Global Warming and Changing Sea Level

Heather Kokorowski, Mt. San Antonio College (adapted and based on from material from Cascadia Community College, WA)

This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Peer Reviewed Teaching Activities collection.

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection

This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are

Scientific Accuracy
Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
Pedagogic Effectiveness
Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page

For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.

This page first made public: May 30, 2013

Summary

In the first part of this activity, students think about their personal carbon emissions and driving habits. They reflect on what might be done to reduce our carbon emissions, as individuals and as a society as a whole. In the second part of the activity, students calculate how much sea level would rise if a range of ice melting scenarios occur. They then examine topographic maps of local coastlines to see how different regions would be affected under the range of scenarios.

Impacts of climate change, Sea Level Change, Global Change and Climate | College Lower (13-14)

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Context

Audience

This activity is performed in an introductory undergraduate oceanography laboratory course. The lecture section is a pre-requisite or co-requisite. Most students are non-science majors and are taking the class to fulfill a science lab requirement.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Students should understand the greenhouse effect and how it relates to global warming (so they understand the connection between rising carbon dioxide concentrations and climate change, and why rising carbon dioxide concentrations is a concern). Students also need to know how to read a topographic map.

How the activity is situated in the course

This activity is administered as a lab activity that is completed in a 2.5-hour section, but it could also be done in a lecture course as an in-class activity.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

The goal is help students relate subject matter (climate change) to their own lives (in leading students to calculate their own carbon emissions based on their driving habits and reflect on why their emissions are higher or lower than their peers, and in relating the sea level rise to consequences on local coasts).

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Analyzing data and reading and interpreting topographic maps. Engaging in critical thinking about the consequences of sea level rise.

Other skills goals for this activity

In this activity, students work in small groups in a jigsaw fashion.

Description and Teaching Materials

The "Global Warming and Changing Sea Level" activity is attached as a file. The first part of this activity requires a calculator, as students calculate their carbon emissions based on their driving habits. As a homework assignment, students estimate the number of miles they drive per day and the fuel efficiency of their car. In class, they compute their emissions and compare their results with classmates. The second part of the activity requires a calculator and a selection of topographic-bathymetric maps from local coasts. Students work in small groups to calculate how much sea level would rise if a range of ice melting scenarios occur. They then examine topographic maps of local coastlines to see how different regions would be affected under the range of scenarios.

Student Handout, Global Warming and Changing Sea Level (.doc) (Microsoft Word 76kB May30 13)
Student Handout, Global Warming and Changing Sea Level (.pdf) (Acrobat (PDF) 108kB May30 13)

Assessment

This activity is assessed based on in-class completion of the student handout (look for complete and thoughtful consideration of each question). There is also an online quiz that students complete in their own time by the following week to test their conceptual knowledge and understanding of the material.