Let's create continuous conversations about climate change education: Spreading the Sediment of Science!

Redlining: Understanding Our Past to Reimagine Our Future

Provided by: UCI Science Project |Published on: March 13, 2024

Centers Equity and JusticeLesson Plans Grades

Synopsis

This three day lesson plan will teach students about the unequal distribution of green spaces in cities, with a culminating activity that encourages activism through art.
Students will learn about the historical background of redlining, how it impacts health, green spaces, and the importance of parks.

Share: This lesson plan is licensed under Creative Commons.

Subjects: SCI, HIST, HLTH

Authors: UCI Science Project

Region: North America, USA - West, United States, Global

Positives

This lesson is thorough, interdisciplinary, and engaging.
The teaching notes, which can be viewed below each slide, are excellent and include citations that allow for continued learning.

Additional Prerequisites

Students will need their Google account information to sign into Adobe in order to create an infographic during the third day of the lesson.

Differentiation

This lesson would work well in science, history, or art classes; classes can focus on the data and science behind the importance of green spaces, the historical implications and impacts of redlining and equality, and how art is a powerful tool for activism.
The worksheets included allow for individual and group work and will facilitate engaging class discussions.
Each of the two worksheets can be used with younger students as a whole class or small group activity, while older or advanced students could each work on different cities and share or chart their findings.
For the culminating infographic activity, you could scaffold by providing information for younger or struggling students.
Other related resources include this lesson plan about redlining and environmental racism, this lesson and activity where students create their own equitable cities, and this video about urban heat impacts in communities of color.

Framework for Shifting Paradigms in Climate Education

This resource exemplifies the Centers Equity and Justice Key Focus Area.

Core Component 1: Intersectionality and Systemic Understanding
- Day 2 emphasizes the importance of creating solutions that consider the cultural and ecological systems in place, noting the example of the invasive palm trees planted in San Pedro salt marshes and how they negatively impact the ecosystem.
Core Component 2: Community Engagement and Action-Oriented Learning
- In the final activity, students are tasked with creating an infographic that informs others about what they learned about environmental justice and engages them with a call to action.
Core Component 3: Inclusive Pedagogy and Culturally Responsive Instruction
- The introductory activity, which draws on students’ knowledge, acknowledges that students have unique experiences and ideas that are valuable to the conversation. The lessons also feature other activities that center on students' funds of knowledge, or knowledge based on their cultural practices.

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