I currently teach 5 classes of US History 1 that cover US History from colonial times to Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. According to New Jersey state law, climate change must be integrated into Social Studies curriculum. I have struggled incorporating this issue into this time period, but recently experimented with a political party project I do in class.
Background information: After learning about the first political parties in American History in the late 1700's, the class segways to present day political parties and the issues that divide and unite Americans across the country. Students take a quiz that both educates them about current issues that they are not familiar with, and gives results on which political parties they have common ground with. Over 1-2 weeks, students make their own political parties in class and make a platform to run against their classmates using the issues they are learning about. I give the students different instructions every day. The final day of the class culminates in an election.
Climate change lesson: After students have already made their platforms and start their campaigns, I use one day to introduce a new issue for them to add to their platform. Creating a fake scenario that climate change is trending across all social media platforms, students must now familiarize themselves with climate change and climate change policies, and come up with their own stance and policy before the class election. Using "Climate History Explained: From Ice Ages to Today", students get a quick background on the issue, and are encouraged to look on the same website they took the quiz to see common debates on the topic. Students then use the Climate Policy Analysis as a group to develop their own policy and add it to the campaign platform.
Overall, the lesson was a success, and became an engaging part of the project. If interested in the full project, I would be happy to share. If anyone has suggestions, I would appreciate it.
