Resource Overview
Packet of 2024 Earth Day lesson plans for 9th – 12th grades. Free to download!
The 2024 Earth Day theme is “Planet vs. Plastics.”
Earth Day Activities for High School
The Earth Day activities in this packet will help 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students engage in inquiry-based simulations, modeling, and group collaboration that explore human-environmental interactions, global plastic use and waste, and possible paths toward sustainability. These experiences can then be launching points for rich discussion and independent explorations of human ecology topics.
Don’t teach high school? Check out our Earth Day resource packets for Elementary and Middle School.
Features of This Resource
- Perfect set of activities for your secondary Earth Day teaching module
- Student reading provides an overview of an waste generation, management and impacts. A case study reading dives into fast fashion and its impact on the environment, communities, and the economy.
- Engagement with global challenges will inspire students to be global change makers
Included Lesson Plans and Readings
The following are included with the downloadable packet:
Earth Day Lesson Plans for High School
The Great Bag Debate
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Students conduct research either in favor of or against plastic bag bans and taxes, then debate their assigned stance. Students...
Trash Trouble in Paradise
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Role playing a city council meeting, students weigh various real-world economic, social, and environmental factors when siting a landfill on...
Secret Life of Tees
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Students use guided research to perform a five-stage life cycle analysis on a t-shirt and brainstorm ways to reduce the
Needs vs. Wants in a Finite World
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Students discuss the varying levels of human needs and then evaluate their own needs and wants and the resources required...
Readings for Earth Day in High School
Cheap Threads, Costly Impacts: The Price of Fast Fashion
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Personal consumption case study reading: Examine how fast fashion (like H&M, Zara, Shein, etc.) impacts the environment and economy.
What a Waste!
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Solid waste background reading: How do we deal with the growing problem of solid waste? This reading provides an overview...
Earth Day Lesson Plans for High School
The Great Bag Debate
- Students conduct research either in favor of or against plastic bag bans and taxes, then debate their assigned stance. Students...Trash Trouble in Paradise
- Role playing a city council meeting, students weigh various real-world economic, social, and environmental factors when siting a landfill on...Secret Life of Tees
- Students use guided research to perform a five-stage life cycle analysis on a t-shirt and brainstorm ways to reduce theNeeds vs. Wants in a Finite World
- Students discuss the varying levels of human needs and then evaluate their own needs and wants and the resources required...Readings for Earth Day in High School
Cheap Threads, Costly Impacts: The Price of Fast Fashion
- Personal consumption case study reading: Examine how fast fashion (like H&M, Zara, Shein, etc.) impacts the environment and economy.What a Waste!
- Solid waste background reading: How do we deal with the growing problem of solid waste? This reading provides an overview...Supplemental Materials
How Do I Get This Lesson Packet?
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