Climate change is increasingly becoming a topic laden with anxiety, grief, anger, and other emotions, especially for today’s youth (Marks et al., 2021), leading to a need for educator resources that can help address these emotions. To support the whole student, the following activities explore the relationship between climate and mental health, focusing on accessible, youth-friendly resources that aid teachers in approaching complex and sensitive topics in the classroom.
We recognize that teaching about climate change may give rise to controversy in some classrooms. For strategies to help facilitate difficult discussions, please see the CLEAN teaching support pages on managing climate change discourse. The activities in this set are structured by objectives, overview, and delivery method. They are also aligned with a social-emotional learning focus and the strategies listed in the graphic on the next page.
Context for Use
In this lesson, students will identify emotions they experience as they learn about the impacts of climate change. In pairs, students will practice active listening skills as one student describes their emotions to the partner who applies active listening skills. They then flip roles and the other student describes their emotions while the partner listens.
Note that it takes time to become comfortable with Active Listening, it might be helpful to include it as a regular practice in your teaching.
This is a picture that lists the 6 key active listening skills.
Goals Header
What Students Will Do
- Understand how the power of listening to others can create positive relationships with others and create empathy for others.
- Use active listening skills that support healthy relationships and classroom dynamics.
Teaching Materials
User note: To make an editable copy of the teaching materials in Google Drive, select File > “Make a copy”. This will make a copy for you to save to your drive and edit as you see fit.
