of familiar topics.
IM.CMT.2.1 Recognize information about practices, products, and perspectives presented in texts on familiar and unfamiliar topics.
IM.COD.3.3 Use readily available technology tools and digital literacy skills to present academic information in the target language.
IM.CMT.4.2 Explain how events in the target culture’s history have impacted contemporary perspectives, practices, and products.
Protecting the Future of Oaxaca City, One Action at the Time
Created by: Beatriz Ward
Grade level: 9-12
NC Standards:
Standard 1, Interpretive Mode: NH.ILC.1.1 Identify the topic and some isolated facts in informational texts.
Standard 2, Interpersonal Mode: NH.ILC.2.3 Request and provide information by asking and answering with practiced and some original questions on familiar and everyday topics, by using simple sentences.
Standard 3, Presentational Mode: NH.ICC.3.2 Provide information about very familiar topics from the target cultures and/or communities of language learners, using simple sentences most of the time.
The Silent Death of the World’s Languages (Spanish and English)
Created by: Evelyn Rivera
Grade level: 9-12
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Standards:
Standard 1: 1.1 Interpersonal Communication: Learners interact and negotiate meaning in spoken, signed, or written conversations to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions.
Standard 2: 1.2 Interpretive Communication: Learners understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.
Standard 3: 1.3 Presentational Communication: Learners present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media and adapting to various audiences of listeners, readers, or viewers.
Standard 4: 2.1 Relating Cultural Practices to Perspectives: Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures studied.
Standard 5: 3.2 Acquiring Information and Diverse Perspectives: Learners access and evaluate information and diverse perspectives that are available through the language and its cultures.
