Examine this visualization by NASA to understand how the warming of the Arctic region has caused the sea ice extent to decline by 40%, thereby throwing our earth's energy budget off balance. Extensive resources included are teaching tips, student handouts, background information, and an essay for teachers.
This teacher website provides a comprehensive lesson unit on the structure of Earth's atmosphere and how it sustains and impacts life on Earth and its ecosystems. Includes labeled diagrams, student worksheets, a slideshow, flashcards, and links to an interactive lab, videos, and resource sites.
This video/slideshow provides an explanation that explains how greenhouse gases that cause further warming. [2:14]
Biology 2e is designed to cover the scope and sequence requirements of a typical two-semester biology course for science majors. The text provides comprehensive coverage of foundational research and core biology concepts through an evolutionary lens. Biology includes rich features that engage students in scientific inquiry, highlight careers in the biological sciences, and offer everyday applications. The book also includes various types of practice and homework questions that help students understand—and apply—key concepts. The 2nd edition has been revised to incorporate clearer, more current, and more dynamic explanations, while maintaining the same organization as the first edition. Art and illustrations have been substantially improved, and the textbook features additional assessments and related resources.
By the end of this section, you will be able to do the following:
Define global climate change
Summarize the effects of the Industrial Revolution on global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration
Describe three natural factors affecting long-term global climate
List two or more greenhouse gases and describe their role in the greenhouse effect
Covers global climate change.
A free CK-12 account is required to view all materials.
This activity from NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory introduces students to the current scientific understanding of the greenhouse effect and the carbon cycle. The activity leads them through several interactive tasks investigating recent trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Students analyze scientific data and use scientific reasoning to determine the causes responsible for these recent trends. By studying carbon cycle science in a visual and interactive manner, the activity provides students with a conceptual framework with which to address the challenges of a changing climate.
Useful introduction to the carbon cycle with a diagram and a discussion of the effects of carbon dioxide on the greenhouse effect and global warming.
This resource provides solutions to global warming issues and problems, with specific information pertaining to the Pacific Northwest.
Student groups are given a set of materials: cardboard, insulating materials, aluminum foil and Plexiglas, and challenged to build solar ovens. The ovens must collect and store as much of the sun's energy as possible. Students experiment with heat transfer through conduction by how well the oven is insulated and radiation by how well it absorbs solar radiation. They test the effectiveness of their designs qualitatively by baking something and quantitatively by taking periodic temperature measurements and plotting temperature vs. time graphs. To conclude, students think like engineers and analyze the solar oven's strengths and weaknesses compared to conventional ovens.
The concepts that underlie the fourth essential principle of climate literacy ("Climate varies over space and time through both natural and man-made processes.") are too complex for students in early and upper-level elementary school, but the foundational knowledge can be taught within existing curriculums and standards. This foundational knowledge will lead to understanding in later years. The author shows the correlation to the national science education standards, identifies misconceptions among elementary school students, suggests formative assessment probes, and identifies lessons and activities to make curriculum connections. The free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is based on the seven essential principles of the climate sciences.
Students learn how the process of soil solarization is used to pasteurize agricultural fields before planting crops. Soil solarization is a pest control technique in agriculture that uses the sun’s radiation to heat the soil and eliminate unwanted pests that could harm the crops. The approach is compared to other pest control methods such as fumigation and herbicide application, highlighting the respective benefits and drawbacks. In preparation for the associated hands-on activity on soil biosolarization, students learn how changing the variables involved in the solarizing process (such as the tarp material, soil water content and addition of organic matter) impacts the technique’s effectiveness. A PowerPoint® presentation and pre/post-quiz is provided.
The signs of global climate change are becoming more and more evident. The EPA provides an excellent guide for students that acquaints them with the basic causes, effects on people and the environment, and solutions that they can engage in. Here is an informative site that will prepare the student to make a difference.
Earth's atmosphere contains greenhouse gases. Find out what these gases are and where they come from. Also link to other information about how greenhouse gases contribute to climate change.
Get an overview of the greenhouse effect using this study guide.
A free CK-12 account is required to view all materials.
This pathway explores the importance of biodiversity and human impact on the environment.
Excellent Eight Planets site that provides a vast amount of information about planet Earth. Very comprehensive and complete site.
The Earth's atmosphere is a thin layer of gases that surrounds the Earth. It composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.03% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases. This thin gaseous layer insulates the Earth from extreme temperatures; it keeps heat inside the atmosphere and it also blocks the Earth from much of the Sun's incoming ultraviolet radiation.
