Climate Change Article Evaluation
Summary
Students evaluate five sources on climate change for credibility.
Keywords: Article evaluation, evaluating credibility, NASA Climate Change, climate change, misinformation
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Context
Audience
This activity is designed for lower undergraduate or high school environmental science and biology classes. However, it could be used in any class in which evaluating sources is covered, such as a current events class.
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
Critical reading skills
How the activity is situated in the course
This assignment is completed as an in class activity on the first day of the semester.
Goals
Content/concepts goals for this activity
The main goal of this activity is to expose students to a variety of sources on climate change and have them understand the criteria that go into making a decision on the credibility of the sources.
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
The main higher order thinking skill in this activity is to have students develop critical reading skills when evaluating articles on common science topics such as climate change.
Description and Teaching Materials
A short, in class activity in which students evaluate multiple sources of information on climate change for credibility.
SERC Climate Change Article Evaluation (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 15kB Feb24 23)
Teaching Notes and Tips
While planning this assignment be sure to check that the links to the websites that will be evaluated are still active. I have done this activity for several years and found that from one semester to the next some of the websites have been taken down, particularly those on Twitter.
Assessment
Students will have met the goals of the activity if they answer the questions correctly.
References and Resources
Links to articles/websites to be evaluated in the assignment:
Nicholls et al article:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2016.0448
NASA Global Climate Change:
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/?t
The Glacier Climate Scam:
https://www.climate-policy-watcher.org/climate-change/the-glacier-climate-scam.html
Twitter: @ClimateScam:
https://twitter.com/climatescam
Market Watch: Living with Climate Change:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/were-not-paying-countries-enough-to-save-trees-from-deforestation-heres-the-price-that-would-actually-make-a-dent-in-climate-change-8a81140b
The following presentation from Nova Southeastern University is a helpful resource when preparing students to complete the assignment:
https://nsufl.libguides.com/ld.php?content_id=67468220