Is Warming Natural or Anthropogenic?

• Models can show the impacts of increasing greenhouse gases on the global climate
• Impacts of warming are not uniformly distributed across the globe
• Global temperature is sensitive to an increase in greenhouse gases
• Temperature, ice distribution, and precipitation have changed since the Pre-Industrial Era, and these changes are forecasted to continue through the 21st century
• Deforestation and changes in land surface cover are playing a significant role in climate change.

• Analysis and synthesis of model results
• Application of model results to a growing understanding of how the climate system works
• Consideration of factors not included in the climate model
• Consideration of how land-management practices and human needs are inextricably linked to climate change - how humans have already had an impact and how they will continue to have an impact

• General circulation of the atmosphere (Hadley and Ferrel cells) and its role in creating latitudinal variations on climate
• The role of albedo on climate
• The role and importance of greenhouse gases in the climate system
• The definition of a 'feedback' and how this can be applied to processes in the climate system
• How a global climate model works (in a very basic sense), and how we use them to test climate sensitivity

This lesson is best divided into three parts.

Part 1 (one 50-minute class period): In this part of the lesson, students examine climate model output available online and compare pre-industrial climate with climate of the late 20th century. (Students will be working with this handout: Student Handout for Comparing Past and Present Climate Model Output (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 92kB Sep13 16) ) The first page of the handout prompts students to consider the type of model that created the results they are looking at (a 3-dimensional global climate model), and a bit about how it works. Students should have some understanding of the ways in which global climate models are used to test the sensitivity of climate to changes in forcing. They are also prompted to consider questions they would ask about how climate changed through the 20th century, and how they might use the model output to answer those questions. (This could be accomplished through a brief class discussion with the introduction to the activity).

In groups of 2-3, students should work to complete the 2nd and 3rd pages of the activity, examining climate online, and considering how much CO₂ has changed in the atmosphere over the last century.

Finally, the last page of the activity instructs students to complete a short homework assignment that requires them to respond to a short reading about deforestation and watch a TED talk by Jonathan Foley. The homework must be completed before the third part of the lesson.

Part 2 (one 50-minute class period): In the second part of this lesson, students examine future climate predictions based on IPCC scenarios. (Students will be working with the handout: Student Handout for Future Climate Model Analysis (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 106kB Sep13 16)). In this part of the lesson, there will be an opportunity to debrief as a class regarding the first activity in Part 1. It helps to start the class with a chart on the board where students can add some of their observations from examining differences between pre-industrial and present-day climate. As a class, discuss the biggest differences, then ask students to consider where they might expect to see the biggest changes in climate in the next 100 years. This question leads into the examination of future climate using the same website they used in Part 1.

Part 3 (~25 minutes): In the third part of this lesson, students participate in a small group discussion and respond to the following prompts: What are the greatest climate impacts in the future scenario you looked at in class on Wednesday? What is your group consensus on the greatest impact to human civilization if the predictions of this computer simulation come to pass? What do you think is the greatest challenge we face related to climate change (this can include the challenges discussed in the TED talk by Dr. Foley)? What might be one way of mitigating or adapting to changes that are coming in the next few decades? (Prompts available in the file: Discussion Prompts for Future Climate (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 52kB Sep13 16))

After the small group discussion, it's helpful to have a large class discussion about each of the prompts, while listing on the board some of their responses to the prompts.