Term
Summer 2026
Capstone
Capstone Project
Degree Name
MAED: NSEE
Facilitator(s)
Karen Moroz, Shelly Orr
Content Expert
Aziza Ali
Abstract
This capstone project focuses on the different environmental justice challenges faced by different communities. Many middle school students learn about environmental concepts without specifically learning about different environmental benefits and risks. This capstone project involves developing a curriculum unit for middle school students which introduces environmental justice concepts and helps students recognize that environmental benefits and burdens are not evenly distributed. This project was influenced by environmental justice theory, culturally responsive teaching, socioscientific issues, place-based learning and Understanding by Design. This unit design uses a backward design approach where the outcomes are identified first, then followed by goals based on the identified outcomes and finally lesson planning that shows the achievement of those outcomes and bringing their understanding into the real world. This unit is composed of lessons involving place-based learning, date and mapping interpretation, case study analysis and evidence based writing and discussion. This unit may be taught as part of a middle school science, social studies or even in an interdisciplinary learning environment and can be adjusted to local settings using locally sourced data, such as air quality, heat or tree cover, or sample data included in the unit. At the end, the result of this project is a flexible environmental justice unit designed to develop students’ literacy skills in the field of environmental justice, help them examine multiple environmental justice issues across different communities and support them in presenting findings using evidence and logic, helping them become more capable of understanding environmental community issues.
Project Type
Curriculum
Keywords
Curriculum, Environmental Studies, Interdisciplinary Teaching, Social Justice
Recommended Citation
Osman, Aiesha, "Teaching Environmental Justice in Middle School: A Unit Plan for Middle School" (2026). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects. 1222.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_cp/1222
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
School of Education Student Capstone Projects