Introduction to Climate Change

In this unit, students will conduct investigations to better understand the factors affecting Earth’s climate, including the sun, atmosphere, greenhouse gases and human emissions. They will also consider how these climate factors can affect local ecosystems.  

Hands-on Activities: 

• Carbon dioxide and temperature experiment: Students compare a chamber with a high concentration of carbon dioxide to a chamber with an average concentration of carbon dioxide to investigate how likely they are to increase temperature 
• Ocean acidification demonstration: Students discuss a demonstration of the effect of carbon dioxide concentration on the pH level of nearby water 
• Carbon cycle game: Students play the role of a carbon atom as it moves through the carbon cycle, considering the processes involved.  
• Carbon Lab simulation: Students use an online simulation to model the impacts of carbon emissions on climate models. 

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS):

HS-ESS2-4 • HS-ESS3-5 • HS-ESS3-4 • HS-ESS3-6