The Impacts of Climate Change on the Environment

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• critical thinking
• collaboration
• communication
• reflection

Australian Curriculum (v9.0) content description:

• Investigate the physical conditions of a habitat and analyse how the growth and survival of living things is affected by changing physical conditions. AC9S6U01
• compare reversible changes, including dissolving and changes of state, and irreversible changes, including cooking and rusting that produce new substances AC9S6U04

Relevant parts of Year 6 achievement standards:

Students can explain how changes in physical conditions affect living things and classify and compare reversible and irreversible changes to substances.

Syllabus outcomes: ST1-4LW-S, SC4-17CW

General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking,  Ethical Understanding

Cross-curriculum priority:  Sustainability

UN SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

• Target 13.3 - Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning

• 2 glass jars with lids
• 2 squares of chocolate (guess you better eat the rest of the block!)
• 2 thermometers that fit inside the jars
• Bicarbonate soda and white vinegar
• A small candle and a lighter (or matches)
• Device to play media to the class
• Threatened Ecological Communities Factsheets, VIC, TAS, SA, WA, NT, ACT, QLD, NSW (1 per group)
• Climate Change in a Jar Experiment Sheet

This unit of lessons, along with the other units in the Skills and Jobs For a Transitioned Economy package, aim to teach students how to be climate solution entrepreneurs. These lessons will equip students with the relevant skills and knowledge of jobs and career pathways that will be able to sustain our economy once it has transitioned away from fossil fuels. Cool.org thanks our philanthropic partners, the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and Boundless Earth, for their generous contributions in helping us to create these resources.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – present information, facilitate class discussion.

How To Teach Sustainability With Hope

This course is for both primary and secondary teachers of all subjects, but especially for English, Science, Humanities and Geography teachers who are covering climate change and the cross-curriculum priority of sustainability.