This project will be used in a 200-level undergraduate course called Energy and the Environment. It consists of mix of majors and non-majors. It fulfills a non-lab science general education requirement.

To reach the goal of having students understand numerical climate models, there must be a scaffolding of information and learning. Students must first understand some of the underlying physics of the earth's energy budget, such as the Stefan-Boltzmann radiation law. The textbook used in this course, Wolfson's Energy Environment and Climate, initially introduces simple zero dimension energy balance models. Students can then be exposed to two-box models showing earth's surface and the atmosphere as the two boxes.

This activity will be done in the last quarter of the semester. Students will have already learned about convention fuel resources and the direct link to carbon dioxide emissions.

The overarching goal of this exercise is to have the students develop a basic understanding of how global climate models work and to know their value and limitations.

Some possible models to use for this activity include:

• Global Energy Balance Model by Bob MacKay (see a YouTube video demo of this model )
• The Shodor model
• The GEEBITT model at NASA
• For other possible models, see the Climate Models resources page