10 cross-curricular activities to teach students about climate change

Why teach climate change across subjects?

Climate change isn’t just a science topic anymore. It touches economics, politics, public health, ethics, and creative expression — and your students know it. Whether they’re watching wildfire smoke roll across their state or hearing about record-breaking heat on the news, they’re already forming questions. The challenge for educators is giving them the tools to explore those questions critically.

The good news? Climate change lends itself naturally to cross-curricular teaching. A single lesson can connect earth science standards to persuasive writing, data analysis, or even art. And when students see the same issue from multiple angles, they develop the kind of layered understanding that really sticks.

So where do you start? The activities below are organized by grade band — elementary, middle, and high school — and each one draws on video resources from the ClickView Climate Change topic collections. Jump to the section that fits your students, or browse the whole list for ideas you can adapt.

Activities for elementary students

1) Build a greenhouse effect in a jar

Nothing beats a hands-on experiment for making an abstract concept click with younger learners. This activity helps students visualize the greenhouse effect — the driving mechanism behind climate change — using materials you probably already have in your classroom.

Before starting, screen the video Climate Change from the Miniclips series to give students a quick, engaging overview of what climate change is and why it’s so important to understand.

You will need:

• Two clear jars or containers
• Two desk lamps (or a sunny windowsill)
• Plastic wrap
• Two thermometers

Steps:

• Place a thermometer inside each jar and record the starting temperature.
• Cover one jar tightly with plastic wrap. Leave the other jar open.
• Position both jars under the lamps (or in direct sunlight) for 30 to 60 minutes.
• Have students check the thermometers and record the temperature in each jar at regular intervals.
• Discuss the results as a class: Why is the covered jar warmer? Explain that the plastic wrap acts like greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere, trapping heat inside — just like throwing extra blankets on a bed.

After the experiment, extend the learning with the video What Is the Greenhouse Effect?, which breaks the concept down for younger learners. You can also build vocabulary by pairing this activity with additional ClickView videos: Greenhouse Gases explores the gases themselves, while Weather vs. Climate helps students understand the critical difference between day-to-day weather and long-term climate patterns.

Discussion prompts:

• Why do you think Earth is getting warmer?
• What would happen if we kept adding more and more “blankets” to the Earth?
• How could we remove some of those blankets?

2) Create a climate change collage

Here’s where art meets science. This activity invites students to process what they’re learning about climate change through a creative, visual medium — which is especially powerful for students who express themselves better through images than words.

Start by showing the video Climate Change from the Let’s Discover: Sustainability and Climate Change series. Then, provide students with magazines, newspapers, printed photographs, or digital images.

• Ask each student (or pair of students) to choose one aspect of climate change to focus on: rising temperatures, melting ice, extreme weather, endangered animals, or human solutions.
• Students create a collage that tells a visual story about their topic.
• Display the finished collages around the classroom and hold a gallery walk where students explain their work to classmates.

This activity connects naturally to ELA standards around visual literacy and informational communication. You can also extend it by having students write a short paragraph explaining the story their collage tells, or record a podcast-style narration. The video Minding Our Planet pairs well as a follow-up, sparking conversation about what students can do to help.

3) Explore the impact on animals and habitats

If there’s one thing that gets elementary students fired up about climate change, it’s the impact on animals. This activity channels that empathy into a structured research task that builds science and literacy skills at the same time.

Begin with the video Climate Change and Its Effects on Species, which introduces the idea that rising temperatures are disrupting ecosystems around the world. For a more specific focus, Coral Bleaching explores how warming oceans are devastating coral reefs, while Climate Change Causing Insect Relocation shows how even small creatures are being affected.

• Assign each student (or small group) an animal or habitat affected by climate change: polar bears, sea turtles, coral reefs, forests, or insect populations.
• Students research how climate change is impacting their assigned subject and create a “habitat report card” — grading the habitat’s health and explaining why.
• Each group presents their findings to the class.
• Wrap up with a whole-class discussion: What would happen if we lost these animals or habitats? What can people do to help prevent that from happening?

For additional context on ocean impacts, the video How the Oceans Respond to Global Warming offers a deeper dive that works well for upper elementary students.

