A Climate Future
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Provided by: OER Project|Published on: August 14, 2025
Lesson PlansScientist Reviewed
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Scientist Reviewed This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this module from the OER Project: Climate, students will explore what the future may look like based on different warming scenarios.
- Students will explore how reducing emissions will lessen the impacts of extreme heat, droughts, and other impacts in the health, food, and transportation sectors and identify climate careers based on their interests.
- The module also includes a writing activity where students will analyze decarbonization strategies to determine the best ones.
- This is one of many lessons in the online Climate course by OER Project.
Subjects: Civics, Engineering, Career Skills
Authors: OER Project: Climate
Region: Global
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- Having students look to the future and careers they may have to address climate change is a great way to turn hopelessness into hopefulness when discussing a climate future.
- Getting to know different career opportunities through a graphic biography is a fun and novel way for students to quickly see some options.
Prerequisites
- To access the teaching materials, which include several guides, teachers will have to create a free account. Students can still access the module if teachers do not have an account.
- To complete the DBQ writing activity, students may benefit from having had a previous lesson about decarbonization strategies.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Some students may become anxious or overwhelmed when thinking about the impacts climate change may have on their future. To support students, teachers can give them frequent breaks and provide them with additional strategies for processing emotions. This guide may help educators support their students.
- Some students may benefit from having guided notes to add to as they read through the articles.
- Teachers with limited class time can have students read the articles using a jigsaw method, as indicated in the teacher guide.
- To make connections to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, teachers can have students review the goals prior to reading their article about future impacts. Then, students can identify one or two of the goals that best address these impacts.
- Drawing on the graphic biographies as inspiration, students can create graphic biographies to illustrate how they imagine their future.
This resource presents projections of how climate change will impact human health, food systems, and transportation. Data is presented in clear figures and maps adapted from the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Several climate careers are also presented. The only issue is that this resource relies on the previous IPCC report, but given that the focus is largely on data literacy, this lesson is still valuable and recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
About the Partner Provider
OER Project
OER Project equips teachers with free, innovative curricula and teaching tools that spark curiosity and inspire critical thinking in students. Our courses place student inquiry at the center of learning, and are designed to be adaptable across age levels and state standards.
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
