Confronting the Challenges of Climate Literacy
A Summer Workshop for High School Teachers
Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School for Geosciences
University of Texas at Austin
Monday June 10 – Friday June 14, 2013
Understanding the complexity and interconnectedness of Earth's natural cycles across various time and spatial scales has become increasingly important as the effects of human activity on those cycles become more apparent. Join us for a week at University of Texas at Austin to learn about three new high school curriculum units* that address these topics and how you can incorporate them into your science classes. The new Web-based curriculum units will be freely available to you and are designed to enhance classroom learning by allowing students to explore the topics in a variety of modes, including hands-on activities, video interviews with scientists, group work, self-guided examination of scientific data, and class discussions.
- Participants who complete the workshop will receive 40 CEUs from University of Texas at Austin and a stipend.
- Accommodations and two meals daily (breakfast and lunch) will be provided at no cost to participants.
- Texas teachers can also apply for a transportation subsidy (max. $250).
Space is limited to 25.
CLICK HERE to complete and submit an application. We are no longer accepting applications.
Questions? Call Dr. Kathy Ellins at University of Texas at Austin (1-512 471-0347)
E-mail: kellins@utig.ig.utexas.edu
*Climate and the Cryosphere: Earth's Frozen Waters
How do Earth's glaciers, ice bergs, and ice sheets affect the Texas climate? The complexity of Earth's interconnected system is highlighted in this unit as students learn about the cryosphere's dynamic nature and the positive and negative feedback systems that play a critical role in shaping our planet's climate.
*Climate, Weather, and the Biosphere
Earth's atmosphere not only provides us with life-supporting oxygen; it helps maintain our planet's temperature range, which shapes life on Earth as we know it. Students learn about various temporal and spatial scales at which weather and climate occur, and the interactions of the Earth's system at local, regional, and global scales that drive our weather and shape our climate.
*Climate and the Carbon Cycle
Carbon cycles through the Earth system on time scales that vary from fractions of a second to hundreds of thousands of years, and is as essential to the phytoplankton as it is to the Giant Sequoia. Air bubbles from ice cores reveal the dynamic history of atmospheric carbon across the past 600,000 years and help scientists establish the long-term history of the carbon-climate connection.
