Teaching Climate

This resource from the Paleontological Research Institute includes a worksheet, videos, and hands on experiments to demonstrate how absorption, reflection, and transmission of light relates to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and how small changes in that amount (e.g., parts per million or ppm) can have large impacts.

In this lesson students test the ability of cold and warm water to take up carbon dioxide, and they learn about ocean acidification. They explore the role of the ocean in the climate system and one tool scientists use to understand ocean warming. Then, they are challenged to communicate one of the Ocean Literacy Principles to a chosen audience.

The focus of this introductory activity is on energy/electricity sources and generation between 2001 and 2018. Students listen to a podcast about electricity generation and then are tasked to interpret graphs that coincide with the content of the podcast.

This resource includes primarily a text and animation to demonstrate the changes in prime movers of electricity generation in the United States between 1891 and 2021. The information is related back to the feasibility of certain prime movers that are used today.

This activity provides opportunities for students to embed themselves in the process of science as they follow the efforts of the scientist collecting field data. Although data is not provided with this activity, students analyze an array of current readings and videos about the topic of wildfires. References are provided for those seeking extensions to learning about the impact of wildfires on ecosystems.

This cloud lab allows exploration of cloud identification, reconstructing and following hurricanes, and interpreting and investigating data. Graphs and other data interpretation are used heavily throughout the lesson. This is an in-depth activity with many facets for students to explore.

This interactive simulation allows users to calculate their household carbon emissions based on travel, home usage, food, and shopping habits. Students will be alerted to how their usage and habits affect their total carbon emissions as compared to others in their zip code. Users are then provided a list of potential actions they can take to reduce their emissions.

This activity contains lesson plans aimed at teaching about water resources, water use and conservation, and the importance of personal and household choices regarding water use.

Using SageModeler as a primary tool, this activity explains what models are and how they are used. Students will practice defining the boundaries of a system using a driving question, create causal links, clarify indirect relationships, set relationships, and apply weight to variables.

This interactive activity allows students to explore the costs (emissions) and benefits (energy production) of various energy sources Students can compare the environmental impacts of different energy sources.