Images of a book, a webpage with climate science information, and a young woman holding the book.

Teacher-Friendly Guide

Welcome to enhanced and updated digital chapters of The Teacher-Friendly Guideᵀᴹ to Climate Change

Links below go to these chapters on PRI's Digital Encyclopedia of Earth Science and Here on Earth: Regional Guides.

A guide for teachers (and others)

The Teacher-Friendly Guideᵀᴹ to Climate Change, first published in 2017,  includes both the basics of climate change science and perspectives on teaching a subject that has become socially and politically polarized. The focus audience is high school Earth science and environmental science teachers, and it is written with an eye toward the kind of information and graphics that a secondary school teacher might need in the classroom. It is the tenth book in the Paleontological Research Institution's Teacher-Friendly Guideᵀᴹ series.

PRI won the 2019 Friend of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education, which recognized The Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change as “the single best available resource for teachers on climate change.”

Activities to help you teach about climate change science and solutions

Visit our Teach Climate Science page to find resources such as classroom toolkits with activities aligned with Next Generation Science Standards, videos, and information about teacher professional development workshops on climate change and energy topics. Several of the digital chapters below also have activities throughout.

Chapters


Why Talk About Climate Change?

What is Climate?


Evidence for and Causes of Recent Climate Change


U.S. Regional Climates


Climate Change Mitigation


Climate Change Adaptation


Obstacles to Addressing Climate Change


Perspective


Introduction to Past and Present Climate

Introduction to Energy

Access the original (2017) version:

The online chapters above are enhanced, updated versions of the original chapters.

What people are saying about The Teacher-Friendly Guide™ to Climate Change


“Written by scientists and science teachers who know their stuff and who are excellent communicators! This book is a must-have guide for teachers who need the facts, unclouded by political agendas, in order to teach the science of climate change effectively.”

David L. Smith, science educator, Amazon.com review, August 1, 2018

“This Teacher-Friendly guide does what it sets out to do – to provide teachers with the background for an effective discussion of climate change with their classes. And it does it very well, in a balanced, even-handed way...Not just for teachers, I would say—this is a readable factual introduction to the evidence for climate change, and the issues in dealing with it, for the general reader as well.”

Roald Hoffmann, Professor, Amazon.com review, July 28, 2017

"An excellent collaboration on one of the most important topics of our time. This is the perfect publication for those who want to have a better grasp on climate change - at the very least it’s a great place to start, but for the layperson it’s likely much more than that. I found the graphs and charts to be useful and accessible to my students (9th graders and 12th graders). Refreshingly, human induced climate change is not treated as a debate. The impacts of climate change are ongoing, thus it’s crucial that students receive a proper introduction to climate change in their science classes. I’m very grateful to the authors and publishers of this work.”

HeatherR, classroom teacher, Amazon.com review, August 1, 2018