Data Puzzle: Not All Warming is Equal

Center for Education, Engagement, and Evaluation

In this lesson students analyze and interpret global temperature and carbon dioxide data to determine which parts of Earth are experiencing the greatest changes in temperature and carbon dioxide, and then construct a model to explain the phenomenon.

Click to View

Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

The learning objectives and connections to NGSS are clear, but teachers may need to supplement the assessment. An answer key is provided for teachers, but the assessment of learning objectives is not addressed. This lesson is part of a series of data puzzles. It might be best to do at least one other before this one. There might be some difficulty engaging students as a stand-alone lesson. This is a rigorous set of lessons for middle school. Some middle school students will not be able to grasp the concepts within the timeframe provided in the lessons. The teacher might want to limit these to 8th grade and high school.
Easy to use lesson that follows sequencing and uses model building as a tool to explore data and factors that contribute to warming of the climate. The lesson uses real world data to explore why some areas are increasing in temperature faster than others. The science is compelling and there are multiple graphs and videos for the students to engage with. As a part of a series of data puzzle lessons, it provides an interesting piece to the overall arc of climate change investigations. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
The lesson is logical and provides a very solid experience for students. This is a fairly worksheet-driven lesson. Engaging students in the activity will be difficult. The strategy and progression of the lesson are solid. The access to real data and visualizations is very good. This is an interesting puzzle for scientists to solve, but engaging students might be difficult unless you have a very diverse group of students who can attest to experiences in different parts of the world.