Lesson Plan: Stress and Coping with Climate Change

Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.

Step 1: Introduce the topic through a reading

1. Introduce the topic of stress and coping by using the chapter Health, Stress, and Coping (Chapter 16) by Jennifer Walinga, from “Introduction to Psychology – 1st Canadian Edition” by BC Open Textbooks.
2. Use this reading to:
3. explain stressors
4. discuss the physiological responses to stressors with special emphasis on the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) model by Hans Selye
5. elaborate on the physical, psychological, personality-related, social, and cultural factors that can cause stress
6. discuss the impact of stress on health and task-related performance
7. list and deliberate on the various coping strategies used to manage stress
8. Note: Use the included sub-chapters to study these topics by:

• • • - first noting the learning objectives,
    • - then discussing the text to explain concepts,
    • - then analyzing the mentioned real-life scenarios to understand the situations of stress, and
    • - finally, assessing the learning through the end-of-section exercises.

Go to the Reading (Refer Chapter 16)

Step 2: Conduct a hands-on Laboratory activity

1. Play the video, “The human face of climate change” by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to explore the effect of climate-related factors and perceived climate change as a stressor in people’s lives.
2. The video features individuals—from different parts of the world and various walks of life—talking about the impact of climate change on their lives.
3. Pause the video at will to enquire whether students could recognize stress in the individuals featured. Use the video to elaborate on the physical and psychological manifestation of stress.
4. Recall the testimonies of different persons featured in the video to discuss their stress scenarios. Enumerate the stressors for each or few of the individuals, e.g., helplessness due to unpredictability and lack of control over intensity of floods and hurricanes in Long Island, Bahamas, as testified by 42-year-old farmer Bernard Knowles; the need to find new jobs, as testified by Filiberto Maraza, a farmer from Bolivia; and the difficulty of finding food on an everyday basis, as testified by the chief of traditional authority from a village in Central Malawi.
5. Finally, discuss the characteristics of stress and coping strategies that are employed in such scenarios.

Go to the Video

Step 3: Facilitate a group activity to improve understanding of stress and coping

1. Engage the students in a role play activity called “A Day in the Life Of”; in this activity, teams will imagine and play out a day in the life of the persons from the above video to understand the nature and consequences of stress experienced by these individuals.
2. For example, someone could play the role of Jessica Petsch, an 11-year-old schoolgirl from the Bahamas, who was affected by severe floods. Each team can be given 10 minutes to choose a character from the video and to build a story around a day in the life of this individual.
3. In this activity, students will engage with the topic at a deeper level, thus enabling them to reflect on and empathize with the lived-out experiences of individuals impacted by climate change.

Use the tools and the concepts learned so far to discuss and determine answers to the following questions:

1. What is stress and coping?
2. What are the types of factors that cause stress?
3. What are some of the most important stressors?
4. How does stress impact human health?
5. How is task-related performance affected by stress?
6. What are the different strategies used to cope with stress?
7. Why are some people better able to cope with stress?
8. What is the possible link between climate-related factors and stress?

The tools in this lesson plan will enable students to:

1. discuss the nature and characteristics of stress
2. identify physical, psychological, personality-related, and social and cultural factors that can cause stress
3. explain the physical and work-related consequences of stress
4. elaborate on various coping strategies used by individuals
5. discuss the pervasiveness of stress caused by climate change

If you or your students would like to explore the topic further, these additional resources will be useful.