The Carbon Cycle & Global Climate Change
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.
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.
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
Teaching Notes and Tips
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Assessment
Examine answers and hold classroom discussion.