Evaluating Climate Impacts
Provided by: OER Project|Published on: September 12, 2025|Last updated: September 26, 2026
Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Lesson Plans
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences
Authors: OER Project: Climate
Location: Earth
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this module from OER Project: Climate, students learn about the direct and indirect effects of climate change on people and communities, such as more fires, droughts, heat waves, and floods, as well as sea level rise and polar air shifts in the winter.
- Students will see how climate models help identify the degree of warming we might expect and the severity of climate effects we may experience.
- This is one of many lessons in the online Climate course by OER Project.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- Seeing how climate change impacts their own lives will help students see the importance of climate action.
- The readings for this resource are student-friendly and brief.
Prerequisites
- Learning about the harsh realities of climate change may be difficult for some students, especially when discussing personal impacts. Teachers should give these students opportunities to process their emotions as they arise.
- To access a teaching guide for this module, teachers will need to create a free account.
Differentiation & Implementation
- When completing the Impacts Personal Inventory, students may need help seeing how climate change can affect them in indirect ways. For example, they may not experience wildfires directly, but the smoke from distant wildfires may prevent them from playing outside for a few days.
- Teachers can use the section Defining Indirect Impacts to explain how the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13, Climate Action, is a critical component of sustainable development, as its impacts affect many systems related to the other SDGs.
- Teachers may want students to complete short research projects to learn more about one of the direct impacts of climate change and record all of the indirect impacts that stem from it.
Direct and indirect impacts of climate change are detailed, with important terms highlighted and clearly defined. Throughout, all claims are grounded in sound science, and an excellent description of how climate models work is included in the video. This resource is very strong and is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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