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Primer on the Organization of this Learning Unit
1
Getting Started: The Region Selector
The first step in using the Learning Unit is to click on the region where you and your students are located so the content will be more relevant. While the majority of the material that makes up the learning unit is the same for all regions, there are significant differences; where possible, the content for each region includes articles and data that focus specifically on how climate change will affect that region or areas within that region.
2
The Opening Page: Choosing a Principle
Once students select their region, they will be taken to this page, which is the opening page of the Learning Unit for whatever region you have chosen. Here you can select an Essential Principle, of which there are 10 (including the introduction). You and your students can also explore various resources that include Climate News Headlines, Climate Tools, Climate Apps and Widgets, and Global and Regional Vital Signs.
Click on the red circles below for more information on each part of the page.
3
Setting the Stage: An Introduction to the Principle
When you choose a principle on the opening page, you will be taken to a page like the one below, which is the first page of the principle. It has a video introduction of the principle and navigation tools (tools that will appear on each of the subsequent pages of the principle).
Click on the red circles below for more information on each part of the page.
4
Overview of the Concepts Key to the Principle
The third page of each principle has a table that lists the key concepts or topics associated with that principle. Clicking on any of the topics will expand the the topic, summarizing the information for each that students, at the high school earth science level should know.
Click on the red circles below for more information on each part of the page.
5
The Concepts: Detailed and Multi-level, Multi-media Content
The fourth page of each principle starts the concept-by-concept detail of the learning unit. The content becomes increasingly detailed and more complex so that the content can be used at multiple levels from high school through college. For example, a teacher at the high school level can have students read only the opening paragraphs and, if time allows, watch a video. You might also assign a graphic. Instructors at the college level can be assigned all of the above and the featured articles along with links to the National Climate Assessment or interactive models.
Click on the red circles below for more information on each part of the page.
6
The Teacher Pages for Each Principle: Resources to Assist in Teaching the Principles
One of the most important parts of the Learning Unit for you as a teacher or college instructor is the Teacher Pages for each Principle. To access them, navigate to the teachers' pages by clicking the menu icon      in the upper left-hand corner of the website. From there click "Teachers", then "Teachers Pages", and then select the Teacher Page you want:
The Teachers' Pages provide a summary of the principle, the importance of teaching it, challenges you might face, how to use the principle in your classroom, activities you can do associated with the principle, references, and resources.
Click on the red circles below for more information on each part of the page.
7
The Labs: Activities for In and Out of the Classroom
The labs in this learning unit, of which there are ten, are intended to accompany an introductory college course on climate change, but they can also be used to supplement and enhance learning at the high school level.
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.
These three buttons provide resources you and your students can utilize to support and enhance your students' understanding of climate science. For example, teachers and students can use can use the "Climate News Headline" button to stay as up-to-date as possible on what's happening scientifically, socially, economically, and politically with the climate. We have included six different top-rated climate news feeds. With the "Tools" button, you and your students can use NASA, NOAA, USGS, and other tools to obtain climate data or use models to predict your region's climate future. We have included fourteen different tools. With the "Apps" button, your students can download fun and interesting climate apps and widgets. We encourage you to explore these three buttons yourself and find ways to use them creatively in your classroom.
The Essential Principles presented in the learning unit are based on the work of multiple science agencies, non-governmental organizations, and numerous individuals under the leadership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). They present information deemed vital to an understanding of Earth’s climate, the impacts of climate change, and approaches to adaptation or mitigation. We have expanded on the original seven principles developed by this group by adding two (not including the Introduction) and by fleshing each of the principles out with in-depth content. On this page, you can click on any one of the principles to access its content, which is broken down into multiple subprincipals or concepts.
The Essential Climate Science Principles include:
Introduction
1. The Sun is Primary
2. Climate is Comlex
3. Live Affects Climate; Climate Affects Life
4. Climate is Variable
5. Greenhouse Affect
6. Understanding Climate
7. Humans Affect Climate
8. Consequences of a Changing Climate
9. Humans Can Take Action
Summary
These buttons provide links to websites that provide up-to-date information about CO2 levels, global temperatures, Arctic ice minimums, land ice, sea level and regional and more local information on temperature and precipitation.
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 Paragraph
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.
The Videos
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.
Charts
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.
National Climate Assessment Links
The National Climate Assessment (NCA) holds a wealth of great material on the climate and how it is changing. The website is not only easy to use, but also compelling in its presentation. It includes articles, charts and graphs, and detailed references. Especially with Principle 8, we have included links to the NCA website where we felt it would enhance or deepen student understanding of the concept. Click on the link, and the pertinent page from the NCA site will open in a separate window as shown above.
Interactive Graphics
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.
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