Back to the Future: Climate through Time Story Short

Provided by: National Center for Science Education |Published on: March 10, 2025

Lesson Plans

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Synopsis

This story short learning module from the National Center for Science Education includes five activities where students will learn how scientists use proxy data, such as fossils and ice cores, to understand previous and current instances of climate change.
Students will analyze data for the five mass extinction events, bird migration, and climate change, explore infographics to determine how Earth's systems interact, determine the impact of volcanic activity on climate change, and learn how scientists use ice cores.
Students will also review data to understand important relationships, learn about the Milankovitch Cycles, and use an applet to model climate emissions and solutions.
To select this story short, teachers will need to scroll down to this title and click "Go to the activities."

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Subjects: Chemistry, Biology, Earth and Space Sciences

Authors: National Center for Science Education

Region: Global

Languages: English

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Teaching Materials

Positives

The Teacher Tool Kit includes many pedagogical strategies teachers can use in various other lessons.
The optional Side Quests give students the chance to deepen their understanding.

Prerequisites

Teachers will need to set up the ice core models before teaching Activity 3.
If students have never written a claim, evidence, and reasoning statement before, they may need more explicit instruction for the process, especially the reasoning portion.
Students should understand the concept of negative numbers and how to determine the slope of a line.

Differentiation & Implementation

Some students may need additional time to complete the worksheets for the infographics in Activity 2. Teachers may wish to remove the time constraints from the slides and monitor student progress.
In Activity 3, sharing all of the background information with students will be overwhelming, but teachers may want to explain why the measurement is always a negative number to increase student understanding of the data.
After completing the Side Quest for Activity 4, students can explore Project Drawdown's Table of Solutions and select one or two solutions to read about. This way, students can gain a deeper insight into how emissions reductions are calculated and the variety of solutions that exist.

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About the Partner Provider

National Center for Science Education

NCSE works with teachers, parents, scientists, and concerned citizens at the local, state, and national levels to ensure that topics like climate change, evolution, and the nature of science are taught accurately, honestly, and confidently.

Scientist Reviewed

This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.

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Back to the Future: Climate through Time Story Short

Synopsis

Teaching Materials

About the Partner Provider

Scientist Reviewed

Related Teaching Resources