12 of 137 results for "climates"
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My World: Global Issues

​War. Climate change. Gender inequality. Our students are inheriting a world with problems. But knowledge is power. 

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Teach the Polar Ecosystem

Bring your students on an icy exploration of the polar ecosystem! The Arctic and Antarctica may look frozen and empty at first glance, but they’re full of life perfectly adapted to the cold. 

Perfect for grades 3–8, here’s what you need to bring ecosystems to life:

  • Iconic BBC Videos: Share the clips on this page to introduce the location, plants, animals, and climate of the polar regions. (Don't miss the narwhals and emperor penguins!) Brought to you by world-class BBC programs like Planet Earth, Frozen Planet, and Seven Worlds, One Planet.
  • Free Printable: Use the Polar Brochure Template to help students pull it all together in an ecosystem report with facts they’ve learned (and a little extra research).

It’s everything you need to make ecosystems easy to teach and truly memorable for your students.

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Teach the Tropical Rainforest Ecosystem

Guide your students on a hike through the tropical rainforest ecosystem! From the Amazon in South America to the jungles of Southeast Asia, rainforests are full of unique and amazing species. 

Perfect for grades 3–8, here’s what you need to bring ecosystems to life:

  • Iconic BBC Videos: Share the clips on this page to introduce the location, plants, animals, and climate of the rainforest. (Don't miss the spider monkeys and waterfall toads!) Brought to you by world-class BBC programs like Planet Earth, Deadly 60, Seven Worlds, One Planet, and Life.
  • Free Printable: Use the Tropical Rainforest Brochure Template to help students pull it all together in an ecosystem report with facts they’ve learned (and a little extra research).

It’s everything you need to make ecosystems easy to teach and truly memorable for your students.

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Teach the Mountain Ecosystem

Take your students on a climb through the mountain ecosystem! From the towering Himalayas to the snowy Rockies, mountain ecosystems change as you climb, starting with green forests down low and ending with bare, windswept summits at the top. 

Perfect for grades 3–8, here’s what you need to bring ecosystems to life:

  • Iconic BBC Videos: Share the clips on this page to introduce the location, plants, animals, and climate of the mountains. (Don't miss the grizzlies and snow leopards!) Brought to you by world-class BBC programs like Planet Earth.
  • Free Printable: Use the Mountain Brochure Template to help students pull it all together in an ecosystem report with facts they’ve learned (and a little extra research).

It’s everything you need to make ecosystems easy to teach and truly memorable for your students.

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Teach the Coral Reef Ecosystem

Bring your students on an underwater adventure into the coral reef ecosystem! Whether you're exploring the vast beauty of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia or diving into the rich, biodiverse waters of Indonesia, coral reefs are some of the most vibrant and important ecosystems on Earth. 

Perfect for grades 3–8, here’s what you need to bring ecosystems to life:

  • Iconic BBC Videos: Share the clips on this page to introduce the location, plants, animals, and climate of the coral reefs. (Don't miss the tusk fish and octopuses!) Brought to you by world-class BBC programs like Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Animal Babies, and Life. 
  • Free Printable: Use the Coral Reef Brochure Template to help students pull it all together in an ecosystem report with facts they’ve learned (and a little extra research).

It’s everything you need to make ecosystems easy to teach and truly memorable for your students.

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Teach the Desert Ecosystem

Guide your students on a journey through the desert ecosystem! From the sweeping sands of the Namib and Kalahari in southern Africa, to the dry heart of Australia’s Outback, and the rocky cold of the Gobi, deserts come in many forms. 

Perfect for grades 3–8, here’s what you need to bring ecosystems to life:

  • Iconic BBC Videos: Share the clips on this page to introduce the location, plants, animals, and climate of the desert. (Don't miss the lions and lizards!) Brought to you by world-class BBC programs like Planet Earth, Wilderness With Simon Reeve, Africa, and Seven Worlds, One Planet.
  • Free Printable: Use the Desert Brochure Template to help students pull it all together in an ecosystem report with facts they’ve learned (and a little extra research).

It’s everything you need to make ecosystems easy to teach and truly memorable for your students.

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Teach the Grasslands Ecosystem

Take your students on a romp through the grasslands! From the African savanna to the Great Plains of North America grasslands are nature’s wide-open playground.

