Film is a powerful tool for engaging students across the curriculum (not just in science classes!) about the wonders of the natural world, environmental science, and youth climate activism. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite Earth-related resources to help you inspire your students for Earth Month, Earth Week, Earth Day and all year long!
Films to Teach for Earth Month
Grades 3-5
The Love Bugs – This guide is also available in Spanish.
Learning about forests for Earth Day and everyday is vital for students. Earth Day corresponds closely with Arbor Day, another opportunity to teach about forests. Additionally, forests are essential parts of our ecosystem. Thus, we encourage you to integrate this learning into your classroom anytime of the year. But, the April holidays of Earth Day and Arbor Day bring attention to trees and ecosystems. As such, these holidays can catapult student learning.
We’re excited to share one of our newest Journeys in Film lesson plans. It is the Forests lesson from our curriculum guide for Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops. This lesson plan corresponds with the short film of the same name, Forests, produced as part of the Climate Emergency: Feedback Loop series.
Learning About Forests Through Film
Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops is a series of five short films. These films are perfect for the classroom, running 9 to 15 minutes. Furthermore, all five films are available to stream for free.
We recommend pairing Forests, the short film and the lesson, with the feature documentary film River of Gold.
River of Gold chronicles the clandestine journey of two war journalists and their guide into Peru’s Amazon rainforest. The film makes clear the consequences of this devastation on a global scale. Since the Forests short film from the Feedback Loop series focuses on tropical forests and, specifically, the Amazon rainforest, screening it as an introduction to River of Gold and using the two films in tandem can enhance student learning. Our eleven-lesson curriculum guide for River of Gold includes a lesson on rainforest ecology, perfect for learning about forests. The curriculum guide is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
The Power and Importance of Learning About Forests
“All forests provide critical feedback for limiting global warming. By removing atmospheric carbon dioxide, they reduce its atmospheric increase. This reduces further warming,” shares Dr. Bill Moomaw, Professor Emeritus at Tufts University and distinguished visiting scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center. “The Amazon forest plays an outsized role in controlling global temperatures including in the Arctic. As strange as it seems, restoring the degraded tropical Amazon forest will help keep more sunlight reflecting ice in the Arctic. This can prevent additional release of methane from thawing permafrost. This set of feedback loops will help to cool the planet.”
Dr. Moomaw was a panelist in our Share My Lesson webinar, Climate Emergencies: Using Feedback Loop Films to Inspire and Educate. The webinar highlights our curriculum guide for the Climate Emergency film series. The webinar features scientific insight from Dr. Moomaw and Lara Tukarski. Tukarski is the South Sound FieldSTEM Coordinator for the Pacific Education Institute.
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Written by Jennifer Fischer
Film Tools to Teach Climate Science in the Classroom
Teaching climate science and educating youth about the environment is more important than ever. Although environmental education can be challenging, teaching with film engages and excites students. Thus, we’re highlighting free resources that take advantage of the power of film. Use these resources to teach climate science, earth science, and other environmental topics.
We’re here to help you take advantage of these free curriculum guides and discussion guides.
Film Tools to Teach Climate Science in the Classroom
Our newest resource, Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops is for a series of five short films. They are perfect for the classroom, running 9 to 15 minutes. Additionally, all five films are available to stream for free. Our curriculum guide is set up to directly correspond to each film. We created one lesson for each short film. “The Forests” short film and lesson would be perfect for Arbor Day.
Next, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is an engaging narrative film that tells the true story of William Kamkwambe. He was thirteen years old when he built a windmill from recycled materials in his community. It helped bring water to his drought-stricken town in dire need of irrigation for farming. Lesson 1 highlights environmental science. We also offer a discussion guide for the film as well as our free CORE-based curriculum guide.
Another classroom discussion tool regarding climate science is our discussion guide for From the Ashes. This documentary film explores the coal industry and energy alternatives.
Finally, we recommend One Strange Rock, a National Geographic episodic documentary. With 8 lessons, educators can explore Earth Science in a variety of ways with this CORE-based free curriculum guide.
