Carbon Prices and Climate Change Educator Guide

This Guide for Educators was developed by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative as an extension of our TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate) podcast, to make it easier for you to teach climate change, earth science, and energy topics in the classroom. It is an extension of the TILclimate episode "TIL about carbon pricing."

Browse all TILclimate guides for educators.

Description

Carbon pricing, including cap-and-trade and carbon taxes, is one tool in the toolbox governments have to reduce the impacts of climate change. What kind of a tool is it? After an introduction to carbon pricing, students use an online simulator to investigate multiple pathways to a cooler future.

Download the Guide as a PDF

SWBAT:

• Explain the basics of a cap-and-trade and carbon tax system.

• Understand some impacts from carbon pricing systems.

Skills:

• Graph reading

• Analyzing simulation data

Standards:

• HS-ETS1-1 Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions.

• HS-ETS1-4 Use a computer simulation to model the impact of proposed solutions to a complex real-world problem.

• RST.11-12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept.

Disciplinary core ideas:

• ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

• ESS3.D: Global Climate Change

What is included in this Educator Guide

1. How to use TILclimate Educator Guides (Download)
    
2. Full Educator Guide (Download)
   • Includes both Teacher and Student pages
      
3. Teacher pages (Download)
   • Includes materials, discussion questions, background resources, and adaptation suggestions for science, social science, and ELA teachers
      
4. Student pages (Download)

   • An Introduction to Carbon Pricing

   • Climate Impacts investigation using the En-ROADS tool

Listen to the episode

Browse all TILclimate guides for educators