Inconvenient Truths and Other Fun Topics

Because I felt the need to shore up on my knowledge of carbon footprints and other related issues, I was excited to teach a lesson to sixth graders on global warming at Paul Public Charter School with my partner, Ioannis Saratsis. While I do love the opportunity to teach lessons on topics I'm very familiar with, the fact that I am not an expert on global warming actually helped me approach the issue with all the questions in mind that somebody else who might not be an expert on global warming—such as a sixth grader—might be quick to ask. And these questions helped guide my preparation. Additionally, it was also helpful to have a lesson plan that outlined, in a systematic way, a plan of action for teaching and interacting with the students.

The lesson went very smoothly. After a short quiz, we went through our mini-lessons, which highlighted both public policies and scientific findings related to global warming. I didn't just read from our prepared lesson plan, but also tried to incorporate the students' questions, drawing on both my lesson plan and facts that I probably learned in my own middle school science courses. At one point, in response to a random question about ice ages, I was surprised to remember that the gravitational pull of other planets helps prevent large asteroids from hitting earth (right?). Anyway, at least in that instance, I was able to allay some fears about the future of earth. Our interactive activity involved breaking the students up into groups that represented the various bodies that are very active in environmental debates, such as legislators and activists. We asked the students to provide recommendations based on the priorities of their real-life counterparts. The very enterprising "U.S. Senators" quickly used the opportunity to draft legislation on the U.S. role in dealing with the problems plaguing the environment.

At the end of the lesson, one very eager, intellectually curious student recommended I watch the interesting PBS special on global warming that she had just seen. In so many ways, actually, I do feel like both the students and I learned a great deal from this lesson.

Written by Jorge