Audubon Adventures

Getting Started with
Let’s Change Climate Change

  1. Read the Background for Teachers essay. It contains more in-depth information that will help you answer questions and guide students’ exploration. Also review Audubon’s 2019 report, Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink, which starkly shows the connection between climate change and its present and potential effects on the lives and habitats of birds. That connection is referred to in the student magazine and other components of this Audubon Adventures topic.
  2. Familiarize yourself with the For Kids content for “Let’s Change Climate Change.”
  3. Review the classroom- and field-based hands-on activities in Teacher-led Activities and choose the ones suited to your curricular needs and classroom circumstances.
  4. Introduce the topic with a discussion. Here are some suggested discussion starters:
    • Can you describe some of the birds you have seen in our neighborhood? Do you think the birds that live here could live in a place that is very different, like a desert or a rainforest? Why or why not? Do you think there are any places on Earth where there are no birds? What kinds of places? Why do you think birds wouldn’t live there?
    • What do you think the word “climate” means? How would you describe the climate where we live? What do you think the word “weather” means? How would you describe our weather today?
    • Have you ever heard the term “climate change” before? What do you think it means?
    • Do you know of any ways that the climate might be changing? Please explain what you think.
    • Do you know or have you heard anything about what could be causing climate change? Please describe what you know or have heard.
    • Do you think climate change could be a problem for birds and other animals? Could it be a problem for people? Please explain why you think that.
    • What do you think people can do to help prevent some of the problems that climate change could cause?
  5. Review these topic-specific vocabulary words or have students define them as they discover them in context in the “Let’s Change Climate Change” student magazine (PDF):
    6. atmosphere
    blizzard
    carbon dioxide
    climate
    climate change
    coal
    drought
    environment
    fossil
    fossil fuel
    geothermal energy
    greenhouse gas
    habitat
    hurricane
    inhale
    methane
    migration
    natural gas
    oil
    predator
    recycle
    renewable
    renewable energy sources
    solar energy
    tornado
    United Nations
    weather
    wildfire
    wildlife
    wind energy

    Definitions of all vocabulary words can be found in the online Naturalist’s Glossary.

  6. With the whole class or in small groups, review the Audubon Adventures student magazine, “Let’s Change Climate Change,” and other student content that you’ve incorporated into your teaching or that students have explored on their own.
  7. Do the hands-on activities you’ve selected, and follow up with review and discussion.
  8. Download the Assessment questions and answer key as a tool for evaluating students’ learning with “Let's Change Climate Change.”
  9. Extend learning with print, online, and video resources found in the Naturalist’s Bibliography.

Photos: Patricia Monteiro