Activities for middle school students

4) Track greenhouse gas data and build graphs

Climate science offers some of the most compelling datasets out there! This activity brings math and science together by having students analyze greenhouse gas trends and represent their findings visually.

Start with the video Human Impact on Earth’s Systems and Global Warming to establish the link between human activity and rising greenhouse gas levels. Then, direct students to NASA’s Climate Time Machine or NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory, both of which offer freely accessible data on CO2 concentrations over time.

• Students select a 20- to 50-year time window and locate CO2 data for regular intervals across that window.
• Using graph paper or a digital tool, they create a line graph showing how concentrations have changed.
• In small groups, students discuss: What patterns do you notice? Are the increases steady or accelerating? What world events might explain any spikes?
• As an extension, have students compare their CO2 graph with global temperature data from the same period. Do the two trends correlate?

Pair this activity with the video Climate Change: Earth’s Giant Game of Tetris, which uses an analogy that students find memorable and helps connect the data to the bigger picture.

5) Investigate food waste and its climate impact

Here’s one that might surprise your students: when food waste ends up in landfills, it decomposes and produces methane, a greenhouse gas that’s far more potent than CO2. This activity makes that connection tangible — and empowers students to take action in their own lives.

Start with the video How to Fight Climate Change from Your Kitchen, which explains the link between food waste and climate change in an engaging, student-friendly way.

• Have students track their household food waste for one week using a log (what was thrown away, estimated weight, and why it wasn’t eaten).
• Back in class, compile the data and calculate an estimated total for the whole class.
• Discuss: What types of food were wasted most? What could families do differently?
• Students write a persuasive paragraph or create an infographic aimed at their peers, arguing for one specific change (meal planning, composting, buying less, using leftovers creatively).

To broaden the conversation about sustainable habits, follow up with Recycling and The Basics of Smart Recycling.

6) Launch a sustainability social media campaign

By designing a mock social media campaign focused on sustainability, students practice persuasive writing, digital literacy, and creative thinking while engaging with real climate science.

Screen Global Goal 13: Climate Action to introduce the United Nations’ call to action on climate change. Then, challenge students to create a campaign targeting their peers.

• In small groups, students choose a sustainability message: reduce energy use, cut food waste, rethink fast fashion, use public transportation, plant trees, or support recycling.
• Each group creates 3 to 5 mock social media posts (Instagram-style graphics, short video scripts, or infographic slides) with captions that blend facts and persuasive language.
• Groups present their campaigns to the class, and the class votes on which campaign would be most effective and why.

This connects naturally to ELA standards around persuasive writing and audience awareness. For groups focusing on recycling, the video The Future of Recycling: AI-Powered Solutions adds a forward-looking, tech-driven angle that students find fascinating.

Activities for high school students

7) Debate climate change policy and perspectives

Climate change can be a polarizing topic, which is exactly what makes it such a rich subject for structured academic debate. This activity pushes students beyond the science and into the political, economic, and ethical dimensions of the issue.

Begin with Climate Change: How We Got Here, which takes a big-picture look at how humanity arrived at this point. Then, introduce the Paris Agreement using the video Paris Climate Change Conference, and give students time to explore different national perspectives on climate policy.

• Divide the class into teams. Assign each team a position: for example, “Governments should prioritize economic growth over emissions reduction” versus “Emissions reduction should take precedence regardless of economic cost.”
• Teams research using scientific sources, news articles, and videos like Climate Change in Politics and Injustices and The Origin of Earth Day.
• Hold a structured debate with timed opening statements, rebuttals, and closing arguments.
• After the debate, each student writes a reflection paper evaluating the strongest evidence from both sides.

To strengthen students’ discussion skills beforehand, screen Understand Multiple Perspectives.

8) Analyze the economics of carbon pricing

For students in economics, government, or AP Environmental Science courses, carbon pricing is a topic that sits right at the intersection of science, policy, and real-world impact. This activity introduces the concept and asks students to evaluate its effectiveness.

Start with the video Carbon Pricing Explained, which breaks down the mechanism clearly. Then, have students explore real-world examples of carbon pricing systems, such as the European Union Emissions Trading System or California’s cap-and-trade program.

