The ability of living organisms to respond and adapt to a changing climate is an urgent concern. However, current educational efforts aimed at increasing US undergraduate student climate literacy primarily focus on the causes of, and abiotic responses to, climate change, mostly neglecting the biotic impacts. Here, we present a new framework, the Biotic Impacts of Climate Change Core Concepts (BIC[superscript 4]), which provides context for addressing student understanding of how climate change will impact the living environment. The BIC[superscript 4] consists of 7 Core Concepts arranged into 3 overarching themes: Species Outcomes, Systems Outcomes, and Scale of Outcomes. This framework was developed through literature review, expert and novice surveys and interviews, and expert review. We show how the BIC[superscript 4] is well suited to support educational efforts developed with other frameworks (most notably the 4DEE), and we discuss future use of the BIC[superscript 4] as an education research tool.