Climate Change Impacts

Lesson Plans

Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Earth and Space Sciences, Geography

Scientist Reviewed

Provided by MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

Open Resource

What it is

This resource about the uneven impacts of climate change includes a lesson plan, a podcast, a water cycle game, discussion questions, and a resilience investigation activity.
Students will learn that different parts of the world will experience different climate impacts. Some places will have extreme weather, while others will experience severe drought. These changes will impact water security, create dangerous heat and humidity situations, and change the spread of diseases such as malaria.

Teaching tips

Positives

This resource includes a variety of well-designed components that will appeal to many learning styles.
The podcast includes a time-stamped transcript.

Additional Prerequisites

Students should be familiar with the water cycle.

Differentiation

Economics classes could use this resource to discuss the financial effects of climate change.
Social studies and geography classes use this lesson in a discussion about the unequal effects of climate change on the Global South.
Other resources on this topic include this library of images on the impacts of climate change, this lesson plan and activity on what causes droughts, and this lesson on how climate change impacts youth in the United States.

From the scientist review

A transcript and educator guide, along with additional resource links, are provided. In the podcast, an MIT expert is interviewed and discusses local and regional climate impacts with a focus on heatwaves and the resulting health impacts. Emission scenarios are presented and the likely range of impact is discussed. This resource is recommended for teaching.

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At a glance

Grades: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Geography
Other types: Articles/Websites, Activity - Classroom, Podcasts
Format: PDF
Language: English
Location: Earth
Provider: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
Authors: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
Published: April 27, 2021
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · D2.Geo.4.6-8 + 24 more

Core

Core Standards legacy

D2.Geo.4.6-8D2.Geo.4.6-8 Explain how cultural patterns and economic decisions influence environments and the daily lives of people in both nearby and distant places.
D2.Geo.5.6-8D2.Geo.5.6-8 Analyze the combinations of cultural and environmental characteristics that make places both similar to and different from other places.
D2.Geo.9.6-8D2.Geo.9.6-8 Evaluate the influences of long-term human-induced environmental change on spatial patterns of conflict and cooperation.
D2.Geo.10.6-8D2.Geo.10.6-8 Analyze the ways in which cultural and environmental characteristics vary among various regions of the world.
D2.Geo.11.6-8D2.Geo.11.6-8 Explain how the relationship between the environmental characteristics of places and production of goods influences the spatial patterns of world trade.
HS-ESS2-2.HS-ESS2-2. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
HS-ESS2-4.HS-ESS2-4. Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems result in changes in climate.
HS-ESS3-5.HS-ESS3-5. Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.
HS-ESS3-6.HS-ESS3-6. Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
D2.Geo.10.9-12D2.Geo.10.9-12 Evaluate how changes in the environmental and cultural characteristics of a place or region influence spatial patterns of trade and land use.
D2.Geo.9.9-12D2.Geo.9.9-12 Evaluate the influence of long-term climate variability on human migration and settlement patterns, resource use, and land uses at local-to-global scales.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.9CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.3CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.

Connecticut Climate Education Hub

Connecticut Climate Education Hub Standards legacy

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.9CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.3CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
6.Geo.4.a.6.Geo.4.a. Explain how cultural patterns influence the environment and daily life within and among regions (e.g., pollution of the Ganges River, Croatian access to Adriatic Seacoast, Main-Danube waterway, Chinese New Year, Hajj).
6.Geo.5.b.6.Geo.5.b. Compare the similarities and differences of cultural and environmental characteristics within and among regions (e.g., Abrahamic religions in Israel and Palestine, regional identity in India, Northern and Southern China).
7.Geo.9.a.7.Geo.9.a. Evaluate the influences of long-term human-induced environmental change on spatial patterns of conflict and cooperation within a region (e.g., State Barrier Fence of Western Australia, uncontacted Indigenous tribes, Third Agricultural Revolution).
7.Geo.10.a.7.Geo.10.a. Analyze how cultural characteristics vary among regions and shape diversity of local communities (e.g., cultural centers, diasporas, cultural universals, taboos, linguistics).
MW.Geo.10.a.EvaluateMW.Geo.10.a.Evaluate how the cultural and environmental changes caused by industrialization influenced spatial patterns of trade and land use (e.g., Enclosure Movement, Bombay Spinning and Weaving Company, Treaty of Amity and Commerce, Suez Canal).
MW.Geo.9.a.MW.Geo.9.a. Evaluate the influence of long-term climate variability on contemporary human migration, settlement patterns, resource use, and land use at local-to-global scales (e.g., heat waves, desertification, loss of biodiversity, fish migration, irrigation, wildfires).
HS-ESS2-2.HS-ESS2-2. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
HS-ESS2-4.HS-ESS2-4. Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems result in changes in climate.
HS-ESS3-5.HS-ESS3-5. Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth’s systems.
HS-ESS3-6.HS-ESS3-6. Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.

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