When you click on one of the    icon on the map, a window slides out with climate change information about the region. From this slide-out, you can click on the blue button to take you to that region's version of the Learning Unit. The example below shows the slide-out for the Plateau Region.

When you click on one of the region buttons beneath the map, a window opens that lists the tribes in that region so tribal students unfamiliar with the regions can choose the appropriate version of the learning unit.

You can navigate the pages of the Principle by clicking through the navigation circles or "bubbles" at the top of the page, or you can just click on the double arrows on the right and left sides of the page to move through the pages consecutively.

This is the introductory video of the dramatic video series that accompanies the curriculum. In addition to this introduction, each Principle opens with an episode. In the 10-episode series, two tribal students, Alysa Pretty On Top and Riley Arlee, learn from elders, cultural leaders, tribal scientists and land managers how climate change is affecting their community, everything from increasing wildfires to the timing of the Tribe's First Foods ceremony. Each episode is linked to the scientific principle it accompanies. For example, in the episode for Principle 5, which is on the Greenhouse Effect, the students learn about greenhouse gases from a tribal scientist and then experience the effect directly as they don buffalo robes on a hot day, the robes trapping their body heat just as the greenhouse gases trap heat that would otherwise escape from the Earth's atmosphere. The series helps to make abstract concepts about climate change concrete.

Each Principle opens with an episode of the Living Landscape Video Series. In the 10-episode series, two tribal students, Alysa Pretty On Top and Riley Arlee, learn from elders, cultural leaders, tribal scientists and land managers how climate change is affecting their community, everything from increasing wildfires to the timing of the Tribe's First Foods ceremony. Each episode is linked to the scientific principle it accompanies. For example, in the episode for Principle 5, which is on the Greenhouse Effect, the students learn about greenhouse gases from a tribal scientist and then experience the effect directly as they don buffalo robes on a hot day, the robes trapping their body heat just as the greenhouse gases trap heat that would otherwise escape from the Earth's atmosphere. The series helps to make abstract concepts about climate change concrete.

This essay is about how climate change is impacting tribal communities throughout North America, drawing primarily from the culture and history of two of the indigenous peoples of the Plateau region: the closely related Séliš (Salish or “Flathead”) and Ql̓ispé (Kalispel or Pend d’Oreille). It explores the changes tribes are seeing and their responses to those changes and looks with a hopeful eye to the future.

Above you see the concepts or topics covered under Principle 8: "Climate Change will have Consequences for the Earth System and Human Lives". As you can see, there are 9 concepts listed, and that's just for this one principle. Each of the concepts has a page devoted to it with videos, charts, graphics, detailed readings, and more. As a teacher or instructor, you may not have time to cover all of the concepts for a single principle in detail. If that's the case, you can decide the ones you want to assign, and for those have your students go to the actual page for that concept, where they will find the detailed information. For those concepts that you don't have time to learn about in detail, you or your students can use this table, and simply click on each concept to expand it, and read the summary of what the students should know and understand.

When a student clicks on a concept or topic, it expands to reveal a brief summary of the concept (in the screenshot above for example, we have expanded the "Extreme Weather Events are Increasing" topic). For the high school earth science level (9th-grade), if students learn the information in the summary portions of this table, they will know what they need to about it, and if they want more information—to watch a video about it or view charts, tables or graphics or do further reading, for example—they can click on the "Jump to…" link.

In this way, you, as a teacher, can use these tables to teach about all the concepts for each principle in a more expedited fashion, while assigning further reading or videos only for those you deem important to know more about. On the other hand, if you are an environmental science teacher (teaching at the 11th or 12th-grade level) or a college instructor with more time for the learning unit, you can use this table as a jumping-off point for the more detailed content.

The opening paragraphs for each concept explain the key elements of that concept, and for students up to the 11th grade, probably provides enough background unless a student wants to learn more, in which case they can explore other parts of the page. Note that to save space, we have used a "Read more…" button after about 10 or so lines. When a student clicks on "Read more…" it will open a window like the one at right above, that provides the full text of the opening paragraphs, which is something the students can read quickly, taking away a basic but sound understanding of the concept.

Almost all of the concepts have videos associated with them. These "concept videos" explain at a relatively basic level what students need to know about the concept. Most are under five minutes in length and so they not only match student attention spans but fit easy to fit within a class period where time is limited. They reinforce the key points of the opening paragraphs and offer a good alternative for students that have difficulty with reading comprehension. When you click on the video box (identifiable by the play button), you open a new video window like the one at right above where the students can watch the video without the distractions of other things on the page.

We have included charts wherever we thought it would enhance understanding of the concept. Most of these use NOAA or NASA data and many come from ClimateCentral, a highly respected independent organization of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting facts about the changing climate and its impact on the public. Many are animated and are powerful ways of increasing understanding. Usually, clicking on a chart will enlarge it, as shown above. Click on the "X" in the upper right hand corner of the enlargement window to close it.

We have included a large number of interactive graphics and simple models that the students can use to enhance their understanding (many from Climate Central). In this example, the interactive graphic allows students to explore how sea level rise will affect the coastal communities of the U.S. The ability to interact with a graphic increases student interest and understanding, so we encourage you to use these in your classroom discussions.

Every Concept has one or more "Feature Articles" located toward the bottom of the page. The science content of the articles is generally more complex and detailed then other material on the page. The readings are generally at a college freshman or sophomore level, and college instructors will want to assign them. High school environmental science instructors may also want to assign them, but selectively. Students and teachers can print the article by clicking on the printer icon at the bottom right of the page.