SDG Classroom Kits
Earth Sciences and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is a classroom resource kit designed to help students explore the connections between Earth science and global sustainability. Through thirteen hands-on, inquiry-based activities, students investigate real-world topics such as water systems, renewable energy, critical minerals, mining, natural hazards, and more. Each activity is linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), encouraging students to think critically about how Earth science knowledge can contribute to a more just, equitable, and sustainable future. The kits include consumable resources and equipment for up to 25 students to complete the activities.
The kit includes the following classroom activities:
Activity 1: What are the Sustainable Development Goals?
This introductory activity builds students’ understanding of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their relevance to Earth science. Through guided discussion and group work, students explore the concept of sustainable development by balancing economic growth, environmental protection, and social well-being.
Activity 2: Go Goals! Game
This interactive board game introduces students to the 17 SDGs in a fun, team-based format. Modelled after games like “Chutes and Ladders,” Go Goals! helps students explore real-world sustainability challenges while developing global awareness through the use of trivia questions. The game was created by the United Nations Regional Information Centre in partnership with artist Yacine Ait Kaci.
Activity 3: Human Water Cycle
In this simulation, students become water droplets traveling through oceans, clouds, rivers, glaciers, animals, plants, lakes, soils, and groundwater. A contamination twist using foam shapes shows how pollutants spread through natural systems. Students reflect on water quality, conservation, and the global challenge of clean freshwater access.
Activity 4: Stormwaters
Students simulate stormwater runoff and observe how urbanization contributes to water contamination. By modelling pollutants entering aquatic ecosystems, they explore the environmental impact of land use and connect local water issues to global sustainability goals.
Activity 5: Power to the People
Using maps, posters, and real production data, students investigate where key energy-related minerals and metals are mined in Canada. They explore how these resources power both renewable and non-renewable energy systems and reflect on the role of Earth science in supporting sustainable development.
Activity 6: Wind Turbines
Students build and test working wind turbines using motors, gears, and structural supports. They learn how wind energy is generated and explore the importance of critical minerals, like copper and rare earth elements, in clean energy infrastructure.
Activity 7: Critical Minerals
This activity highlights the role of critical minerals in everyday technologies and the global energy transition. Students identify minerals used in smartphones, trace their Canadian origins, and explore how these resources support sectors like transportation, electronics, and renewable energy.
Activity 8: Electric Motors
Students construct a simple electric motor to explore how electricity and magnetism produce motion. The activity connects physical science concepts with real-world technologies such as electric vehicles, while also highlighting the critical minerals required for a low-carbon future.
Activity 9: Cookie Mining
In this simulation, students take on the role of mining companies to explore, extract, and reclaim a mineral-rich area represented by a cookie. With budgets, permits, and reclamation costs, they learn about the economic and environmental complexity of modern mining and its ties to the SDGs.
Activity 10: Activity, Concern, Solution
Through a collaborative card-matching challenge, students explore mining activities, their environmental impacts, and innovative solutions. The activity emphasizes how regulation and technology can reduce negative impacts and support sustainable mining practices.
Activity 11: Human Earthquake
This movement-based activity turns students into particles that model seismic waves. By simulating how P-waves and S-waves move through solids and liquids, students learn how earthquakes are measured and how seismic data helps scientists map Earth’s interior.
Activity 12: Geoscience for the Future
In this research-based activity, students will study jobs featured on the Geoscience for the Future poster, build a detailed slide of information, and present their findings to the class. The result will be a complete presentation featuring different jobs in geoscience. This activity emphasizes the wide variety of career opportunities in the field and their connection to the SDGs.
Activity 13: Sustainable Development Goals – Wrap-Up
As a culminating activity, students repurpose leftover materials from the kit to create new inventions or art. They reflect on their learning, explore careers in Earth science, and connect their experiences to the SDGs while practicing sustainability and creative problem-solving.
