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Day 1: Environmental Careers + Climate Connection

Lesson Overview
Time 50 minutes
Objectives Explore the Environmental and Natural Resources pathway in H&L; connect climate science topics to specific environmental careers; take notes on 2 environmental careers
TEKS d(1)(C)
Deliverable Hat notes for 2 environmental careers + 1 connection to a NASA Climate Kids topic
Materials Chromebooks, H&L accounts, NASA Climate Kids (climatekids.nasa.gov), projector

Warm-Up (5 min)

WARM-UP: Name one environmental problem you've heard about (water pollution, plastic in oceans, droughts, wildfires, air pollution, plastic waste). Who do you think works to solve it?

Take 4 student responses. Use this to bridge from Plant Science (Week 2) to Environmental careers (Week 3): both pathways live inside the Ag cluster, and they often work side-by-side on the same problems.

Activity 1: H&L Environmental Pathways (20 min)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 2, p. 17, Pathway list (Environmental and Natural Resources)

Direct students to open Hats & Ladders and navigate to the Environmental and Natural Resources pathway inside the Agriculture cluster. Project the pathway page and walk through 4 careers:

  • Environmental Engineer: designs water treatment systems and pollution controls
  • Sustainability Consultant: helps companies reduce their environmental impact
  • Water Treatment Specialist: runs the equipment that cleans drinking water and wastewater
  • Renewable Energy Technician: installs and maintains solar panels and wind turbines

[H&L PLATFORM] Direct students to the Hat Finder, filter by Environmental and Natural Resources, and browse the available Hats. Each Hat profile has Education, Salary, Daily Tasks, and "Why It Matters" sections. Students take notes on 2 careers using a half-sheet template.

The note template has 4 fields per career:

Field Career 1 Career 2
Career Name
Problem It Solves
Education/Training
Average Salary

Facilitation Tip

Some students will pick "Park Ranger" because it sounds outdoorsy. Encourage them to also look at the engineering side (Environmental Engineer, Renewable Energy Technician) so they see careers that combine science, math, and tech.

Activity 2: NASA Climate Kids Connection (15 min)

Source: climatekids.nasa.gov

If Climate Kids is blocked

NASA Climate Kids is a .gov site and typically passes district filters. If it is blocked on student Chromebooks, substitute with NOAA's climate education pages (noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/climate) or have students browse the BLS Environmental Engineers profile for a career-to-problem connection using the same 2-sentence template. Flag the block to district IT on Friday if possible.

NASA is one of the largest employers of environmental scientists and engineers in the country. The Climate Kids site shows the SCIENCE behind the environmental challenges that environmental careers work on.

Students open Climate Kids and spend 10 minutes exploring. They find ONE topic that connects to a career they took notes on in Activity 1. Examples:

  • Topic: "How does climate change affect water?" → Career connection: Water Treatment Specialist
  • Topic: "What is the greenhouse effect?" → Career connection: Environmental Engineer (designs emissions controls)
  • Topic: "How do scientists measure rising seas?" → Career connection: Environmental Scientist

Students write 2 sentences below their note table:

  • Sentence 1: "I read about _____ on Climate Kids."
  • Sentence 2: "This connects to the career of _ because they work on ___."

DOK 2: How would you describe the connection between climate change and the growth of environmental engineering careers? Use one specific example from Climate Kids.

Activity 3: Quick Class Share (8 min)

In the last 8 minutes, ask 3 students to share their topic-to-career connection on the projector. The point is to surface different connections so the class sees how many environmental problems map to different careers.

Exit Ticket (2 min)

EXIT TICKET (Mini-Case / Scenario Application) · Printable PDF:

Scenario: A DFW city council discovers that a neighborhood's drinking water has SMALL amounts of lead in it. They need to hire ONE environmental professional to start fixing the problem this week.

  1. Which environmental career from today (Environmental Engineer, Sustainability Consultant, Water Treatment Specialist, Renewable Energy Technician) fits THIS problem BEST?

My pick: _____

  1. Use one fact about the career (education, problem it solves, daily task) from your Hat Notes to back the pick:
  1. Connect ONE NASA Climate Kids topic to THIS problem (example: pollution in water, greenhouse effect, melting ice caps):

My topic: _____. Connection in one sentence: _____________

(d(1)(C))

Differentiation

  • Support: Pre-fill the note template with 2 specific careers (Environmental Engineer + Park Ranger) so students focus on the data fields.
  • Extension: Find one NASA mission (current or past) that uses environmental scientists and explain what they study.
  • ELL: Pre-teach: Environment = Medio Ambiente, Climate = Clima, Engineer = Ingeniero/a, Pollution = Contaminación. Climate Kids has a Spanish version available, show students the language toggle if needed.