Planning out a unit of teaching

When planning out a unit of teaching, whether at the university level or earlier grades, it is important to plan the scope and sequence of your unit before you begin planning individual lessons. Lessons are usually daily activities or activities that take just a few class sessions, while a unit is a coherent set of ideas that should all relate back to one or two central notions, called Big Ideas.

Below, I laid out an example unit for a junior-level university course in environmental conservation. If you want to know more about how and why you should plan around Big Ideas and their goals, take a look at what I wrote about it on Edge Effects.

Big Idea	How we manage key resources profoundly affects planetary health. Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the ways these resources are managed provides guidance for improving environmental governance more generally. Key Resource #5: Earth’s atmosphere as a driver of planetary temperatures.
Goal for final assessment	Students will be able to create a plan for climate change mitigation and adaptation that incorporates both social and broader environmental needs.
Key elements of student understanding underlying Big Idea	International greenhouse gas decision-making is highly complex, currently has several key interest groups based on national conditions and interests, and has not yet yielded an internationally effective agreement. At national scales, some countries have based decisions on existing international protocols and reduced emissions while others have ignored, avoided, or not been bound by international protocols and have greatly expanded emissions. At sub-national scales (e.g. state and municipal in the U.S.), some locations in the U.S. have made substantial progress toward reducing emissions and preparing for future changes.
Essential Questions for students to grapple with	How are decisions made about how to manage greenhouse gases internationally? How effective has the process been? On what bases are decisions made about greenhouse gas management within (select) countries? Which countries have reduced emissions and why? Which methods of decision-making and governance have reduced greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.? How? Which methods of decision-making and governance have prepared municipalities and states in the U.S. for climatic change? How?
Essential Vocabulary (partial list for brevity)	“common but differentiated responsibilities,” adaptation, cap and trade, carbon credit, carbon sink, carbon source, carbon tax, clean development mechanism (CDM), climate change, COP, emissions, emissions reduction, energy conservation, global warming, IPCC, joint implementation, Kyoto protocol, negotiating blocs (e.g. group of 77), REDD+, renewable energy, UNFCCC, vulnerability
Lesson sequence for lecture periods (again, a partial list, as an example)	Intro to/Review of Physical science of climate change and its causes Debating national responsibilities for greenhouse gas emissions (based on homework on countries’ past and current emissions) Analyzing climate change impacts in rich and poor countries (lesson used as an example in Edge Effects article) Planning for climate change at the sub-national level (in Wisconsin) Assessing feasibility of alternative energy options Market-based approaches to climate mitigation
Lesson sequence for discussion sections	Introduction to city assigned to student’s class, assignment to student research groups based on aspect of city’s climate change plan (may be centered around mitigation and/or adaptation) Students assemble research conducted during past week Group presentations of adaptation/mitigation plan for area of focus within overall city plan. Representative students use presentations to build overall city plan to be presented in lecture.