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This resource provides a guide for educators on how to teach students about global warming, greenhouse gases, and how human activity has shaped the environment.
Students will look at a video depicting global temperature anomaly data, hear an analogy to illustrate the greenhouse effect, and view images to determine the effect of human actions on nature.
Students will see impacts of agricultural activity in Egypt, deforestation in Niger, and urbanization in Cancún, Mexico.
The carbon footprint calculator will help students determine their greenhouse gas emissions, make changes to their lifestyle, and play their part in reducing global warming.
The simple analogy will help students conceptualize the abstract topic of global warming.
The lesson evokes emotions among students which may prompt them to be advocates for climate change.
Prerequisites
Students should have basic map interpretation skills to be able to see and understand changes in different locations over a period of time.
Teachers may need to explain some chemical compounds like methane and chlorofluorocarbons, where they come from, and how they lead to global warming
Differentiation & Implementation
To support visual learners and engage students in hands-on learning, teachers can further student understanding with a demonstration of the greenhouse effect. Though this greenhouse effect experiment (LINK HERE) is for younger students, older students who are new to this concept may find it helpful.
Using the carbon footprint calculator, students can make a commitment to reduce their impact on greenhouse gas emissions by watching what they eat, buying locally produced food, and using efficient energy.
Students can utilize NASA Images of Change to analyze their local community and see the climate changes over time.
Students can organize a campaign for protecting the environment like planting trees, cleaning up plastic, and others.
Students can do research on recent disasters in their community, in the region, and the world that have been caused by climate change, identify their scale and impact, how they were addressed, and measures being taken.
Scientist Notes
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Related Teaching Resources
All resources can be used for your educational purposes with proper attribution to the content provider.
