The Carbon Cycle & Global Climate Change

Kathryn Hoppe, Green River Community College
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Summary

This is two-hour lab exercise based on computer data sets. Students examine records of CO2 levels in the atmosphere as well as annual temperature records for the US and the world.

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Context

Audience

This lab is designed for introductory science students. I have used it in Oceanography and Geology classes.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Student should know how to read and interprete graphs.

How the activity is situated in the course

This is a stand-alone laboratory exercise.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Global climate records. The difficulty of interpreting the signal-to-noise ratio of large data sets.
Global change over human time scale and interglacial-glacial time scales.

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

Evaluating and comparing data sets.

Other skills goals for this activity

Reading and interpreting graphs.

Description and Teaching Materials


climate change lab (Microsoft Word 376kB Jun18 13)



Teaching Notes and Tips


Assessment

Examine answers and hold classroom discussion.

References and Resources