Climate Change for Kids
What: Teaching children in East LA about climate change and sustainable living through fun activities
When: 2021, Beginning of April - mid May
How: Activities, Videos, Worksheets, and projects with students from KIPP Raíces Academy in East Los Angeles.
Why: There is a large climate change education disparity in minority communities; the future of our planet depends on the education of the younger generations and of future innovators on how to take care of the planet.
When: 2021, Beginning of April - mid May
How: Activities, Videos, Worksheets, and projects with students from KIPP Raíces Academy in East Los Angeles.
Why: There is a large climate change education disparity in minority communities; the future of our planet depends on the education of the younger generations and of future innovators on how to take care of the planet.
Week 1: Climate Change basics
The kids drew pictures showing what they love and appreciate about the Earth. The goal was to build appreciation so they would be more receptive to learning about climate change and how to live sustainably. They also learned about the differences between weather and climate, the greenhouse effect, the relationship between global warming and climate change, and how humans directly cause global warming. There was an emphasis on the idea that despite the name "global warming" does not mean that all places will experience fires or droughts. Global warming causes more extreme weather overall. |
Week 2: Biodiversity
Students came back from the previous week having taken a nature walk or a walk around their backyard in order to appreciate nature a bit more and to notice the biodiversity that exists in their own neighborhoods. This week was focused on declining biodiversity as a result of deforestation, overfishing in the oceans, plastic pollution, the soy and meat industry, and the palm oil industry. They learned about ways that they can reduce their impact by eating and buying less red meat, switching from disposable plastics to reusable products, and paying attention to the companies they buy from and the ingredients in their food. They also learned about the effect of deforestation on indigenous populations, surrounding communities, and people's health. The homework for this week was to take a survey to help recognize their family's harmful habits and where they had room for improvement in terms of living sustainably. |
Week 3: Food Waste
The week prior the kids had expressed an interest in learning how to compost so this week was focused on food waste and composting as an aspect of sustainable living. The kids learned about how food waste produces methane, why food waste is bad for the environment and for society, and how to combat food waste. |
Week 4: Oceans and Coral Reefs / Final review
This was the final week. The kids wanted to focus and talk more about the oceans and dying coral reefs. They learned about rising sea levels, ocean pollution, micro plastics, ocean acidification, overfishing, and the importance of coral reefs to the environment. We then reviewed everything we had learned over the sessions and the kids did a fun final kahoot. |
In conclusion...
I was very impressed with their enthusiasm, knowledge, and curiosity during the sessions. I definitely plan on continuing with this project next year, maybe doing more sessions or helping the kids plan a project to do around their own school campus. I think one of the most difficult parts of the project was coming up with suggestions for things that the kids could implement at home that they would be excited about and would actually do as opposed to overwhelming them with suggestions that they would forget or ignore. Overall, I really liked this project I enjoyed it and I am excited to continue and build upon it next year.
I was very impressed with their enthusiasm, knowledge, and curiosity during the sessions. I definitely plan on continuing with this project next year, maybe doing more sessions or helping the kids plan a project to do around their own school campus. I think one of the most difficult parts of the project was coming up with suggestions for things that the kids could implement at home that they would be excited about and would actually do as opposed to overwhelming them with suggestions that they would forget or ignore. Overall, I really liked this project I enjoyed it and I am excited to continue and build upon it next year.