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In this lesson, students will think critically about the current state of the climate and the range of tools available to respond to it — mitigation, adaptation, and climate intervention (carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation modification). This activity includes discussion questions written to accompany the lecture slides, covering topics ranging from how solar radiation modification (SRM) methods work to the benefits, risks, and unresolved governance gaps that surround them. Students will work in groups to develop their answers before sharing their findings with the class.
Needs review: This description is identical to the one on Michelle Simões Reboita's cover page (Climate Change and Climate Intervention) and mentions lecture slides this unit doesn't have. Get a description of this unit from Samuel Krakower.
- Grade level
- Grades 11-12 (ages 16-18), Undergraduate
- Materials
- 6 resources available
- Questions?
- Contact the lesson team
Needs review before publishing
- This description is identical to the one on Michelle Simões Reboita's cover page (Climate Change and Climate Intervention) and mentions lecture slides this unit doesn't have. Get a description of this unit from Samuel Krakower.
- No institution is listed for Samuel Krakower. His email is a University of Maryland student address; confirm whether the credit should name the University of Maryland.
- This Word document uses no heading styles, so screen-reader users can't jump between its three lessons. Apply Heading styles to the lesson and section titles before publishing the file.
- Claude drafted the Global Connections section, and the global competence and UNESCO SDG 13 entries under Standards, from the lesson materials. Review and edit them.
Overview
Objectives
By participating fully in this unit, students will learn how to:
- Explain how innovations throughout history have both benefited and harmed society, and articulate why humans invent new technologies (Lesson One)
- Explain how Earth's climate has interacted with human societies throughout history, using volcanic eruptions and early climate engineering experiments as a case study (Lesson Two)
- Distinguish fact from opinion in media coverage of climate engineering, and construct their own evidence-based argument about whether it ought to be pursued (Lesson Three)
Grade Level
Grades 11-12, Undergraduate
Standards
These are Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations.
- HS-ESS3-4 — Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems, with the clarification statement explicitly naming large-scale geoengineering design solutions (such as altering global temperatures by making large changes to the atmosphere or ocean) as an example.
- HS-ESS3-1 — Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
- HS-ETS1-3 — Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
This lesson also supports these international frameworks:
- Global competence (Asia Society and OECD): Investigate the world; Recognize perspectives; Communicate ideas
- UNESCO learning objectives for SDG 13 (Climate Action):
- Cognitive 3: which human activities contribute most to climate change
- Cognitive 5: prevention, mitigation and adaptation strategies
- Behavioural 3: assessing the impact of decisions on other people and world regions
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 4 — Quality Education: Ensure all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including through education for global citizenship — reflected in the unit's emphasis on media literacy and evidence-based argumentation
- SDG 13 — Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Materials Required
- Word document "Geoengineering across academic disciplines.docx"
- This document (contains the full activities, standards, and closures for all three lessons)
- List of eight historical inventions, for sorting (Lesson One warm-up)
- Map of the US showing regional climates and resources (Lesson Two)
- A clearly opinion-based news article, for fact/opinion analysis (Lesson Three warm-up)
- Access to the three linked webquest articles on climate engineering viewpoints (Lesson Three)
- Paper and pencil
Learning Sequence
Lesson Plan Introduction
This unit uses the history of technological innovation and climate engineering to help students form their own evidence-based argument about whether humanity should intentionally modify the climate.
Activity Details
The full warm-up, main activities, and closure for each lesson are written out in detail in the accompanying Word document. This summary shows how the three lessons connect.
Lesson One: Do Inventions Help or Harm Us?
- Sets up the unit's core question using inventions from the Second Industrial Revolution (1866–1912) as a case study: wireless communication, the tractor, the internal combustion engine, and the incandescent light bulb.
- Students sort historical inventions chronologically, discuss who benefits most from new technology, and close with an exit ticket ranking the era's most and least impactful inventions — which Lesson Three later revisits.
Lesson Two: How Has Climate Engineering Been Used Throughout History?
- Narrows the “inventions” question specifically to Earth's climate, tracing history from the 1783 Laki eruption (observed by Benjamin Franklin) through the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption and 2020 shipping-fuel sulfur regulations.
- Students discuss how volcanic cooling has historically affected societies, and debate whether a deliberate, volcanic-like intervention today would cause the same problems — or could help correct a climate humans have already altered.
Lesson Three: Fact, Opinion, and Forming an Argument
- Teaches students to distinguish fact from opinion using a media example, then has them revisit their own Lesson One exit-ticket answers to separate their opinions from the facts that justified them.
Students complete a structured webquest on climate engineering viewpoints, then close with an exit ticket on equity in the climate engineering debate.
Conclusion
Close the unit with the Lesson Three exit ticket: given the range of viewpoints on climate engineering, what is one way the conversation around it could become more equitable? Is it even appropriate for society to debate such an invention?
Global Connections
Needs review: Claude drafted the Global Connections section, and the global competence and UNESCO SDG 13 entries under Standards, from the lesson materials. Review and edit them.
Start where you teach
Lesson Two uses a map of the United States showing regional climates and resources. Use a map of your own country or region instead, and ask how its climate has shaped where people live and what they grow.
Bring in other perspectives
The Lesson Three webquest already includes an article arguing that India must help shape the rules for solar geoengineering. Ask students to find one more viewpoint from a country they know little about, and compare it with their own.
Share beyond the classroom
Students can turn their evidence-based argument into a short opinion piece or a letter to a local newspaper.
Lesson materials
Download the files below to teach this lesson. PDFs are accessible versions; PowerPoint and Excel files can be edited for your class.
Teacher resources
Full lesson plan
Needs review: This Word document uses no heading styles, so screen-reader users can't jump between its three lessons. Apply Heading styles to the lesson and section titles before publishing the file.
EPA: About Geoengineering
The source of the one-sentence definition used in Lesson Two.
Forbes: This 1783 Volcanic Eruption Changed the Course of History
Background on the Laki eruption and Benjamin Franklin's observations, used in Lesson Two.
Reflective Climate: Why Field Experiments Will Be Necessary
One of the Lesson Three webquest articles.
Science.org: Geoengineering Could Fight Climate Change — If the Public Can Be Convinced
One of the Lesson Three webquest articles.
The Economic Times: Engage in the Solar Geoengineering Debate — Why India Must Shape the Rules
One of the Lesson Three webquest articles.
Credit and contact
Credit
Created by Samuel Krakower.
Needs review: No institution is listed for Samuel Krakower. His email is a University of Maryland student address; confirm whether the credit should name the University of Maryland.
Contact
Questions about this lesson, or need a file in another format? Contact:
- Samuel Krakower – skrakowe@terpmail.umd.edu