Perfect for grades 3–8, here’s what you need to bring ecosystems to life:

  • Iconic BBC Videos: Share the clips on this page to introduce the location, plants, animals, and climate of the grasslands. (Don't miss the giraffes and bison!) Brought to you by world-class BBC programs such as Planet Earth, The Americas With Simon Reeve, and Seven Worlds, One Planet. 
  • Free Printable: Use the Grasslands Brochure Template to help students pull it all together in an ecosystem report with facts they’ve learned (and a little extra research).

It’s everything you need to make ecosystems easy to teach and truly memorable for your students.

 

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The Oceans Lesson Collection

Explore the impact of human activity on our oceans with this comprehensive lesson collection. Featuring curated BBC video clips and printable activities, these resources dive into topics like pollution, overfishing, and ocean habitats, helping students understand the challenges facing ocean life and inspiring them to become ocean conservation advocates.

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Antarctica Lesson Collection

Dive into the wonders of Antarctica with this multi-grade lesson collection! Tailored for K–2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12, each unit includes engaging activities, thought-provoking discussions, and hands-on projects to uncover the mysteries of the frozen continent. Enhance your teaching with stunning BBC video clips showcasing Antarctic wildlife, research stations, and breathtaking icy landscapes. Printable resources like animal fact sheets, scientist journal templates, and conservation challenges bring the learning to life for your students. Perfect for science, geography, and environmental lessons!

News Clip
Robin Hood's Legendary Hideout Is No More

The Major Oak has finally fallen. Figuratively. The famous tree still technically stands, but has been pronounced dead after a long life of as many as 1,200 years. The massive oak tree was well-known for being central to Robin Hood folklore, but it also stood out with its formidable trunk circumference of 11 meters, or 33 feet. That’s big enough for a large African elephant to hula hoop with. 

The huge tree still stands tall, looking majestic with its craggly branches and massive reach, but it’s been in decline for years. This year is the first that it hasn’t put any leaves out, so experts deemed it deceased. 

While it was certainly old, its demise was likely quickened by climate change, heat waves, and damage to the surrounding soil from people coming to admire the tree. Admirers may have meant well, but decades of foot traffic compacted the soil around the tree's roots, making it harder for the tree to absorb the water, nutrients, and minerals it needed. 

It may not produce lush, green leaves anymore, but fans can still pay homage to The Major Oak. It will remain in its spot to decompose (which could take more than 100 years), and the legacy of the tree lives on in the form of saplings that have been grown from acorns and cuttings. 

News Clip
El Niño's Coming In Hot... Record-Breaking Hot, Actually!

Feeling the heat lately? It might be because of El Niño, a climate pattern characterized by unusually warm sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It can affect the trade winds. These are the permanent, normally easterly winds that flow around the Earth's equator.

When we track the water temperature using tools like satellites, buoys, and ocean floats to measure temperatures below the ocean's surface, they show a large body of unusually hot water. Way bigger than the pot of water you’re boiling for your mac and cheese. Yes, even if you’re making extra mac and cheese. This is serious business! It can cause the sea-surface temperatures in parts of the tropical Pacific to rise by more than 2°C (about 3.6°F) above average, suggesting this year's El Niño is unusually strong, and could make 2027 one of the hottest years on record. 

Depending on where you are in the world, El Niño is associated with both droughts and floods. These affect the lives of people living in those places, as well as their agriculture and food production, so the whole world feels the El Niño effects.

News Clip
Ancient Ice: An Extra Cool Key To Understanding Our Past

Scientists have found some very old ice. No, it’s not bag of frozen peas that have been in your freezer for three years (which means someone’s not eating their vegetables). It’s actually cores of Antarctic ice, the oldest that have ever been collected, that go back over a million years.

Researchers are keeping almost 200 pieces of meter-long ice cores that were drilled from a depth of almost 3 km over the course of four years. After careful preservation, the ice now needs to be melted in order to reveal the rich environmental history that the ice has to offer. When melted carefully and incredibly slowly, scientists can see how the Earth changed over time, including variations in temperature, snowfall, and wind, because the tiny bubbles give a snapshot of carbon dioxide levels. 

Studying this old ice will help scientists understand our environment today. For example, the concentration of greenhouse gasses we see today is higher than they have been in the past 800,000 years. To understand how the climate might change in the future, we need to learn about how it’s changed in the past.