Fires, Floods, and Droughts: Impacts of Climate Change in the U.S.

Activities

The CHRE framework, that draws on the pursuits of the 19^th century African American literary societies and other representations of African American genius and joy, will frame the activities for this unit.  Dr. Muhammad uses the terms layers, pursuits, and standards, interchangeably, but expressed more affection for the term pursuit when describing the goal that instruction has for students.  By using this language, the limitations of learning to simply pass a test become secondary. The idea that learning to improve one’s life becomes the primary goal. ^{58  59}This unit will also use the terms interchangeably.

Pursuit 1: Identity-Advancing Students Knowledge and Affirmations of Self and Others⁶⁰

Reclaiming identity was an important pursuit of African American literary societies.  It was imperative that they re-established their sense of identity that was stripped from them and their ancestors during the enslavement of Africans. To continue in this pursuit, students will consider their community identities and discuss the global and local impacts of climate change in this unit. This will be preceded by the introduction of key concepts and terms through the different modalities.

The following is a list of resources and activities that can be used to introduce the Identity Pursuit:

Visual/Audio Connections

• Climate Change for Kids⁶¹
• Climate Change Song⁶²
• Dear Future Generations: Sorry⁶³
• Discovery Education⁶⁴

Reading Connections

• This Is Our History: An Inspirational Story about Africans & African American History, Acceptance and Courage⁶⁵
• My City Speaks⁶⁶
• Exploring Meteorology, Earth Systems, and Climate Change⁶⁷
• What Is Climate Change? (What Was?)⁶⁸
• What Every Child Should Know About Climate Change | Children's Earth Sciences Books⁶⁹
• The Lonely Polar Bear (Happy Fox Books) A Subtle Way to Introduce Young Kids to Climate⁷⁰
• A Kid's Guide to Climate Change and Global Warming⁷¹
• Basher Science: Climate Change ⁷²

Assessments

Students will respond to readings and recall key terms/concepts through questioning and discussion protocols, protocols for building academic vocabulary, and protocols to check for understanding.

(DOK Level 1)

Pursuit 2:  Skills-Advancing Students Content Areas, Skills, and Proficiencies⁷³

The acquisition and honing of skills was a very important pursuit to the African American literary societies. Visitors to their weekly meetings told of how they engaged in, not only the pursuit of literacy, but also in writing processes, that included rigorous peer critiques, with the goal of publishing across genres. Engaging in the pursuit of skills is one of the layers of CHRE. To pursue Mathematics skills, as members of the literary societies pursued reading and writing skills, this unit will present opportunities for students to become proficient in interpreting and representing data.

Using individual climate journals, students will reflect and takes notes on shared literature to document what they know and have learned about temperature, air quality, and allergens. Recording their responses will be part of admit or exit ticket protocols.  As part of our daily routine, the class will assess their general health from a given list of symptoms and collect and graph data on 3 relevant health impacts of climate change: (1) temperature, (2) pollen count, and (3) air quality.

Representing and Interpreting Temperature Data

To capture temperature data, students will use the bar graph template (provided in the climate journal) to draw/represent the daily high temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, as found on weather.com. After collecting data for a few days, students will be prompted to compare the data to previous days. We will also perform calculations to compare the daily temperature to the average high temperature in Pittsburgh 90 years ago (1932), when the average temperature in August was 73.4°⁷⁴.

We will make use of engagement protocols and calculations to grapple with and answer questions that have starter phrases such as, How many more and How many less. We will also discuss how temperatures are rising all across the globe. This will be especially important when comparing the daily temperature to the high average from 1932. Students often struggle with these types of interpretive questions, so the pursuit of these skills will need to be supported with a protocol like the Catch and Release Protocol. With a protocol of this type, students will grapple with a question or calculation for a given amount of time, and then receive feedback and time to make revisions or corrections to their work. Students will also engage in comparison discussions to average temperatures from many years ago to make a connection to how temperatures are rising.

Representing and Interpreting Pollen Data

Pollen.com provides a scale for interpreting the daily pollen levels on a range from low to high. By entering a zip code, you can get a current allergy report that includes a pollen range for the current day, the previous day, and a prediction for the day after. This data is represented on somewhat of a pie chart. By choosing the 5-day allergy forecast, you will be able to see the pollen ranges for the next five days in bar graph form. By choosing the history report, you will be able to see the 30-day historic pollen levels in the form of a line plot.

As part of the 3^rd grade standards, students need to pursue the skills of transferring data from one type of representation to another, so students will look at the data and transfer it to the line plotting page in their climate journals to polish this skill.

