Personal Action

Lesson Plans

Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Science

Scientist Reviewed

Provided by ClimateScience

Open Resource

What it is

This interactive course about taking personal action to address climate change includes sections on a sustainable diet, flying and driving, consumption, having children, activism, and how much personal actions matter.
It contains text, interactive questions, infographics, links to references, a final quiz, and a certificate of completion.

Teaching tips

Positives

It outlines many different ways individuals can take action and helps students gauge the relative impact of those actions.
Students can proceed through the content at their own pace.
Students earn a certificate if they complete the course.

Additional Prerequisites

This course is part of a series of climate change courses from ClimateScience.
Students will need a computer and Internet connection to use the interactive features.
Teachers and students will need to enroll and create a free account to use the course and save their progress.

Differentiation

This course provides two levels of learning. Before enrolling in the course, users can scroll down and use the button to toggle between. "Simple" and "Advanced." The "Simple" setting is recommended for middle school students, while the "Advanced" setting is recommended for high school students.
As an extension, students can research and present other possible solutions to aging populations in developed countries, such as making it easier for climate migrants/refugees/international students/etc. to immigrate to those countries.
Other related resources include this climate action lesson plan, this Project Drawdown article about health and education, and this StC lesson plan about the impacts of food.

From the scientist review

The resource highlights various ways for individuals to reduce their carbon footprint including family planning, consuming less meat and more plant-based diets, reducing flying, etc. Students can learn how these can impact their daily lifestyles to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. This resource is recommended for teaching.

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At a glance

Grades: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Subjects: Science
Other types: Data, Graphs, and Maps, Assessments, Interactive Media
Language: English
Location: Earth
Provider: ClimateScience
Authors: ClimateScience
Published: April 27, 2021
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · MS-ESS2-1. + 21 more

Core

Core Standards legacy

MS-ESS2-1.MS-ESS2-1. Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth's materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
MS-ESS3-3.MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
MS-ESS3-4.MS-ESS3-4. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
MS-ESS3-5.MS-ESS3-5. Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
D4.7.6-8D4.7.6-8 Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.2CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.2 Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.10CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
HS-ESS3-5.HS-ESS3-5. Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.
D4.7.9-12D4.7.9-12 Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.4CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7 Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.10CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.10 By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
MS-ESS3-A.MS-ESS3-A. Humans depend on Earth’s land, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere for many different resources. Minerals, fresh water, and biosphere resources are limited, and many are not renewable or replaceable over human lifetimes. These resources are distributed unevenly around the planet as a result of past geologic processes. (MS-ESS3-1)
HS-ESS3-D.1.HS-ESS3-D.1. Though the magnitudes of human impacts are greater than they have ever been, so too are human abilities to model, predict, and manage current and future impacts. (HS-ESS3-5)

Michigan Climate Education Hub

Michigan Climate Education Hub Standards legacy

MS-ESS2-1MS-ESS2-1 Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
HS-ESS3-5HS-ESS3-5 Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.
9-129-12 – P4.2 Assess options for individual and collective action to advance views on matters of public policy and to address local, regional, or global problems.
RI.6.2.RI.6.2. Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
RI.6.10.RI.6.10. By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6–8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
RI.9-10.4.RI.9-10.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper).
RI.11-12.7.RI.11-12.7. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.
RI.11-12.10.RI.11-12.10. By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 11–CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently

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