• In this self-paced lesson, students will learn about radiation balance, incoming solar radiation, the reflection of solar radiation, the emission of thermal radiation, and the greenhouse effect. 

Positives

• The lesson covers the topic of Earth's radiation balance through text, visualizations, and checkpoints for understanding.

• Students will explore other planets' characteristics and conditions and compare them to Earth.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should have a basic understanding of chemistry and physics concepts such as electromagnetic radiation, infrared radiation, and surface temperature.
• This is part 4 of 9 in Explaining Climate Change, a series of lessons from The King's Centre for Visualization in Science.

Differentiation

• Teachers should pay attention to the pace at which they assign the 5 key idea sections. Teachers may want to assign one key idea section at a time and check for understanding before proceeding to the next one.
• The reading level for these slides is upper high school to college level, so teachers may want to employ reading scaffolds, such as graphic organizers, for students.

• Teachers may want to check for students' understanding of physics concepts first and then support their scientific vocabulary acquisition for new terms such as albedo, radiation balance, particulate matter, etc.

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.