China’s Environmental Challenge (Humans and the Environment – High School CBA)

China's Environmental Challenge (Humans and the Environment - High School CBA)

Washington State Curriculum-Based Assessment (CBA): Humans and the Environment

This document is intended to assist teachers who are implementing the Humans and the Environment CBA for high school students, but may also be useful to anyone teaching about world issues, international relations, and related fields.

The Humans and the Environment CBA states, “responsible citizenship requires understanding how humans interact with the environment.” It requires students to either propose a solution to a current environmental issue that will improve the health of the system or analyze a historical situation in terms of the environment and propose a reasonable alternative that would have improved the health of the system.

explore the complex challenges facing the leadership and the peoples of this diverse land. First, they will take a brief environmental quiz and then they will have a chance to study an extensive fact sheet. In a role-playing exercise, students will explore multiple perspectives and points of view in order to understand the challenges and obstacles facing both the Chinese leadership and citizens. This unit will then guide the students in breaking down this huge topic and choosing one aspect to research and present. They will be guided to analyze maps, graphs, articles (published in and out of China), and scientific reports. As noted, they will choose one environmental issue, provide an accurate analysis of the positive benefits and/or negative consequences for multiple stakeholders, and then in a persuasive essay propose a solution. Although the purpose of this unit is to prepare high school students to successfully complete the Washington State Social Studies CBA on Humans and the Environment, teachers from all disciplines wanting to explore this important global issue with their students can easily use this unit. (Download Here)