• Students research one country’s or state’s carbon pricing model: How does it work? What industries does it cover? Has it reduced emissions?
• In pairs, students create a pros-and-cons analysis, considering economic impacts on businesses, consumers, and the environment.
• Hold a class discussion around the question: Is carbon pricing the most effective tool we have, or are there better alternatives?
• As an extension, students watch Introducing Climate Change Solutions and How to Decarbonise Methane, Cement & Industry to explore the broader landscape of solutions beyond pricing alone.

9) Investigate climate change through cognitive bias

Why do some people dismiss climate evidence even when the science is overwhelming? This activity asks students to step into the world of psychology and media literacy to examine how cognitive biases shape public understanding of climate change.

Screen We’re All a Bit Biased to introduce the concept of unconscious bias, followed by Confirmation, Bandwagon, and Survivorship Bias for deeper exploration.

• Present students with a collection of climate-related news headlines, social media posts, and opinion pieces — a mix of accurate reporting, misleading framing, and outright misinformation.
• In small groups, students identify which cognitive biases might lead someone to accept or reject each source (confirmation bias, bandwagon effect, anchoring bias).
• Groups present their analysis to the class, connecting specific biases to specific examples.
• Follow up with Evaluating Statistical Claims to help students sharpen their data literacy skills.
• As a final task, students write a short essay: How does cognitive bias make it harder for society to respond to climate change, and what can individuals do about it?

This is one of those activities that transcends the topic itself. The critical thinking skills students develop here will serve them well in every subject — and in life beyond the classroom.

10) Design a climate action plan

This capstone-style activity pulls everything together. Students apply their knowledge of climate science, policy, and communication to create a concrete plan for their school or local community.

Begin with the video What Can We Do for Climate Change? to spark ideas. Then, challenge students — individually or in groups — to develop a climate action plan.

• Students research their school’s or community’s current environmental practices: energy use, waste management, transportation patterns, green spaces.
• Based on their findings, they identify 3 to 5 specific, actionable changes and create a proposal document that includes the problem, the proposed solution, estimated costs or savings, and an implementation timeline.
• Students present their plans to the class (or, better yet, to school administrators or a local community board).
• As an extension, have students write a letter to a local policymaker summarizing their key recommendations — making the learning feel genuinely purposeful.

The video How to Drive Change in Your Community pairs perfectly here, showing students that young people can and do drive meaningful change. And who knows — you might just have the next generation of climate leaders sitting in your classroom right now.

Tips for ongoing climate change education

Climate change doesn’t have to live in a single unit plan. Here are a few ways to keep it woven into your teaching throughout the year:

• Connect it to current events. When a heat wave, wildfire, or extreme weather event makes the news, take a few minutes to discuss it. Even a brief class conversation reinforces prior learning and keeps the topic feeling relevant and real.
• Use it as a recurring example. Whether you’re teaching data analysis in math, persuasive writing in ELA, or global inequality in social studies, climate change works as a through-line topic that students can return to across units.
• Build a classroom resource wall. After completing any of the activities above, display student work — collages, graphs, debate notes, action plans — where the class can reference it later.
• Explore the full ClickView climate change collections. ClickView offers curated video resources for elementary, middle school, and high school students, making it easy to find age-appropriate content whenever the topic comes up.
• Empower student voice. Give students space to share what they’ve learned outside the classroom — through school newsletters, morning announcements, or community presentations. When students teach others, they deepen their own understanding.

Climate change is one of those rare topics that belongs in every classroom, not just science. It’s a gateway to conversations about data, ethics, creativity, community, and the systems that shape our world. Whatever grade level you teach, the activities above offer a practical starting point. Your students — and their questions — will take it from there.

Sources

1. NASA. “Climate Time Machine.” NASA Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. https://climate.nasa.gov/interactives/climate-time-machine/
2. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “Global Monitoring Laboratory.” https://gml.noaa.gov/
3. United Nations. “Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action.” https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13
4. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. “Global Emissions.” https://www.c2es.org/content/international-emissions/
5. UNESCO. “Education for Sustainable Development.” https://www.unesco.org/en/education-sustainable-development