Lesson 1: Find Your Entry Point

Ask students: What is something about the weather or environment where you live that you would change if you could?

• Give students 2–3 minutes to write or draw their ideas. Encourage creative answers.
• Turn & talk: Have students share their ideas with a partner.
  • Why did you choose that change?
  • How would that change affect people, animals, or your community?

Explain the connection between daily weather and long-term changes to the climate: Weather affects our everyday lives. But what happens when weather patterns begin to change over many years? Today, we’re going to explore climate change and how it can affect the places we call home.

Show and discuss the video “Friendly Guide to Climate Change” (16:52) by Henrik Kniberg.  

Follow up this video by discussing a few of the basic principles of climate change. 

• Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have dramatically increased since the Industrial Revolution due to the burning of fossil fuels. 
• Increased greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere lead to higher global temperatures because they store and radiate heat back down to Earth. 
• Increased global temperatures have resulted in catastrophic climate change indicators like rising sea levels, worsening wildfires, aridification and drought, and many others. 
• Climate change indicators are measurements that scientists use to track how Earth’s climate is changing. They can be tracked over time, providing data that indicates a change that can be directly correlated with greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Examples include rising temperatures, rising sea levels, and arctic ice and glacier melt. 
• Note that the storytelling technique used in this video is called “mind-mapping.” This is a technique that students will use later in this lesson. 

Provide the following introduction to students:

We’ve learned about the root causes of climate change including the systems, choices, and activities that are changing our planet’s climate. It can be a lot to take in. Climate change is a huge global challenge, and it can sometimes feel like the problem is simply too big for any one person to make a difference. But, here’s where we’re going to shift our thinking. The Climate Innovation Challenge (CIC) is about moving from “What’s wrong?” to “What could we do about it?”

CIC invites students around the world to investigate climate challenges that matter to them, discover solutions that are already making a difference, and imagine new ways to create positive change in their communities. You don’t need to solve climate change by yourself and you don’t need to invent something completely new. Instead, we want you to start with your own entry point. 

Your entry point might come from something you care about, something you’ve noticed in your community, a problem that affects people you know, or a question you can’t stop thinking about. Maybe you’re interested in food, transportation, energy, water, wildlife, buildings, fashion, sports, technology, health, culture, or something completely different. 

The goal is to find a climate connection that feels meaningful to you. From there, you’ll research the problem, explore solutions, talk to people with knowledge or experience, and eventually create a short video that communicates your ideas to others.

Have students work individually to create a mind map, starting with their name in the center. Students can create this mind map on LESSON 1: MY/OUR ENTRY POINT in their CIC SECONDARY STUDENT WORKBOOK. 

• Ask students: What do you care about? 
  • Have students add these ideas to create a mind map in branches coming off of their name.
  • Possible prompts include: family, friends, hobbies, sports, art or music, food, animals, technology, community, culture, future career, favorite places, personal values

• Then ask: How could one or more of these things be connected to climate change?
  • Students add these ideas to their mind map.
  • As they brainstorm, remind students: You don’t have to solve climate change. Find one place where you can make a difference.
  • Provide examples if needed:

Have students pair up or form groups of 3–4 and share one or two connections from their mind maps.

• Ask students to listen for:
  • Something that surprises them
  • Something they also care about
  • An idea that makes them curious
  • Connections between different students’ ideas
• Have students return to their mind maps and circle one idea or climate connection they would most like to explore.

TEACHER NOTE: The next step of this activity will determine the group sizes and makeups for the rest of the Climate Innovation Challenge. It is recommended that students work in small groups of 2–4 people to complete the Climate Innovation Challenge. This allows for greater collaboration, more creativity, shared workload, and can often result in a stronger final project. 

Option 1: Students Create an Individual Entry Point 

If you have students who wish to work alone on their CIC project, they will need to create an individual entry point. 

Have these students write their entry point in one sentence. Students should record this on LESSON 1: MY/OUR ENTRY POINT in their CIC SECONDARY STUDENT WORKBOOK.

“I am interested in __________ because __________, and I want to learn more about __________.”

Option 2: Students Create a Group Entry Point

For students working in groups, have them share their entry points with classmates and look for shared interests or connections.

• Encourage students to form groups based on these shared interests or connections, rather than simply choosing their friends.
• If group members have different interests, challenge them to find a connection between their ideas. Example:
  • Student 1: I’m interested in sports.
  • Student 2: I’m interested in extreme heat.
  • Student 3: I’m interested in public health.
  • Shared entry point: How can communities help athletes stay safe during extreme heat?

Once groups are formed, have each group create a shared entry point in one sentence. Students should record this on LESSON 1: MY/OUR ENTRY POINT in their CIC SECONDARY STUDENT WORKBOOK.

“We are interested in __________ because __________, and we want to learn more about __________.”

Examples of student entry points include: 

• I am interested in basketball because I care about athlete health, and I want to learn more about how extreme heat affects athletes.

• We are interested in protecting endangered species because we care about animal welfare, and we want to learn more about how climate change is affecting local wildlife and how we can protect their habitats.

• I am interested in food because I want to become a chef, and I want to learn more about how reducing food waste could help address climate change.

• We are interested in art because we all want to go to art school after graduation, and we want to learn more about how artists can help people understand and take action on climate change and how our art could be used to tell our story.

Ask students to share their individual/group entry points as a whole class or in small groups.

• Ask students: Do you notice any themes in our classes’ entry points? Does anything surprise you?
• Remind students: Your entry point is a starting point, not your final project idea. Your research may change your question or lead you in a new direction.