Additional Film Tools to Teach Climate Science
The documentaryRiver of Gold chronicles the clandestine journey of two war journalists and their guide into Peru’s Amazon rain forest. They hope to uncover the savage destruction of pristine jungle in pursuit of illegally mined gold. The film makes clear the consequences of this devastation on a global scale. Magnificent photography of plants, animals, and people inspires audiences to engage in solutions to protect the Amazon. Our eleven-lesson curriculum guide is particularly rich in STEM lessons.
Landfill Harmonic tells the true story of a youth orchestra that plays instruments made from recycled materials. The curriculum explores air quality and human health. Flooding and environmental contamination from the landfill are also key topics in the lessons from our free curriculum guide.
Altogether, we’re proud to offer a wide array of resources that educators can use to teach climate science. We’d love to hear about other tools you are using in the classroom to teach about the environment.
New Teaching Resources Update
We have launched two environment and nature focused lesson collections! We’re excited to highlight these standalone lessons, isolated from their respective comprehensive curriculum guides for your ease of use. A Celebration of Nature explores the beauty and wonder of the natural world with resources for grades 3 to 7. Our Environmental Studies Lessons Collection is designed for grades 7 to 12.
As a new year begins, we’re excited to share our newest film guides with you!
Our Latest Teaching Resources for Acclaimed Contemporary Films
To start a new year, we’re recapping our ten newest film guides. These acclaimed documentaries and hit feature films shed new light on history, current events, and the important figures and issues of our time. Our free teaching resources can help you put the rapidly-shifting news landscape into context for your students and lead productive discussions on sensitive and sometimes difficult topics.
Chevalier (For Grades 11-12)
Inspired by the incredible true story of France’s first Black classical composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Our Chevalier Discussion Guide sheds new light on the realities of 18th century France and can ignite student interest and engagement in learning more about the French Revolution.
Crip Camp (For High School)
Crip Camp shares with insight, humor, and joy the experiences of a group of disabled teenagers and their journey to adulthood and activism. Our Crip Camp Curriculum Guide and Discussion Guide delve into this rich and powerful story of disability activism, culture, and history.
Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down (For Grades 8-12)
This compelling documentary tells the extraordinary story of former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords: her relentless fight to recover following an assassination attempt in 2011. We’ve created a “Gabby Giffords Discussion Guide and a Learning Guide.” También están disponibles en español.
Navalny (For High School)
Navalny unfolds with the pace of a political thriller. This Oscar-winning documentary follows Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in his quest to identify the men who poisoned him in a failed assassination attempt. We offer a Discussion Guide and a flexible Learning Guide that features six key learning sections which cover 9 subjects across the curriculum.
Rebel Hearts (For High School)
This heart-grabbing documentary chronicles the bold acts of faith, defiance and activism of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart that turned the Church upside-down. From marching in Selma in 1965 to the Women’s March in 2018, they challenged the notion of what a nun and a woman were supposed to be. Our Rebel Hearts Curriculum Guide includes a hands-on arts lesson based on the pop art of Sister Mary Corita.
Schindler’s List Special 30th Anniversary Guide (For High School)
In 2023, we launched a new improved Schindler’s List Curriculum Guide with a brand new antisemitism lesson to teach with this powerful & inspiring Academy Award-winner.
Summer of Soul (For Grades 7-12)
Summer of Soul is a powerful and transporting documentary—part music film, part historical record—about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture and fashion. Our Summer of Soul Curriculum Guide provides an engaging introduction to major events in Black history—with an award-winning soundtrack.
Unzipped: An Autopsy of American Inequality (For High School)
This intimate documentary explores the frontline of America’s heated battles over gentrification, lack of affordable housing, and homelessness. UNZIPPED explodes stereotypes and humanizes the lived experiences of people caught in the cross-fire of America’s growing housing divide. Our Unzipped Learning Guide also explores actionable solutions.
Youth v Gov (For Grades 7-12)
This compelling climate court case documentary follows 21 courageous youth activists who file a ground-breaking lawsuit against the U.S. government for their right to a safe climate. Our Youth v Gov Curriculum Guide and Discussion Guide provide context to discuss breaking climate litigation news. Redirect your students’ climate anxiety into action-oriented optimism with these powerful teaching tools.
