Unit 6: Hydrologic Balance and Climate Change part of Modeling Earth Systems
In this unit, students create a STELLA model of the Owens River chain of lakes in eastern California and then experiment with different climate change scenarios to simulate the Pleistocene history of lake filling ...

Unit 7: Heat Flow in Permafrost part of Modeling Earth Systems
In this unit, students create a STELLA model of heat flow in the top 1 km of Earth's crust to explore the use of Arctic borehole temperature profiles as recorders of anthropogenic warming. The exercise draws ...

Unit 8: Thermohaline Circulation part of Modeling Earth Systems
In this module, students first review some background material on density-driven deep currents in the oceans, and then create a STELLA model of the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean. The model ...

Unit 9: Carbon Cycle and Ocean Chemistry part of Modeling Earth Systems
In this module, students first review some background material on the terrestrial, marine, and anthropogenic processes involved in the storage and transfer of carbon in the Earth system. The students then build a ...

Unit 3: Simple Climate Models part of Modeling Earth Systems
Students will explore Earth's radiation budget using several versions of a simple climate model often referred to as a "layer model." Earth receives energy from the sun, some of which is reflected ...

Unit 5: Growth and Decay of Ice Sheets part of Modeling Earth Systems
Large continental ice sheets, such as the Laurentide Ice Sheet from the last glaciation, as well as Antarctica and Greenland of today, are some of the most important features of the global climate system — they ...

Unit 4: Daisyworld part of Modeling Earth Systems
Students explore Daisyworld, a model of a self-regulating system incorporating positive and negative feedbacks. Daisyworld is a planet on which black and white daisies are the only things growing. The model ...

Mock United Nations Climate Negotiations Exercise part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
This is a version of the UN climate mock negotiations exercise developed by Shangrila Joshi Wynn.

Justice, Power, and Activism: What the Goldman Environmental Prize Winners Teach Us About Resilience and Democracy part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
This activity is a set of student-centered exercises that enable students to learn about the individual stories of Goldman environmental prize winners, the activism and organizing that grounds their work, and the underlying political and social contexts from which their struggles emerge. The lesson inspires critical reflection about justice, power, and democracy in green politics, and encourages ways to make personal connections to activism and environmental work.

Unit 2: Application of Concepts to Case Studies part of Major Storms and Community Resilience
In Unit 2, students apply and evaluate foundational concepts about storm hazards and risk in the context of two cases studies: Superstorm Sandy (2012) and the Storm of the Century (1993). Through different ...

Climate Change Mind Map part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities

Unit 6: Carbon Emissions Game part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
In this unit, students play a game, a variation on the "Pollution Game" (Corrigan 2011), to develop an appreciation of the pros and cons of the commonly discussed policy options for carbon abatement ...

Unit 7: Climate Change from the Socio-Environmental Systems Perspective part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
This unit summarizes and synthesizes the previous six units by inviting students to reflect on their experiences throughout the module, identify key learning moments and consider how these events influenced their ...

Unit 3: Dynamic Integrated Climate Economy (DICE) Modeling part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
After an opening discussion of systems thinking and models, student use webDICE , an online Dynamic Integrated Climate Economy model developed by Center for Robust Decision Making on Climate and Energy Policy at ...

Unit 2: Climate Forcings part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
This unit uses systems thinking to explore how carbon emissions affect the global climate system. It includes an introduction to the greenhouse effect and climate modeling. Students engage in a small group activity ...

Unit 4: Towards Climate Change Policy in the U.S. part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
This unit examines the social cost of carbon (introduced in Unit 3) within the legal doctrine of "common but differentiated responsibility" (CBDR). CBDR acknowledges global climate change as a common ...

Unit 1: Evidence and Impacts of Climate Change part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
This unit introduces students to the geoscience behind the challenge of anthropogenic climate change. Upon completion, students will be able to explain the many impacts of climate change on society and summarize ...

Unit 5: Abating Carbon Emissions part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
Students evaluate the EPA's Clean Power Plan in the context of Common but Differentiated Responsibility. This unit also introduces students to the idea that there are costs and benefits associated with the ...

Unit 1.3 - Systems Models part of Critical Zone Science
The term "Earth system science" is typically used to describe the science (especially quantitative modeling) of the interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere, and biosphere---the ...

Greenhouse Effect Lab part of Teach the Earth:Teaching Activities
In this lab, students measure temperature changes inside soda bottles (one with CO2 added, the other with only air inside) as incandescent light is shined on them to model the Greenhouse Effect.