UN Sustainable Development Goals
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 →
Provided by: MIT Climate Action Through Education|Published on: January 18, 2025
Lesson PlansScientist Reviewed
9101112
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
- This mini-unit explores what it means to be a global citizen, what the UN SDGs are, and the importance of these goals for empowering community action to build a more sustainable and equitable world for all.
- Students become experts in one of the SDGs, presenting their topic to their classmates and creating an assessment to evaluate their classmate's understanding at the end of the unit.
Subjects: Civics, English Language Arts
Authors: Kathryn Teissier du Cros
Region: Global
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This unit introduces students to the UN SDGs, which can then be used to anchor student work across a range of topics and subjects, providing an interdisciplinary and service-oriented lens.
- Students practice their presentation and public speaking skills.
Prerequisites
- Students will need computers (and ideally headphones) to access the lesson materials.
- The link to the History of Sustainability presentation is broken. The climate primer is recommended for this purpose instead.
Differentiation & Implementation
- The unit plan contains links to relevant TIL Climate Podcast episodes that can be used to extend student learning.
- The unit plan links to a climate primer and an article about the structure of the UN, which provide excellent background information if needed for students.
- Students will need to be able to define key vocabulary related to their UN SDG. Some students may need support with this, especially if they are learning English.
- This unit can be used in a social studies or science class to introduce the UN SDGs.
- In a world language class, this unit can be completed with students conducting research and giving their presentations in the language of study.
- After-school clubs or student organizations can use this unit to introduce the UN SDGs, which can be used to anchor service work in the community.
This resource offers a comprehensive review of the sustainability goals proposed by the United Nations. All of the external links (with one exception; the Canva slide deck on the history of sustainability, page 8 of this resource) link to quality information. In particular, the Digital Climate Primer (page 4) is exceptional. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
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 →
