Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

• Teaching Tips
  There are many resources linked into this site for further investigation on the impacts of human behavior. This site can be used as an introduction to human impacts on the environment and allows for differentiation as students further explore a topic of interest in many different modalities - research articles, podcasts, visuals, graphs, etc. Spend some time clicking the sliders (Money, Time, Effort) and seeing how the number of solutions in different categories changes. Then scroll down to see the detailed solutions.
• About the Science
  This activity provides a good overview of individual actions that can be taken to reduce carbon emissions and introduces policies that are being implemented in the United States. The interactive section provides an engaging activity to explore how much time, money and effort can be put into each behavioral change made. Real and credible data was integrated throughout the work and is denoted with a subscript following the correct source. Percentages of overall use and interactive visualizations are used to demonstrate the content. Science materials are present, but suggestions to combat climate change can be construed as unrealistic if not everyone is unified. The work suggests that all of these ways are integrated in everyday life, then there will be a superb quality of life, but in reality, not everyone will willingly contribute. Can be misconceived to a younger audience. The information wasn't overly simplified but goes into great depth for the audience. There are many references listed at the end of the resource. The activity covers a range of important classes of solutions: energy efficiency in buildings, consumption, food choices, and transportation. The activity provides high quality background material on the "About" page, with substantial actionable information and credible sources and reference information. The table titled "Which habits fit your life?" is an excellent list of examples of climate actions that individuals can take. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
• About the Pedagogy
  The design of the activity is very interactive and modern. Very good resources for further investigation are included. The type of activities included are hands-on and geared towards group-based projects. The activities will depict progressive ways to improve the health of the planet, such as insulating windows at home or taking shorter or cooler showers. Projected learning outcomes and skills would be intellectual skills and communications, such as understanding procedures to impact climate change, organizing and improving habits, and other techniques. The quality of the lesson design is informational, thorough, and up-to-date. The teaching sequence is point-by-point, so a subtopic is introduced followed by various examples with some scientific descriptions. The teacher's guide is well-organized, the integrated information was very well researched and presented. The learning style is interactive and has visualizations open for multiple learning styles. Special prerequisite skills of students to complete the activity are not mentioned specifically in the material, but a scientific background, time, and money are implied. The "About" section has background information useful for understanding the importance of reducing your carbon footprint. The "What you can do" section provides an interactive simulation to teach how much time, effort and energy need to be put into each behavioral decision to make a positive difference in the environment. The organization of the activity is good in ways to fight climate change, but could use more visuals than words, this would be critical for the grade/age group as the audience. Teachers may want to consider including upbeat activities to enhance the examples mentioned to cope with climate change to engage students. A strength of this activity is that it promotes an inclusive view of taking climate action because it highlights actions that people can take with different levels of money, time, and effort invested. For example, students can find actions that require no money, but different levels of time commitment and effort. Because the symbols next to each solution provide some information about it without needing to read, the activity has potential to be somewhat accessible to ESL students and students with reading challenges.
• Technical Details/Ease of Use
  This site is best used by first using the "About" section for background information and then going to the "What you can do" section. There are many scientific resources linked into the site for further exploration. Relevant URLs and annotations are made very accessible, and the external websites provided are up-to-date. This activity has very high usability. Protocols of combating climate change that were mentioned are realistic and reachable for the audience. The activity requires access to a browser and the internet. It is easy to use, but does not have detailed instructions so will take a short amount of time to figure out.