Teaching Activities

UCAR Science Education Group
This is a short experiment to demonstrate the concept of thermal expansion of water when heated, as an analogy to thermal expansion of oceans due to global warming.

Grade Level: Middle (6-8)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Lab Activity, Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography, Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Stressed Out!  part of CLEAN Collection

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/edu/lessonplans/me...

Mel Goodwin
In this activity, students research various topics about ocean health, e.g. overfishing, habitat destruction, invasive species, climate change, pollution, and ocean acidification. An optional ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Ecosystems, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Biology, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Geoscience:Oceanography, Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climate Change:Impacts of climate change
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Modeling the oceanic thermohaline circulation with STELLA part of CLEAN Collection

https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/complexsystems/a...

Dave Bice, Penn State University
In this activity for undergraduate students, learners build a highly simplified computer model of thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean and conduct a set of simulation experiments to ...

Grade Level: College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14)
Online Readiness: Online Ready
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Global change modeling, Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Global change modeling, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Climate sensitivity and feedbacks
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Gulf Stream Heat Budget and Europe's Mild Climate: A Problem-based Learning Activity part of CLEAN Collection

https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/visualization/ex...

Warren C. Tomkiewicz, Plymouth State University
In this role-playing activity, learners are presented with a scenario in which they determine whether the Gulf Stream is responsible for keeping northern Europe warm. They must also address the ...

Grade Level: College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography:Ocean-Climate Interactions, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Oceanography, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric and oceanic circulation, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Regional climates
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Investigating El Nino using real data part of CLEAN Collection

https://dataintheclassroom.noaa.gov/content/el-nino

Atziri Ibanez, Kate Thompson, Kenneth Casey
This is a sequence of 5 classroom activities focusing on the El Niño climate variability. The activities increase in complexity and student-directedness. The focus of the activities is on accessing ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Natural causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Natural causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :El Nino/La Nina
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

The Earth's Heat Budget part of CLEAN Collection

https://nagt.org/nagt/teaching_resources/teachingmateria...

Roy Plotnick
Hands-on laboratory activity that allows students to investigate the effects of distance and angle on the input of solar radiation at Earth's surface, the role played by albedo, the heat ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Oceanography, Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Natural causes, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Solar radiation, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Natural causes, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Climate sensitivity and feedbacks, Orbital patterns, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Global energy balance
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Graphing the Extent of Sea Ice in the Arctic and Antarctic part of CLEAN Collection

https://scied.ucar.edu/activity/graphing-sea-ice-extent-...

Randy Russell
In this activity, students learn about sea ice extent in both polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic). They start out by forming a hypothesis on the variability of sea ice, testing the hypothesis by ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Oceanography, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Climate sensitivity and feedbacks
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Seasonal Change on Land and Water part of CLEAN Collection

http://www.globe.gov/documents/356823/412c9bdf-60d7-473d...

GLOBE Program
In this worksheet-based activity, students review global visualizations of incoming sunlight and surface temperature and discuss seasonal change. Students use the visualizations to support inquiry on ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), High School (9-12)
Resource Type: Activities: Activities, Classroom Activity
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Global energy balance, Geoscience:Hydrology, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Regional climates, Geoscience:Oceanography, Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Climate sensitivity and feedbacks, Solar radiation, Orbital patterns
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary