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LESSON 1: IS THE EARTH’S CLIMATE CHANGING?
The main purpose of this lesson is to introduce the concept of climate change and to re- examine the earth as an energy system. The lesson begins by students watching short video clips withdifferent perspectives on global climate change. The class then discusses whether or not they believe the climate is changing and what would count as evidence of climate change. Finally, theclass analyzes temperature data from the past 120 years and then the past 1000 years that illustrates how the climate has become warmer over time. In the next lesson, students will explorewhy that climate change is occurring.
Climate change
Class discussion:
Is the earth's climate changing?
What are our initial thoughts?
Videos:
13 misconceptions about global warming
Individual work:
Now lets take a moment individually to write down our own argument to whether or not the climate is changing.
Class discussion:
Individual students take turns expressing their thoughts on climate change.
What additional information or data do you need in order to make your decision?
Lets go to the computer lab and see if we can find the information you need.
-When looking for information on the internet we should always analyze the data and determine if it is coming from a good source.
-Questions to ask
-Who wrote the information?
-Is there a bias?
-What was the person's agenda?
-Does it make sense with what we already know?
Climate Change and Energy
-What is the relationship between climate change and energy?
Quickly get into groups of 4 and write down all the different energy sources you can think of
All energy comes from the sun. Even the energy we run on...food. All the food on this earth in someway comes from the sun.
The sun's rays hit the earth, some of the heat bounces back and some of it is trapped by the earth's gasses. There are two ways that the earth can get hotter. Either the sun gets hotter or the gasses that trap the sun's rays gets thicker.
Lets take a look at some global warming data?
Tides and Seasons
Get into groups of four. In your group you are going to have a discussions. With your partners you are going to answer these questions.
-How long does it take the earth to rotate on its axis once?
-How long does it take for the moon to orbit the earth once?
-How long does it take the earth to orbit the sun once?
-What are ocean tides?
-What causes ocean tides?
-What are seasons?
-What causes seasons?
-Are seasons the same in all parts of the earth?
It is okay if you do not know the answers to some of these questions. If you don't know then guess. You need to have an answer but it is okay to be wrong. We will discuss it together afterwards.
The Sun, Earth, and Moon Orbit Simulation
Google Moon We all know there is a google earth but did you know there is a google moon? We can explore the moon!
Ocean Tides the effect the moon and sun have on earth tides
Phases of the Moon
Seasons!
Why do we have seasons Part 1 Is it because of how close we are to the sun?
Why do we have seasons Part 2 is it because of the earth's tilt?
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