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Community Day

8th Grade

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COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS

BE YOUR BEST SELF

Be curious!

      • Ask questions, make observations, and share your thoughts and ideas.

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Be respectful!

      • Respect people, tools, and the environment around you.

Be safe!

      • Take care of yourself and others.

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SCIENCE DISCOVERY PROCESS

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BELONGING ACTIVITY

Tower Activity

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Goal: Build the tallest tower!

Expectations:

    • You may only use the items in your Ziploc to build your tower.
    • Your tower must stand firmly on its own, it cannot be propped up, held, or suspended from anything.
    • When time is up, you must immediately stop working on your tower.

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FOCUS QUESTION

How can we make City Heights more resilient to climate change?

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Resilient – the ability to be prepared for something

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CLIMATE CHANGE PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE

What do you already know about climate change?

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CLIMATE CHANGE 101: DEFINITION

Climate change: is the change in weather patterns on Earth over a long period of time.

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Examples:

  • Today is the hottest day of the year!
  • The average temperature in City Heights has increased every year for the last 100 years.

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CLIMATE CHANGE 101: ATMOSPHERE

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Atmosphere = lots of gases

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CLIMATE CHANGE 101: ATMOSPHERE TRAPS HEAT

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Some of the gases in the atmosphere trap energy from the sun like carbon dioxide (CO2).

CO2

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CLIMATE CHANGE 101: EARTH OUT OF BALANCE

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Humans put things out of balance by adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

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CLIMATE CHANGE 101: CO2 & TEMPERATURE INCREASE

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The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the more heat that gets trapped and the warmer the Earth gets.

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CLIMATE CHANGE 101: HUMANS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Humans add CO2 to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels to create electricity, power vehicles, and in agriculture.

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CLIMATE CHANGE 101: HARMFUL IMPACTS

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It’s not just hotter days!

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  • Worsening air quality
  • Increased natural disasters
  • Sea-level rise/flooding
  • And much more…

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EXPLORATION QUESTION

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Is climate change impacting everyone equally?

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HEAT MAPS

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When looking at this map what do you notice?

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HEAT MAP AREAS

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HOUSTON HEAT MAP

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Houston Heat Map

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HOUSTON HEAT MAP

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https://tinyurl.com/houstonheatmap

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HOUSTON HEAT MAP OBSERVATIONS

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  • What do you notice?
  • Are there areas in Houston that are hotter? Cooler?
  • Is climate change impacting everyone equally? Why or why not?

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EXPLORE QUESTION

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Is climate change impacting everyone equally? Why or why not?

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HEAT MAP AREAS

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MAP OF SAN DIEGO

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Make predictions:

  • Where might we observe cooler temperatures? Why?
  • Where might we observe hotter temperatures? Why?

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SAN DIEGO HEAT MAP QUESTIONS

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        • What do you notice?
        • Is climate change impacting everyone equally? Why or why not?

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SAN DIEGO HEAT MAP

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https://tinyurl.com/heatmapsandiego

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SAN DIEGO HEAT MAP QUESTIONS

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        • What do you notice?
        • Is climate change impacting everyone equally? Why or why not?

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HEAT ISLAND EFFECT

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Heat Island Effect: urban areas, like cities, experience higher temperatures than areas outside the city.

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HEAT ISLAND EFFECT IMPACTS

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TURN AND TALK

Do you know someone personally, who has been impacted by heat island effect?

How have they been impacted?

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ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: DEFINITION

Environmental Justice: ensuring all people, regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, have equal access to a healthy environment.

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THINK-PAIR-SHARE

Do the people living in each of these places have equal access to a healthy environment? Why or why not?

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Point Loma

City

Heights

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TAKING A STAND FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Mari Copeny (“Little Miss Flint”)

  • 16-year old youth activist
  • Working to raise awareness about Flint, Michigan water crisis
  • Raises funding (100 million from the government) to support underprivileged children in her community and to gain access to clean water.

Greta Thunberg

  • Climate activist
  • Age 15, held the first “School Strike for Climate”
  • Given several speeches to world leaders
  • Paving the way for young activist to use their voice and bring awareness to the impacts of climate change.

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FOCUS QUESTION

How can we make City Heights more resilient to climate change?

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REFLECTION

Why we do reflection:

  • Reflection allows you to think about and share thoughts, feelings, and ideas about what you have experienced and learned about.
  • Reflection can open your mind to thing you hadn’t considered before and can highlight ways your thoughts, ideas, and feelings change over time.

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PAIR-SHARE: SELF-REFLECTION QUESTION

Share a new thought, idea, or feeling you have about how heat islands are impacting you or someone you care about.

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Sentence starters:

  • I’ve personally seen effects of heat islands when…
  • I’m thinking about how it seems unfair that…
  • One thing I would like to see our city do…

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PAIR-SHARE: SELF-REFLECTION QUESTION

Do you think environmental justice is important? Why or why not?

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EXPLORE & MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY

How can we make City Heights more resilient to climate change?

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  • Perform experiments to prove there are urban heat islands
  • Brainstorm solutions
  • In between…
    • Observe your community for signs of climate change
    • Where do you notice heat islands?
    • What are solutions we can implement?

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GO AWESOME

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BELIEVE! ACHIEVE! LEAD!

GO AWESOME!!!

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THANK YOU!