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Lesson Plans & Activities

Peer-reviewed, classroom-ready NGSS-aligned lesson plans, activities, data puzzles, virtual field trips, and design challenges covering environmental hazards, climate change, mental health, Earth systems, community resilience, and more.  

Lesson Plans & Activities

A picture of a recently burned area by Highway 175
Lake County Cascading Hazards Unit

The unit has four lessons in total. 

 This unit builds an understanding of five natural hazards and their connections in the context of place-based community resilience.
Unit
Middle School
High School
Logo with the words "CLIMATE MENTAL HEALTH" in an arch. "CLIMATE" is in blue, "MENTAL" in red, and "HEALTH" in green. In the center, a person sits on top of a globe holding a green sign with a red heart. On the left, another person holds a protest sign that reads "There is no planet B." On the right, a person sits cross-legged reading a book. Another small figure holds a megaphone
Colorado Wildfire by Nikolay Kondev. In the background orange fire and grayish-brown smoke rises from a green pine forest
Middle School Wildfire Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the Middle School Wildfire curriculum. 

 The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Unit
Middle School
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Image of Little Colorado River Flood by Los Angeles District USACE. Pink river flooded in plains of green grass and banks of pink sand with small green ferns
Middle School Flood Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the Middle School Flood curriculum. 

 The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Unit
Middle School
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Folsom Lake Drought by Vince Mig via publicdomainpictures.net. Dry and cracked dirt stained green with rocks and sand to its sides after a drought
Middle School Drought Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the Middle School Drought curriculum. 

 The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Unit
Middle School
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The Spring Creek Fire breaks over La Veta Pass, July by Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Red wildfire with smoke coming up from it in the dark.
High School Wildfire Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the High School Wildfire curriculum. 

 The HEART Force Curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Unit
High School
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Homes Flooded in Minot, N.D. by U.S. Army Corps. Brown muddy waters flooded a suburb, leaving the tops of green trees and gray or brown roofs visible
High School Flood Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the High School Flood curriculum. 

 The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Unit
High School
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Modern Event Preparedness - Drought via Flickr. Dry dirt with dark cracks in it surrounded by dry grass.
High School Drought Unit

This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the High School Drought curriculum.

 The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of fire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Unit
High School
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A graph of temperature anomalies with flattened map with red, orange, and yellow shades.
Arctic Feedbacks: Not All Warming Is Equal

This storyline unit consists of 10 lessons, each tied to NGSS Earth's systems standards

 In this MS/HS unit, students engage with 360° virtual field trips, authentic Arctic datasets, and app-based labs to construct models and explanations for the unit driving question, "Why might the Arctic be warming four times as fast as the rest of the world?"
Unit
Virtual field trip
Middle School
High School
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HEART Force logo
HEART Force Curriculum Overview

This unit consists of several lessons and can take anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks to teach, depending on which lesson teacher choose to incorporate.

 The HEART Force curriculum builds understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Unit
Middle School
High School
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Illustration of two people high-fiving in a work environment

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