This short video uses graphs of global temperature over various time scales to show the changes in the Earth's rate of warming at different times in Earth's history.
The studies used to illustrate this change use data from fossils, Antarctic ice cores, measurements from satellites, and predictive models.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The information comes from a variety of scientific articles that are cited throughout and at the end of the video.
Scientific and mathematical terms are explained in parentheses throughout the video.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should be comfortable reading and interpreting graphs.
It may help to pause the video for each graph and description so students have time to read the statements.
Differentiation
This would be a great resource to show in a science class when talking about global warming,
A possible extension activity could be to investigate how scientists are able to use data from fossils and ice cores to estimate climate conditions in Earth's history.
This 3-minute video presents reconstructions of Earth's historical temperature record ranging from hundreds of millions of years ago to the past 140 years and presents short descriptions and citations for the reconstructions. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS2: Earth's Systems
HS-ESS2-2 Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-5 Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
HS-ESS3-5 Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 3: Developing Claims and Using Evidence
D3.3.6-8 Identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources to support claims, noting evidentiary limitations.
