Teaching Activities

Unit 3: Energy Flows and Feedback Processes part of Earths Thermostat
Bob Mackay, Clark College; Allison Dunn, Worcester State University; Phil Resor, Wesleyan University
In this unit, we use energy flows within the climate system to introduce climate feedbacks and system diagrams. The class session uses an interactive lecture approach having students work on multiple tasks ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Course Module, Activities:Classroom Activity:Short Activity:ConcepTests, Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Climate feedbacks, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Global energy balance, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Unit 1: Energy, Space, and Earth's Effective Temperature part of Earths Thermostat
Allison Dunn, Worcester State University; Phil Resor, Wesleyan University; Bob Mackay, Clark College
This unit is designed to engage students by introducing them to patterns in recent climate and investigating possible reasons for recent changes. Students work in small groups to plot and analyze real-world ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity:Short Activity:Think-Pair-Share, Activities, Course Module
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Geoscience:Geology:Environmental Geology, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Environmental Science, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climatology :Global energy balance
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Unit 4: Earth's radiation balance - a map and graph-based jigsaw part of Earths Thermostat
Phil Resor, Wesleyan University; Bob Mackay, Clark College; Allison Dunn, Worcester State University
In this two-day activity spanning Units 4 and 5, students analyze spatial variation in climate through a map-based jigsaw exploration of NASA's Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy Systems (CERES) Energy ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14):College Introductory
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities, Course Module
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Climatology , Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Environmental Science, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Regional climates, Global energy balance
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Did Early Farmers Alter Climate? part of Teaching Activities
Sue Swanson, Beloit College
The overarching goal of this exercise is for students to explore the early anthropogenic hypothesis, which claims that early agriculture had a substantial impact on greenhouse gases and global climate thousands of ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities:Classroom Activity, Lab Activity
Subject: Environmental Science:Soils and Agriculture:Food Production and Distribution:Agricultural Revolution, Geoscience:Soils, Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Greenhouse gas emissions, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:History and evolution of Earth's climate, Anthropogenic causes, Anthropology, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Greenhouse effect, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Greenhouse effect, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Greenhouse gas emissions, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Atmospheric gases, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:History and evolution of Earth's climate
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Sustainability Metrics part of CLEAN Collection

https://serc.carleton.edu/eddie/teaching_materials/modul...

Natalie D. Hunt, Eddy Project
Sustainability is a complex term applied to many different contexts in a variety of ways. As a result, it can be challenging to determine how sustainable something really is. In this module, students ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Meteorology:Atmospheric structure and composition, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Environmental Science:Energy
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Scientific Consensus: A Tsunami of Evidence part of CLEAN Collection

https://ncse.ngo/scientific-consensus

This is the first lesson in a series of 6 lessons about climate change from the National Center for Science Education. The 'Tsunami of Evidence' module directly addresses common ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable, Online Ready
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Greenhouse gas emissions, Natural causes, Impacts of climate change, 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:Anthropogenic causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Natural causes, Greenhouse gas emissions
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Back to the Future: Climate Edition part of CLEAN Collection

https://ncse.ngo/past-vs-present-climate-change

This activity engages students through an exploration using real data of paleoclimate proxies, such as ice cores, tree rings, and sedimentary analysis that provide evidence for past climates.

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16), High School (9-12)
Online Readiness: Online Ready, Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Global change modeling, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Paleoclimate records, Natural causes, Anthropogenic causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Global change modeling, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Natural causes, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology :Orbital patterns, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Paleoclimate records, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

PPM: The Impact of Trace Elements in the Environment part of CLEAN Collection

https://climate.earthathome.org/parts-per-million/

Alexandra Moore
This resource from the Paleontological Research Institute includes a worksheet, videos, and hands on experiments to demonstrate how absorption, reflection, and transmission of light relates to the ...

Grade Level: College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology , Meteorology:Atmospheric structure and composition, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Greenhouse gas emissions, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Anthropogenic causes, Greenhouse gas emissions, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Climate Change Impacts part of CLEAN Collection

https://climate.mit.edu/til-about-climate-impacts-educat...

This comprehensive student and teacher guide from the MIT Climate Portal includes an introductory 10 minute podcast about water and climate change impacts, a water cycle class game, independent ...

Grade Level: Middle (6-8), College Lower (13-14), High School (9-12)
Online Readiness: Online Adaptable, Designed for In-Person
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Water Quality and Quantity, Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Climatology , Climate Change:Impacts of climate change, Geoscience:Hydrology, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary

Understanding Climate Modeling part of CLEAN Collection

https://ncse.ngo/climate-models

National Center for Science Education
This lesson plan is the second in a series of 6 modules on climate change. This lesson plan defines common vocabulary such as model, trend, projection, prediction, weather, and climate. Students will ...

Grade Level: High School (9-12), Informal, College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16)
Online Readiness: Online Ready, Online Adaptable
Resource Type: Activities: Activities
Subject: Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change:Global change modeling, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climate Change, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate:Climate Change:Global change modeling, Environmental Science:Global Change and Climate, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science:Climatology
Activity Review: Peer Reviewed as Exemplary