Trees and Paleoclimate Lab

Positives

• This resource is a great way to learn about how scientists "know what they know" and how they draw conclusions about climate variation over thousands and millions of years in the past.
• The lab activity is a hands-on activity to get students moving and working together.

Additional Prerequisites

• The lab activity requires materials such as plates, tweezers, soil, and beads.
• Students should be familiar with terms like climate, sediment, and weather and know how to read a 3-axis graph.
• The slideshow presentation in part A cannot be made full size on the screen but it can be downloaded as a MS PowerPoint file.

Differentiation

• Part A includes optional extension resources such as articles and videos on ice cores, tree rings, and other natural recorders of climate variability for students who want to learn more about paleoclimatology.
• Although considered optional extensions, the videos at the end of part A follow scientists in the field and could help students draw similarities between their lab activity and the work scientists do.
• Chemistry classes could use this lab for lessons about isotopes, atomic structure, mass spectrometry, or practical applications of chemistry.
  
• Other resources to consider on this topic include this resource on studying past climates through tree rings and this resource on looking at future climates.