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Lesson Plans

Mapping My Watershed Address

If I knew my watershed address as well as I know my street address, what systemic improvements would I design for my community?

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Student Agency - Impact Project Design

Students practice the IP3 Strategy to develop individual, team, or school-wide projects with metrics that measurably advance the City’s Climate Action Plan and other policies, plans or programs.

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Engaging Stakeholders

If I design an impact project to improve the sustainable conditions of my home, school, or community, who are all the other stakeholders?

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Foundations

Foundations Collection

Climate Action Collection

Islands of Seattle

Students interact with a science-based yet fictitious map of what Seattle would look like if global temperatures keep increasing, the ice caps melt, and sea levels around the world rise to the max. Would we be underwater?

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The Language We Use When We Talk About Climate Change

Students practice and then facilitate conversations with family or caregivers, or with adult mentors or guides from teen centers, to explore the language folks use when they talk about climate change, climate justice, and climate solutions.

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Sustainability Dashboards - How Do We Track Progress?

Are we part of these numbers? Students explore the performance measures, updates, and dashboard reporting for their city along with other local entities to unpack a series of inquiries about how what we measure matters.

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Carbon Commute Count

How we travel is one of the biggest sources of our carbon footprint as a community. Students collect and analyze school carbon emissions data for all of the different ways that students are getting to school and back.

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Climate Change Infographics

By analyzing more than a single generalized infographic that may occur in a textbook, students study a range of different infographics specific to our region and gain appreciation for how local graphic artists communicate complex science ideas researched by local scientists about local issues.

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Current Habits Checklist - Start With What's Working

Students conduct a family, caregiver, or mentor survey on current habits related to positive climate change actions that folks they know are already taking.

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What Can You Do - Our City Needs Our Help

Students analyze the three big areas of need for driving down greenhouse gas emissions in Seattle including transportation, energy, and waste.

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Heat Pumps are Hotcool

In our region, 90% of homes are still heated by natural gas which is a major contributor to our carbon footprint. Electric heat pumps are the answer. They not only heat our buildings in the winter, but cool our buildings in the summer. How does that work?

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Carbon Cycle - Best Diagram Debate

By “debating” which of these 6 diagrams is the best diagram for explaining the carbon cycle, students review and reinforce their own mental model while strengthening their ability to articulate key concepts.

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Ranking Sustainable Solutions

Students practice a solutions mindset as they interact with 4x5 images of 36 Sustainable Solutions. Students work as a group to physically sort and rank the images according to three criteria.

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Case Study: South Park Neighborhood

What actions can we take as students to measurably increase the sustainability of our neighborhood? By sustainability we mean equity for all, a vibrant economy, and a thriving ecosystem.

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My Actions Influence Very Big Systems

Students practice systems thinking (and great expository writing) by extrapolating the ever-expanding, systemic impacts that can result from a single, small, personal behavior change such as choosing to ride a bike to school or switching to LED light bulbs.

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Climate Action Collection
Water Systems
Snowpack lessons

Water Systems Collection

Imagine a Day Without Water

If we continue to take water for granted and something happens to the infrastructure that supports water supply, wastewater treatment, and stormwater management, how would we respond?

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Home Water Conservation Audit

What are the systemic implications of me and my family conserving water in our home or apartment?

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Sci-Fi to Cli-Fi

How can I apply the elements of great science fiction writing to describe a vivid future of how humans are managing water resources right here in my bioregion? Is this future utopian or dystopian, and how did we get there? How can I share my writing in a way that inspires people to use water resources sustainably?

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Harvesting Rainwater for Water Supply

With a shrinking snowpack and big changes coming in the seasonal patterns of our water cycle, what are the issues and opportunities related to harvesting rainwater from the roof design of the buildings where we live, go to school, or shop?

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Puzzling Phenomena for Water Systems

What are some entry point inquiries into Water Systems thinking? How do we connect them to our local communities?

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What if Drought is the New Normal?

With a shrinking snowpack and big changes coming in the seasonal patterns of our water cycle due to climate change, how will we adapt to an increase in annual drought conditions, some of them extreme?

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Wastewater Engineering Context for Teaching Properties of Matter

What can we do to make sure that our wastewater is not harmful to Puget Sound?

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Coolest Graph Ever on the History and Future of Water Conservation

If the human population in our region continues to expand but our water supply is limited and climate change is altering our local water cycle what do we need to do?

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EARTHQUAKE! What Happens When Our Water Infrastructure Breaks?

When a major earthquake occurs in our region, what might happen to our water systems infrastructure and how do we prepare before, during, and after?

