How Cool Is Your Schoolyard?™
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Provided by: Green Schoolyards America|Published on: October 6, 2025
Lesson PlansScientist Reviewed
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Scientist Reviewed This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this lesson from Green Schoolyards America, students will collect temperature data for different surfaces on their school grounds to determine which areas require more shade structures and trees.
- Students will also have the opportunity to create a proposal to present to their administrator for improving the school grounds, based on their data.
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Engineering
Authors: Green Schoolyards America
Region: Global
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- Students will love collecting data outside.
- By being based in their everyday environment, students will see the immediate relevance in this learning activity.
Prerequisites
- Students should know how to measure temperature using thermometers.
- Teachers will need to prepare a map using the provided template and an aerial photo or sketch of their school grounds.
- The instructions for the template reference a Google Slides format of the template, but there doesn't appear to be a link for this. Teachers can instead use the PDF and a program like Canva to create their map.
Differentiation & Implementation
- To gauge students' background knowledge, before taking data, teachers can ask students to hypothesize where the hottest point on their school grounds may be. Students can research this hypothesis using the scientific method.
- If the area being surveyed is large and the research locations are spread out, teachers may want to ask adult volunteers to help monitor, depending on the group of students.
- To make connections to health, students can explore the health impacts of extreme heat using this resource.
- Teachers can make connections to the UN Sustainable Development Goals by discussing how Goal 3, Good Health and Well-being, and Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities, are interconnected in this context.
This resource guides students in understanding how schoolyard design shapes its microclimate. A clear discussion of the urban heat island effect introduces an investigation that is presented with detailed instructions. The focus is always on designing sustainable urban environments in the face of climate change. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
About the Partner Provider
Green Schoolyards America
Green Schoolyards America partners with school districts and public agencies across the U.S. to establish large-scale living schoolyard programs that transform school grounds into ecologically-rich, park-like green spaces. Our goal is to improve children’s health, learning, and happiness while contributing to communities’ ecological and climate resilience.
We are working to change the paradigm for school ground design, use, and management so all children will have access to the natural world in the places they already visit on a daily basis. We center equity in our work and collaborate with communities that have the greatest need for educational, environmental, health, and open space improvements.
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
