Unit 3: Dynamic Integrated Climate Economy (DICE) Modeling part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
Sandra Penny, Russell Sage College; Gautam Sethi, Bard College; Robyn Smyth, Bard College
After an opening discussion of systems thinking and models, student use webDICE , an online Dynamic Integrated Climate Economy model developed by Center for Robust Decision Making on Climate and Energy Policy at ...

Unit 2: Climate Forcings part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
Sandra Penny, Russell Sage College; Eric Leibensperger, Ithaca College
This unit uses systems thinking to explore how carbon emissions affect the global climate system. It includes an introduction to the greenhouse effect and climate modeling. Students engage in a small group activity ...

Unit 6: Carbon Emissions Game part of Regulating Carbon Emissions
Gautam Sethi, Bard College
In this unit, students play a game, a variation on the "Pollution Game" (Corrigan 2011), to develop an appreciation of the pros and cons of the commonly discussed policy options for carbon abatement ...

Unit 1: Ocean Introduction part of Ocean Sustainability
MICHELLE KINZEL, Southwestern College; Astrid Schnetzer, North Carolina State University; Cara Thompson, Arizona State University at the West Campus
In this unit, students explore the role of ocean circulation in climate modification and bioproductivity. The activities require students to interpret the effect of horizontal and vertical seawater movement on heat ...

Unit 2: Ocean Conditions: Ancient to Modern part of Ocean Sustainability
MICHELLE KINZEL, Southwestern College; Astrid Schnetzer, North Carolina State University; Cara Thompson, Arizona State University at the West Campus
Students will be provided with seawater pH and carbon dioxide concentration (pCO2) data spanning as far back as 1850. They will describe trends in pH, pCO2 and atmospheric CO2 concentration, outline why these ...

Unit 5: Circulation in the atmosphere - a map and cross section based jigsaw part of Earths Thermostat
Phil Resor, Wesleyan University; Allison Dunn, Worcester State University; Bob Mackay, Clark College
In this optional activity, students analyze maps of wind patterns from three levels in the atmosphere in order to infer global atmospheric circulation patterns and their role in balancing the radiation budget they ...

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 ...

Unit 6: Capstone: A modern catastrophic volcanic eruption? part of Earths Thermostat
Bob Mackay, Clark College; Phil Resor, Wesleyan University; Allison Dunn, Worcester State University
This unit is the module's capstone project: developing a conceptual model of the climatic and societal effects of a catastrophic volcanic eruption occurring in modern times. Through independent research and ...

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 ...

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 ...