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Reclaiming Wastewater for Water Supply

With a shrinking snowpack and big changes coming in the seasonal patterns of our water cycle due to climate change, what are the issues and opportunities related to reclaiming water from the wastewater treatment process?

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Salmon Stewardship Collection

Salmon Stewardship Collection

LESSON 1: Are Salmon and People Thriving at my Watershed Address?

How can our classroom take responsibility for stewardship actions that measurably improve the ecological conditions of our watershed address allowing both salmon and people to thrive?

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LESSON 4: CASE STUDIES Analyzing Salmon Habitat Restoration Sites Near Us

It’s useful to have models to study on how professionals apply engineering practices to solve complex challenges for salmon recovery right here in our watershed.

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LESSON 2: JIGSAW Salmon Survival

Deepen your knowledge of the challenges our local salmon face (and the solutions!) by analyzing selected graphics, videos, maps, and text.

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PERFORMANCE TASK Salmon Stewardship Action

This is it! Apply your knowledge by implementing stewardship actions as an individual, class, or school community to take care of salmon and the upstream habitat we share.

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LESSON 3: How People Replumbed an Entire Watershed

Discover how massive engineering manipulations over the last 150 years shrunk the once mighty Green Duwamish Watershed from three sources down to one.

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Snowpack Collection

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Snowpack List of Lesson Inquiries

What are some entry points into Snowpack Data Analysis through various curriculum lenses?

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Snowpack 103 - How Water Managers use Data to Make Decisions

How do scientists, water resource managers, and policymakers use SNOTEL data to make timely decisions that affect multiple stakeholders in our current water year as well as decades into our future?

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Climate Crisis is a $26 Trillion Economic Opportunity

With a shrinking snowpack and big changes coming in the seasonal patterns of our water cycle due to climate change, are there economic opportunities we could be taking advantage of?

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Harvesting Rainwater for Water Supply

With a shrinking snowpack and big changes coming in the seasonal patterns of our water cycle, what are the issues and opportunities related to harvesting rainwater from the roof design of the buildings where we live, go to school, or shop?

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Snowpack 101 - It's Personal

With our snowpack shrinking, and big changes coming in the seasonal patterns of our water cycle due to climate change, what impacts will I personally experience? How are low income and communities of color experiencing these changes? What’s my role?

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Why Do Orcas Need Snow?

How will our Puget Sound population of orcas be affected by the projected impacts of climate change and what actions can we take to mitigate these impacts?

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What if Drought is the New Normal?

With a shrinking snowpack and big changes coming in the seasonal patterns of our water cycle due to climate change, how will we adapt to an increase in annual drought conditions, some of them extreme?

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Snowpack 102 - How to Analyze SNOTEL Data

To effectively manage our local water supply, it is critical for us to understand changes in the timing and depth of the snowpack in our mountains. How can we get precise measurements on a regular basis?

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Nonfiction Reading on Our Shrinking Snowpack

With a shrinking snowpack and big changes coming in the seasonal patterns of our water cycle, how are nonfiction writers communicating the science, the impacts, and the solutions to climate change in our bioregion?

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Reclaiming Wastewater for Water Supply

With a shrinking snowpack and big changes coming in the seasonal patterns of our water cycle due to climate change, what are the issues and opportunities related to reclaiming water from the wastewater treatment process?

Stormwater Collection

VIDEO VIEWING GUIDE: Salmon and Stormwater

Use these video viewing guides to help students explore and understand the impacts of stormwater on our local ecosystems.

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LESSON 3: GSI CIVICS Applications in my City

Every city has a Stormwater Management Plan with goals that we can help achieve once we know how it works and where our efforts are needed most.

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PERFORMANCE TASK Student Recommended GSI Project Sites

This is it! Apply your knowledge by making a professional recommendation for how the right application of GSI design choices could eliminate polluted stormwater runoff at a site of your choosing.

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LESSON 1: JIGSAW
Why is Stormwater a Problem?

Stormwater is not a problem for a forest. But it is for your neighborhood. Deepen your knowledge of this critical issue by analyzing selected graphics, videos, maps, and text.

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LESSON 4: GSI CIVICS Stormwater Policy Making

Work with a small team of your colleagues in role as either city staff or city council to administer the Stormwater Management Plan. What’s your budget? How will you prioritize?

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LESSON 2: SOLUTIONS GSI Photo Galleries

Explore 14 engineering strategies to understand how Green Stormwater Infrastructure can help your neighborhood handle stormwater like the original forest that once stood here.

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LESSON 5: CASE STUDIES Analyzing GSI Near Us

It’s useful to have models to study on how professionals apply engineering practices when they design Green Stormwater Infrastructure to manage polluted stormwater runoff.

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Stormwater Collection

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