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Educator GuideJanuary 20, 2022

Food and Climate Change Educator Guide

TILclimate what I eat guide for educators
Photo Credit
Jordan Madrid via Unsplash

 

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 what I eat."

Browse all TILclimate guides for educators.

Description

Climate change affects food, but food also affects climate change. Students investigate causes of and solutions to food waste, plant-based recipes to get excited about, and the diversity and variety of heirloom foods.

Download the Guide as a PDF
SWBAT:
  • Explain the link between food waste and climate change.

  • Understand why some foods have a higher climate impact than others.

  • Describe varieties of an heirloom food.

Skills:
  • Online research

  • Communication

Standards:
  • HS-ETS1-2  Design a solution to a complex real-world problem by breaking it down into smaller problems that can be solved through engineering.

  • HS-LS2-7 Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.

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

  • WHST.9-12.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question

Disciplinary core ideas:
  • ESS2.D Weather and Climate

  • 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)
    • Food Waste investigation

    • Plant-based recipe research

    • Heirloom foods research

 

Listen to the episode

 

Browse all TILclimate guides for educators
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by TILclimate Podcast
Topics
Food, Water & Agriculture
Waste
Student Skills
Group Project or Jigsaw
Communication
Data Analysis & Graphing
Map Reading

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