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Dana WatersLesson Plan Outline – “Climate Justice”Concept or Focus: Climate Justice - Caring for God's CreationSetting: This 70 minute lesson took place in the Youth Room with 9 middle and high school youth and one female adult volunteer at Covenant Presbyterian Church. The youth group met for lunch at 12:30pm and the lesson was from 12:50-2:00pm. The room contains a whiteboard, two couches, two big chairs and a large wooden table with 8 chairs around it.Goal: To understand why climate change matters for ChristiansObjectives: The students will...Recall their favorite memories that took place in the natural environment.Dive in to God's Word to discover the value of creation and humanity's charge to care for it.Create a list of the ways we have failed to adequately care for God's creation.Discuss follow-up questions in two small groups and then share with each other.Materials Needed and Preparation: 12 printed copies of Psalm 148 (CEB translation), 1 copy “Sons of Job” game instruction sheet, 4 small rocks, Presentation Outline, four sheets of large newsprint, markers (at least 3), blue painter's tape, list of questions for each small group, laptop (to show video), projector, lightning cable VGA adapter, extension cord, access to Wi-Fi (for showing video), (optional: 2-3 small globes that can fit in your palm)Websites for each video: Step and Time AllottedTeaching ActivityResources NeededOpening12:50-1:00Gather students in the Youth Room together. Start by playing the game “Sons of Job”. The object is for the person in the middle to try to guess who has the rock as it is discreetly passed around the circle. Play continues until the person catches someone with the rock or the rock falls on the ground. Then introduce today's lesson on why caring for God's creation matters for Christians. “Sons of Job” game instruction sheet, 4 small rocksExploring1:00-1:10Ask students to talk about their favorite memory of being outside, especially in a natural environment (e.g. mountains, beach, etc.). Ask why this memory is so meaningful to them. Invite adult volunteer to share as well. Write these locations up on the newsprint.Newsprint, marker, blue painter's tape (to attach newsprint to wall)Presenting1:10-1:30Give copy of Psalm 148 to each student. Have two youth read alternating verses of the psalm aloud for the group. Ask youth the questions from the Presentation Outline. Then show the video “Climate Change 101”, followed by the video “China's Super Smog”. 12 copies of Psalm 148 (CEB), laptop, projector, VGA adapter, extension cord, Wi-Fi, Presentation OutlineResponding1:30-1:45Based on these videos, start a discussion about pollution and climate change using the questions in the Presentation Outline. Have students demonstrate what they have learned by listing ways that we have failed to care for God's creation on the second sheet of newsprint. Then have two smaller groups use their own newsprint to brainstorm ways that we as Christians can make a difference when it comes to climate change.Presentation outline, 3 sheets of newsprint, blue painter's tape, markersClosing1:45-2:00Invite the two groups to come back together and share what they came up with as a small group. Ask a final question: “What are some ways you could see this church becoming involved in the climate change issue?” Close with a prayer together. Then play a game (if time allows) that the youth decide they want play. You could also replay the “Sons of Job” game using small globes. This would be a great way to incorporate the lesson on caring for God’s earth. *Be sure to recycle leftover paper and newsprint!*Optional: 2-4 small globesRationale or Explanation:Climate justice is an important issue in our world. Churches are now starting to understand the importance of caring for all that God has created. It is greatly beneficial, then, to start discussions in our churches of what is happening to our climate and why it matters to Christians. Drawing from Psalm 148, I hope to show these students that God has created everything for the purpose of praise. If we destroy God's creation, we are taking away things that God values, indeed parts of creation that were designed (just like us) to praise God! After reading Psalm 148, I will have the students watch two videos. The first, narrated by Bill Nye the Science Guy, gives a basic understanding of climate change. The second video, a news report from CBS, highlights the very real danger of air pollution in Beijing. It is my hope that these videos will ensure that all of the students are on the same page when we begin discussing the issues of climate change and pollution.I like the idea of placing Exploring before Presenting, especially with a teenage audience. I want our conversations to flow naturally into scripture, instead of just starting with a Bible verse each week. I want my youth group to see that we can turn to the Bible for help as we wrestle with difficult questions. This shouldn't feel forced or artificial as we explore a challenging topic together.I recognize that having a mixture of middle and high school students presents a challenge when trying to create a lesson that fits both age groups. Therefore I have chosen questions that seek to engage both groups whenever possible without leaving middle schoolers feeling “lost” or high schoolers feeling “talked down to”. Naturally some questions will suit one of the age groups more than the other. Overall I believe the discussions will allow for all of the students to fully participate in the conversation.I am also book-ending our lesson with games. I have found this incredibly helpful for a teenage group, since an opening game allows them to get some of their energy out, and a game at the end gives them something to look forward to once we finish our lesson together.After teaching this lesson, I realized that my youth know quite a lot about climate change. However, they had never talked about this issue in church before. The Sons of Job game was a hit. They had never imagined sea monsters or fire or trees praising God simply by their nature, so Psalm 148 provided great conversation. The video of pollution in China was quite powerful for my youth group. Most of them did not realize how dire the situation is there. All in all, this lesson led to great conversation about what we as a church can do to care for God’s creation. They even wanted to hear sermons about it! I hope to build on this topic for future youth group lessons.Presentation Outline:PRESENTING SECTIONAfter students read Psalm 148, discuss the following questions as a group:Who or what is called to praise God in this psalm?What do you think of when you hear that sea monsters and even trees praise God?How many verses does it take until people are mentioned? What does this say about the value of the rest of creation?Now show the video “Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye the Science Guy”. (4:33) this by showing a news report from CBS about smog in China from February 26, 2014. (3:32) SECTIONAfter watching these two videos, have the students discuss what they have seen. Begin by having the students call out the ways that humans have polluted and harmed God's creation. Write this list up on newsprint.Then divide the students into two groups. Each group should have one sheet of newsprint and at least one marker. Have each group come up with the following:reasons why caring for God's creation is important to Christiansways that we as Christians can make a difference when it comes to climate change and pollution ................
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