The Power of Data: A 5E Lesson Plan to Explore Intersections Between Environmental Burden Indicators and Socioeconomic Demographic and Racial information

“The Power of Data” describes a short unit on environmental justice for a high school environmental science course. Student engagement starts with building a shared definition of the term environmental justice after which students use the RAND Data Tool to explore intersections between former Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) zoning designations in major U.S. cities and environmental metrics such as tree coverage or proximity to waste facilities. Initial student data is used to form explanations about how historical practices may impact the current situation. Students share their findings in informal classroom discussions and identify possible correlations. After familiarizing themselves with this type of data, students elaborate on their new-found understandings using a much larger dataset, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Environmental Justice Mapping Tool (EJScreen) to research specific correlations between environmental burdens and socioeconomic, demographic, and racial information, culminating in a short thesis article, or an in-depth Spider Web Discussion as possible ways to evaluate their understanding.