Today’s episode is about the money of climate change. When people talk about how much it costs to stop climate change, what are we paying for? And who’s paying, exactly? And if we don’t pay to stop climate change – how much will that cost us? To answer these questions, we spoke with Dr. Barbara Buchner from the Climate Policy Initiative.

The ocean is a critical piece of the climate change puzzle. It's estimated that the ocean has absorbed about one third of the excess CO2 humans have added to the atmosphere and more than 90% of trapped heat in the atmosphere. So, today, we’re going underwater to talk about the ocean and climate change with renowned marine biologist Dr. Sylvia Earle.

Hydrogen gas acts like a fossil fuel, but with no carbon emissions. Is it the silver bullet we’ve been waiting for? Prof. Svetlana Ikonnikova of the Technical University of Munich joins us to bring light to how hydrogen works and its potential in the energy transition.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are being touted as a major solution to climate change. But why is that? How do they work and what kinds of changes are needed as more EVs hit the road? To dig into this, we brought in MIT Sloan Prof. David Keith, who studies transportation technology.

Roughly ten percent of the world’s CO2 emissions come from passenger vehicles: cars, pickups, motorcycles, buses, and taxis. So today, we’re going to zoom in on how people across the world get around every day, how that’s quickly changing, and what to consider when thinking about reducing carbon emissions from everyday travel. For this episode, we sat down with our former MIT colleague and transportation expert Dr. Joanna Moody.

In the final lesson of the SDO curriculum, student teams collaborate to design and present their three Solar Module activities as part of their 3-D Solar Exhibit summative assessment.

In preparation for school closures, SFUSD has produced 10 days of activities that teachers can choose to assign to students for them to complete at home. The stand-alone activities are designed for students to do on paper without technology and are available to all under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

All Elementary lesson plans and student pages (both English and Spanish versions) are Google Docs located in grade-level Google Drive folders that you can access using the links below. Secondary lessons contain proprietary content that is licensed by SFUSD and therefore can not be shared.

In this video segment adapted from Northwest Indian College, Lummi Elders explain how a decline in the availability of salmon reflects a threatened environment that must in some way be protected.

Students listen to a story and answer questions about a family in Central or South America that barters to get the ingredients for chicken sancocho, a kind of stew. The students complete sentences that record the various trades carried out by the family to obtain all of the ingredients for the sancocho. They also participate in trading activities that illustrate money's advantages over barter.

In this lesson, students learn that saving is essential to economic well-being, especially in times of extreme economic downturn. They read Saving Strawberry Farm, a story about a Depression-era family attempting to save a neighbor's farm by waging a penny auction. Students hear about the lack of goods and services available and the high rate of joblessness during this terrible time. They simulate a bank run to see how even those with savings were affected. Finally, they learn that savings are safe in banks today.

In this video from the Explore Economics series, kids learn about income, spending, saving, and savings goals. They are encouraged to save for the future. They draw a picture of a savings goals and are encouraged to post the picture near their piggy banks. They learn a song about saving and spending.

This is a set of three, one-page problems about the scale of objects in images returned by spacecraft. Learners will measure scaled drawings using high-resolution images of the lunar and martian surfaces. Options are presented so that students may learn about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission through a NASA press release or by viewing a NASA eClips video [4 min.]. This activity is part of the Space Math multi-media modules that integrate NASA press releases, NASA archival video, and mathematics problems targeted at specific math standards commonly encountered in middle school.

Students learn how different characteristics of shapes—side lengths, perimeter and area—change when the shapes are scaled, either enlarged or reduced. Student pairs conduct a “scaling investigation” to measure and calculate shape dimensions (rectangle, quarter circle, triangle; lengths, perimeters, areas) from a bedroom floorplan provided at three scales. They analyze their data to notice the mathematical relationships that hold true during the scaling process. They see how this can be useful in real-world situations like when engineers design wearable or implantable biosensors. This prepares students for the associated activity in which they use this knowledge to help them reduce or enlarge their drawings as part of the process of designing their own wearables products. Pre/post-activity quizzes, a worksheet and wrap-up concepts handout are provided.

Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, is a CCSS exemplar for grades 11 "“ CCR taught at the upper high school level and in AP English. This three lesson unit looks at a variety of schisms and divisions in the novel. It provides a close reading of the novel by considering Dostoevsky's view of human nature, through his characters; the theoretical division Man v Superman; the societal setting in the novel.

In the activities included below, students will closely examine images related to the Human Rights theme. Students will make connections to informational and literary texts that expand their understanding of global issues and their rights as citizens of the world. The activities included ask students to reference specific literary and informational texts, however, all activities may be adapted to fit with a number of different texts that touch on the same topics and issues.

This NASA video explores the relationship between climate and agriculture. The video discusses the variability of climate impacts in different regions, as well as the effects of population growth and higher demands for food in areas that already struggle to supply food for the people. The video highlights the need for accurate, continuous, and accessible data and computer models from NASA satellites to track and predict the challenges farmers face as they adjust to a changing climate.

This lesson introduces students to the nature of science and how to evaluate evidence to determine whether they are engaging in science or pseudoscience.