TED Talk Climate Change Unit 1 - Climate Science | 2-Week Curriculum

Teach two focused weeks of high-school climate change with Unit 1 - Climate Science.

This no-prep Grades 9-12 unit uses 8 short TED/TED-Ed videos as anchors for complete 50-minute lessons. Students study climate systems, the carbon cycle, clouds, greenhouse warming, ocean circulation, extreme weather, tipping points, and permafrost while tracing mechanisms, evaluating evidence, preserving uncertainty, and applying ideas to unfamiliar cases.

Try a real lesson free: Earth's Giant Game of Tetris - FREE sample lesson

FREE planning preview: Download the Full Curriculum Educator Planning Guide

Want all six units? See the Complete Full Curriculum

Videos Included - Unit 1 Climate Science

Every title links directly to the public YouTube video.

1. Climate change: Earth's giant game of Tetris - Joss Fong
2. The carbon cycle - Nathaniel Manning
3. Cloudy climate change: How clouds affect Earth's temperature - Jasper Kirkby
4. How quantum mechanics explains global warming - Lieven Scheire
5. How do ocean currents work? - Jennifer Verduin
6. Is the weather actually becoming more extreme? - R. Saravanan
7. Is our climate headed for a mathematical tipping point? - Victor J. Donnay
8. What happens when the Arctic permafrost melts? - Brendan Rogers and Jessica Howard

Classroom Use at a Glance

• Length: 2 instructional weeks / about 10 class days
• Video lessons: 8
• Assessments: W01 and U01
• Lesson design: complete 50-minute lesson structure around each short video
• Best uses: whole-class instruction, sub plans, flipped learning, review, enrichment, make-up work, or independent study

What's Included

• 8 complete TED video lesson sets
• W01 and U01 assessment Teacher Guides and generated student/quiz derivatives
• Teacher Guides with learning targets, vocabulary, structured viewing, discussion prompts, answer keys, and standards alignment
• Digital and print Student Worksheets
• Self-Graded Quizzes
• Multiple Choice Quiz Print versions
• Start Here PDF with shared-folder access instructions

Guidance & Summary

• Each short video becomes a full lesson rather than a passive viewing worksheet.
• Students distinguish mechanism, evidence, assumptions, uncertainty, system boundaries, interpretation, and value judgments.
• Questions use changed-cue reasoning and transfer rather than simple recall whenever appropriate.
• Assessment banks let teachers select items for class time, review, retakes, or differentiation.

Differentiation Options

• Preview only essential vocabulary.
• Replay difficult sections and use timestamps to return to evidence.
• Use partner discussion before written response.
• Assign selected assessment-bank items rather than every item when time is limited.
• For advanced students, add counterarguments, alternative explanations, or explicit scope limits.

New Optional Video Companion (used with YouTube)

The free Classroom Video Guide Companion Chrome extension can automatically pause YouTube at question timestamps and display prompts during viewing. It can make whole-class, small-group, and independent video lessons easier to facilitate. The curriculum works normally without the extension.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are the videos included?
No. The exact public YouTube videos are linked above.

Does this unit include the full-course Capstone and cumulative Final?
No. Those full-course-only resources are included in the Complete Full Curriculum.

Can I use this with Google Classroom?
Yes. The controller-generated workflow includes digital student materials and self-graded quiz support.

Independent resource notice: TED/TED-Ed videos are not included. This is an independent educator-created companion curriculum and is not affiliated with or endorsed by TED.