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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

Lines of plants turning yellowish-green above dry and cracked brown dirt
Adapting to Extremes: Exploring the Science of Drought in Colorado

This lesson is best taught at the beginning of a HEART Force unit, but it can also act as a stand-alone lesson to introduce students to drought in Colorado.

 Humans have been affected by severe drought throughout history; in this lesson students explore this concept by analyzing environmental data to classify patterns and practice communicating their findings.
Lesson
High 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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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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Hazard Mitigation Planning Meeting. A group of nine adults gather around a wooden table littered with papers while discussing mitigation strategies. In the background is yellow walls with wooden shelves and drawers with plants and books on them
Communicate Existing Plans

This is a guide that can be used for a pathway for the Community Resilience Expo. 

 In this sub-unit, students will learn more about their community’s resilience plans, choose a specific topic to focus on, and develop a product to communicate the plan to their peers and/or their community.
Lesson
Design Challenge
Action Project
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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Big Thompson Flood image https://cires.colorado.edu/outreach/sites/default/files/2019-08/1024px-NOAA_logo.svg_.png. Brown flood water races through the street with green trees and houses with green roofs on either side
Adapting to Extremes: Exploring the Science of Floods in Colorado

This lesson is best taught at the beginning of a HEART Force unit, but it can also act as a stand-alone lesson to introduce students to floods in Colorado.

 The way we choose to design our communities has impacted community risk and vulnerability to flooding; in this lesson, students will explore this concept by analyzing environmental data to classify patterns and practice communicating their findings. 
Lesson
High School
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Impacts of drought on the Colorado River in the Southwest U.S., Photo Credit: USGS. A river lays low in the valley of red and orange rocks
A Changing Climate: Understanding Drought in Colorado

This lesson is best taught at the beginning of a HEART Force unit, but it can also act as a stand-alone lesson to introduce students to drought in Colorado.

 Students build an understanding of drought in Colorado using multiple data sources in a jigsaw activity. 
Lesson
Middle School
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Flood game community map with labeled Zones A, B, and C
HEART Force Flood Response Game

This lesson is best used after the Colorado Flood lessons in the HEART Force curricular unit, for students to apply their learning and respond to a hypothetical flood in their own community.

 This interactive game has students work in three “zone response teams” to solve community challenges that arise during the course of an extreme flooding event by using available individual and community resources.
Game
Middle School
High School
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Big Thompson Flood. Brown muddy flood water flows through street with en trees greand houses with blue and green roofs to the side
A Changing Climate: Understanding Floods in Colorado

This lesson is best taught at the beginning of a HEART Force unit, but it can also act as a stand-alone lesson to introduce students to floods in Colorado.

 Students build an understanding of flooding in Colorado using multiple data sources in a jigsaw format. 
Lesson
Middle School
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Drought game spinner with largest section being purple and assorted other sections of orange shades, blue shades, green and gray.
HEART Force Drought Game

This lesson is best used after the Colorado Drought lessons in the HEART Force curricular unit, for students to apply their learning and respond to a hypothetical drought in their own community. 

 In this interactive game, students work in three "resilience teams" to solve community challenges that arise during the course of an extreme drought event by using available individual and community resources. 
Game
Middle School
High School
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A diverse collection of trees, shrubs, and brush of varying green and yellow shades are around a blue pond with a wooden bridge in the left background. In the distance are the tops of mountains and a blue cloudless sky.
Flood Resilience in Colorado StoryMap

This is a lesson that can be used to get ideas and prepare for the Community Resilience Expo. 

 Students interact with a flood StoryMap to explore the Colorado Resiliency Framework.
Lesson
Middle School
High School
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No dumping, Drains to Creek sign on concrete written in green with a green fish
Waste, Water, and Wastewater

Project EXTREMES lessons were written to be stand alone lessons but can be incorporated into a larger unit.

 In this lesson, students will apply what they know about how to separate a mixture by designing a wastewater treatment facility that effectively removes contaminants.
Lesson
Design Challenge
Middle School
Extremes
Illustration of two people high-fiving in a work environment

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