KEY INFORMATION

• LOCATION: virtual on Zoom
• DATE & TIME: Thursday, May 21, 2026, 5 – 6:30pm
• LED BY: Chris Link (full bio below)
• CTLE AVAILABLE: 1.5 hours
• THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR: 6th – 11th grade teachers who are looking for ready-to-use, standards-aligned instructional resources.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

When climate patterns shift, the effects don’t stop at the front door. This session explores what happens when they come inside.

Climate Variability and Human Health is a free, turn-key unit for grades 6-8 (with clear pathways to scale up to high school) that helps students investigate how changes in climate patterns lead to flooding, wildfires, and increased pests, and what those events mean for the health of the people inside affected homes. The unit follows Mira, a middle schooler who notices weather shocks affecting people she loves across the country: flooding in Florida, tick propagation in Minnesota, wildfire smoke in Oregon. Through case studies, data analysis, and CER (Claim-Evidence-Reasoning) activities, students trace cause-and-effect relationships from shifting climate patterns to regional weather events to real health impacts, and explore prevention and mitigation strategies they can act on.

In this 90-minute session, participants experience the Wildfires weather shock as students would: reading the Portland case study, analyzing EPA and Our World in Data wildfire trend data, exploring how smoke infiltrates homes, and constructing a CER response. We then discuss the pedagogical moves behind the sequence and how to facilitate it in your own classroom.

Participants leave with the complete unit (free, immediately via Google Drive), a replicable model for case-based climate education, and concrete strategies for integrating causal reasoning and data analysis into existing science or EE programming at the middle or high school level.

No special materials or prior experience required. The session is virtual – please plan to join on a laptop or tablet (strongly preferred over joining on your phone) to easily access the session and materials.

This workshop is geared towards middle and high school teachers. We are also offering a similar workshop on indoor air quality geared towards upper elementary teachers on May 14th – Teaching Indoor Indoor Air Quality for Elementary Students.

WORKSHOP LEADER

Chris Link is a learning design specialist and education consultant with 16 years of experience leading curriculum design, professional development, and instructional systems across public school districts, national nonprofits, and edtech organizations. He holds a PhD in Education and an MS in Biology, and has presented at national conferences including NSTA and NAAEE. Chris currently leads Link Consulting Services, LLC, where he partners with organizations to translate research into practical, implementable educational tools. This workshop features instructional resources developed on behalf of Hayward Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness around the relationship between homes, home habits, and health.

ABOUT STEMteachersNYC

Since 2011, STEMteachersNYC has delivered professional development workshops for teachers, by teachers, about teaching. We are an approved CTLE and NYCPS MTAC vendor. All workshops over 2hrs offer CTLE. Below is some important information, but please see our official Registration FAQ on our website for full details and policies.

Pricing: workshop/event pricing reflects a desire to offer affordable professional learning experiences. Some workshops are subsidized and offered at a discount or for free. Some workshops include extra materials costs. Often, there is both a “Full Price” ticket for people who can pay full price and for schools/organizations paying for their staff to attend, and a “Teacher Price” ticket for teachers/educators paying out of pocket. If price is a barrier to your participation, please keep reading for several options.

CUNY & other partner campus pre-service students: If you are training to be a teacher, we want to welcome you to attend our workshops for free! Please email registration@stemteachersnyc.org for details and to see if you qualify.

Want to pay by invoice or purchase order? We encourage you to ask your school or organization if this is a possibility. Please see the Registration FAQ for the process, which includes a template letter with messaging geared towards administrators.

Are there discounts available? Often, yes! In the summers, we offer Early Bird and Teacher discounts alongside a Full Price ticket meant for those whose school or organization is funding their ticket. In the summer, we also have full scholarships, and a Fellowship available. All year, we announce specials and discounts on our social media (@STEMteachersNYC on Instagram, LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Facebook), and in our Weekly Newsletter – sign up here. Additionally, we partner with several organizations and CUNY to offer free tickets to teachers and pre-service teachers involved, and if at any time price is a barrier to you purchasing a ticket, please contact us at registration@STEMteachersNYC.org

Refunds, cancellations, and other registration/ticketing policies or changes: Please see the full Registration FAQ for details and policies.

Please note: We take screenshots, photographs and record video of our workshops in order to publicize a positive image of science teaching, and of STEMteachersNYC – a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization – and to support future teacher leaders. If you register, you are agreeing to be photographed and to have your voice and image video-recorded. You are also agreeing to relinquish all your rights to the photographs and video recordings.

If you do not wish to be photographed or video-recorded – you must inform us before the workshop starts. For in-person workshops, we may take one photograph of your face so that we can erase your image if we happen to catch it by chance during the workshop, and we will do our best to avoid you.

Have more questions? Please see the full Registration FAQ for further details and policies, or contact us directly:

• Registration or ticketing questions – registration@STEMteachersNYC.org
• Questions about invoice/PO issues – bookkeeper@STEMteachersNYC.org
• Any other questions – info@STEMteachersNYC.org