This video explores the connections between climate change and extreme weather, the extent to which climate change is responsible for specific extreme weather events, and how scientific information can be presented more quickly to help inform the public.
Students will learn about communication challenges and delays regarding the attribution of specific events to climate change and the advancements being made to improve this.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video includes engaging speakers, a female scientist, and charts, graphs, and other graphics that aid in comprehension.
This resource explains scientific processes, attribution science, and walks students through how scientists make determinations about the connection between climate change and extreme weather.
Additional Prerequisites
It may be helpful to pause the video after important text is displayed to ensure that students understand these concepts and terms.
Extreme weather can be a difficult topic for students who have been impacted by it, so think about how to support students' personal experiences and emotions.
Differentiation
Consider pairing this resource with this animated video on extreme weather, making use of the interactive quiz, assessment, and other included materials.
As an extension, have students do a deeper dive into attribution science and how attribution scientists are identifying links between extreme weather and climate change.
Give students the opportunity to discuss examples of extreme weather events that are specific to the areas in which they live.
Language arts students can focus on the importance of word choice and effective communication strategies when discussing important topics that can affect public policy, human health, and the environment.
Science classes can focus on the importance of communicating science to the public and how to utilize data analysis of scientific observations for the public good.
Scientist Notes
The resource from PBS is a ~10 minute video that discusses the link between climate change and extreme weather. The video discusses how extreme weather research is helping to reveal climate change's role in specific events and how it affects the likelihood of such events occurring. This video would be a great addition to a classroom discussion about the effects climate change has on the weather and it 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
HS-ESS3-1 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
ETS1: Engineering Design
HS-ETS1-1 Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.3 Evaluate a speaker's point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, assessing the stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used.
