Climate Change in the Classroom
HOT: One World, One Climate Curriculum Units
The following materials are in an active stage of development, currently under review by scientists and educators. These materials are draft, review copies only prepared for field-testing during the Climate Change in the Classroom Workshop. We expect the final fully edited versions to be released during the 2014/2015 school year.
Unit 1: The Big Climate Change Experiment
Guiding Question: How does weather affect me and my future?
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Lesson 1.1 Pre-Exploration and Pre-Assessment
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Resources
- Hot video: Lecture 1 “The Big Climate Change Experiment” (5:53 minutes)
- ABC News story “The forecast is looking more and more extreme” (2:05 minutes)
- Climate Change Political Cartoons resource website
Lesson 1.2 Influence of Climate on Culture
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Resources
- Create and download customizable world maps with National Geographic’s Map Maker resource for teachers
- World Wildlife Foundation online videos, “Stories of Climate Change and Climate Action”
- "This American Life" Episode #495, “Hot in My Backyard” – Act I: The CO2 in CO (18 minutes)
Lesson 1.3 Climate Change Lines of Evidence
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Resources
- "Chasing Ice" film clip (4:41 minutes)
- Data sheet 1: Global land-ocean temperature index Source: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
- Data sheet 2: Global surface temperature map Source: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, from NASA/NOAA press materials
- Data sheet 3: Global Atmospheric CO2 data Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Data sheet 4: Monthly Carbon Dioxide Concentration Source: Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- Data sheet 5: Likelihood of Warmer Summers Source: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
- Data sheet 7: CDIAC data; Dr. Makiko Sato's climate change web page
- Data sheet 9: Global Sea Level Rise Source: Dr. Makiko Sato’s web site and satellite data from University of Colorado
- Data sheet 10: Muir Glacier and Inlet, Alaska U.S. Geological Survey Source: This is Climate Change
- Data sheet 11: Global Change in Glaciers and Ice Source: IPCC
Lesson 1.4 Weather Versus Climate
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Resources
- Graffiti Boards teaching strategy
- Climate vs. Weather Video (2:00 minutes)
- “Climate in a Nutshell: What is Climate?” video (2:31 minutes)
- “Science Made Simple: Take the Dog for a Walk” video (1:05 minutes)
- “Scientists Must End the Climate Confusion” BBC article
Lesson 1.5 Climate Change News Story
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Resources
- Collaborative idea visualization software or site, such as MindMeister
- BBC Climate Challenge Video (2:01 minutes)
- For samples of climate news reporting: Climate Desk, which includes print and video stories from The Atlantic, The Center for Investigative Reporting, Grist, The Guardian, Mother Jones, PBS’s "Need to Know", Slate and Wired
- Bloomberg News
- Discovery News
- “News Writing Tips for TV News” and “Script-writing tips and real examples”
Unit 2: Earth Fever
Guiding Question: How are humans driving present-day climate change?
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Lesson 2.1 Pre-Exploration and Pre-Assessment
- Hot video Unit 2 Lecture 1“The role of humans in the climate change story – Part 1” (3:46 minutes)
- CNN video “Climate skeptic says global warming is real” (2:19 minutes)
Lesson 2.2 Lighting Up the Earth
- Faraday’s Candle, trailer (1:12 minutes)
- “What is a Flame” (7:31 Minutes)
- “Christmas With Faraday: The Chemical History of a Candle” Scientific American reading
- “Turning Points in History: The Industrial Revolution”
- Chemical Principles: The Candle Experiments
Lesson 2.3 Global Temperature Record
- Hot: Lecture 1 “The Big Climate Change Experiment" (5:53 minutes)
- Climate in a Nutshell: Sick Planet (2:13 minutes)
- “Global Temperature Anomaly Animation,”
- “GISS Global Temperature” Excel file, 1880-2012 (download spreadsheet)
Lesson 2.4 Climate Change 101—The Greenhouse Effect
- Planet Nutshell Video: “Evidence of a Warming Planet”
- NASA website: “Vital Signs of the Planet Vital Signs”
- Planet Nutshell Video: "Too Much Carbon Dioxide”(2:45 minutes)
- Video: "Steroids, Baseball and Climate Change”(2:04 minutes)
Lesson 2.5 Discovery of Global Warming
- The Encyclopedia of Earth, “History of the Greenhouse Effect”
- “Two Centuries of Climate Science" Parts 1-3
- American Institute of Physics, “The Discovery of Global Warming”
- Unit 2 video lecture “The role of humans in the climate change story – Part 2” (4:33 minutes)
Unit 3: Good Planets
Guiding Question: How could climate change the world?
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- Lesson 3.1: Good Planets are Hard to Find
- Lesson 3.2: Good Planets are Hard to Maintain
- Lesson 3.3: Good Planets are Hard to Sustain
- Lesson 3.4: Real World Climate – Case Studies