COURSE DESCRIPTION
Earth’s climate has never been static - it is in constant cycles of warming and cooling. The current rate of change, however, is unprecedented, and all of us are experiencing this in the form of extreme weather patterns and events. This course will tackle several questions related to climate change: How have the Earth’s orbit, the Sun’s solar energy, and other geological anomalies affected the climate in comparison to human activities over the last 650,000 years? What does climate change have to do with human rights? Is anthropogenic impact on the environment reversible? Under current models, how many people can our planet support? Will we reach a tipping point? This is a class for future scientists who want to save nature as well as for future politicians who want to solve an intractable problem. By the end of this course, students will have a framework for understanding the process of environmental change on both geological and human scales.
WHAT STUDENTS SAY
"The project on how Inuit populations are affected by climate change allowed me to be able to see how climate change isn't just melting ice or endangering polar bears, which is terrible, but one of the more common portrayals of climate change in the media.”WHAT STUDENTS DO
Learning is an active process at One Schoolhouse. Students design, create and apply. And, they engage with classmates and connect with their teachers through discussions, video conferences, and projects. Specifically, in this class students will:
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SECOND SEMESTER?
Students wishing to pursue a climate change project may enroll in the course for the full year. For students continuing into Semester II, the course shifts into personalized, project-based work, where students engage in deep, sustained inquiry, authentic and iterative research, critical analysis, and rigorous reflection, revision, and assessment as they journey through a self-designed, long-term activism, design or research project on the topic of their choosing. Guided by a One Schoolhouse teacher, students pursue individual study/self-assessment or collaborative seminar/peer-review. Pathway options from which students choose include:
Upon completion of their inquiry-driven project, students will have gained academic maturity and expanded their ability to engage in a diverse and changing world. They will be able to draw and defend conclusions from theoretical underpinnings, contextual background, and mathematical analysis or source evaluation. Finally, they will have created and tested something useful of their own design or will be able to defend a position based on their own research. Check out the video below to hear from the facilitators and learn more about your seminar project! COURSE APPROVAL
One Schoolhouse is fully accredited with the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges through December 1, 2025; we are an approved online publisher for the University of California. |
Meredith Mikell
Science Teacher BS Eckerd College MA Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University |