Representing and Interpreting Air Quality Data

We will collaborate on tallying good air quality days and bad air quality days, on a classroom display. Airnow.gov provides air quality data by zip code and it is easily accessible to students through the use of technology. Figure 2 shows the basic categories and descriptions for air quality that can be used to help individuals assess the level of concern and care they should exercise on a given day. Individuals who are members of a sensitive group should be more mindful when the values of the index begin to rise above 50. Airnow.gov also gives more specific information on the exact air pollutant criteria that warrants the level of concern.

Figure 2-AQI Basics for Ozone and Particulate Pollution⁷⁵

Students will refer to this chart daily to categorize days, and at the end of each week, we will make use of the climate journals to represent the weekly data on a pictograph using small cloud bubbles to represent the number of days of each category that occurred. It is not uncommon for students to become confused when interpreting pictographs, where the key represents more than one, so it will be important to grapple, collaboratively with students on what our key should be.

Reading Connections

• Climate Change and Air Quality ⁷⁶
• Dixie Wants an Allergy⁷⁷
• Achoo! Why Pollen Counts⁷⁸
• Every Breath We Take: A Book About Air⁷⁹

Assessments

Students will be asked to complete graphs and respond to prompts asking them to compare the represented data. These responses will be used to support and inform instruction. Student work artifacts in the climate journals will also provide valuable opportunities to give feedback. During our interpretation of the data, we will discuss comparisons between daily data, but also historical data averages. Students will also solve one and two step problems consistent with the 3^rd grade Pennsylvania standards eligible content. (DOK Level 2 and 3)

Pursuit 3: Intellect-Advancing Students’ Knowledge Put Into Action⁸⁰

African American literary societies believed in cultivating their intellect, so they could critique and take action on the problems of the world, and engage and argue with other intellectuals. In this pursuit, students are challenged to think about and take action on world issues.  Through read-alouds, independent readings, drawings, and the use of discussion protocols, students will explore actions they can take to do their part to decrease emissions. Students will take part in writing responses to take a pledge to do something that makes a difference.

• Greta and the Giants: inspired by Greta Thunberg's stand to save the world ⁸¹
• The Story of Climate Change: A first book about how we can help save our planet ⁸²
• This Class Can Save the Planet⁸³
• Kid's Guide to Saving the Planet⁸⁴
• Our House Is on Fire: Greta Thunberg's Call to Save the Planet⁸⁵
• Our World Out of Balance: Understanding Climate Change and What We Can Do⁸⁶

Pursuit 4: Criticality- Advancing Students’ Understanding of Oppression, Equity, and Anti-racism⁸⁷

“Criticality is the capacity to read, write, and think in ways of understanding power, privilege, social justice, and oppression, particularly for populations who have been historically marginalized in the world.”⁸⁸  Students will identify ways in which unfair housing practices shaped the urban environment, and make connections to the health outcomes for African Americans. This will be done through questioning and discussion protocols. (DOK Level 4)

• The Fair Housing Five and the Haunted House by The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action ⁸⁹
• The Berenstain Bears New Neighbors⁹⁰
• A Pig is Moving In⁹¹

Pursuit 5: Joy-Advancing students’ happiness by elevating beautiful and truthful images, representations and narratives about self and others⁹²

Dr. Mohammed argues that all five pursuits are linked to education, and that would include the pursuit of joy. Joy is important because historically it was attended to in educational institutions that taught African American children. Restoring this joy to the pursuit of learning can be done by engaging students in activities that allow them to discuss and experience the happiness that can be found in a topic. For this unit, the students will have access to stories, videos, and experiences that bring back the enjoyment that has been and can be found in climate and weather. Some ideas are listed below:

Reading Connections

• The Meteorologist in Me⁹³
• The Wonder of Thunder⁹⁴
• I Like the Sun⁹⁵
• The Sun Shines Everywhere⁹⁶
• Professor Figgy's Weather and Climate Science Lab for Kids: 52 Family-Friendly Activities⁹⁷
• Africa: Tales from Beneath the African Sun⁹⁸
• Usha and the Stolen Sun⁹⁹
• Where Are You From?¹⁰⁰
• The Camping Trip¹⁰¹
• Outside, You Notice¹⁰²
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind¹⁰³

Culminating Activity

The Carnegie Science Center of Pittsburgh, is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, and is designed for children. It offers interactive exhibits and children’s programming. Among its program offerings are STEM programs called STEM adventures. As part of a culminating activity, students will take part in the STEM adventure entitled, Go With the Flow. This STEM adventure will invite students to explore the local effects of climate change on temperature and the rivers. Students will learn about erosion, run-off, and ways to protect the rivers. They will also perform experiments to test the river water for pH balance and other scientific properties. The trip will also include a tour of the many exhibits, including H2Oh!, an exhibit that shows the intersections and flow of Pittsburgh’s three famous rivers: the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers.

As students partake in this culminating activity, they will have the opportunity to engage in the synthesis of prior learning and apply it to new problems. (DOK Level 4)