NIEHS has recently expanded a series of lesson plans, activities, and guidance materials , originally designed for high school teachers, that explore the connections between Climate Change and Human Health. The new curricula are intended for international students, clinical healthcare students, and public health students in graduate programs both in the United States and internationally. An additional new module, which is complementary to the GLOBE Mosquito Mapper program, focuses on the relationship between vector-borne diseases and climate change.
All NIEHS modules follow the 5E instructional model [Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate] to promote student discovery and learning about the complex interactions between climate change, the environment, and human health. In each module, students are challenged to think about disease prevention, such as how to eliminate mosquito breeding sites and how vectors and how community health risk may chase as the climate does.
These modules promote the translation of science into clinical health care, medical, and public health practice. All are accompanied by slides, instructor manuals, and suggestions for further reading. The materials use content from the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s 2016 report, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment, as well as the 2014 National Climate Assessment. Students and instructors are also introduced to resources in the new 2018 National Climate Assessment.
All materials can be found at Climate Change and Human Health Lesson Plans.
