Set of 5 Climate Change Activities

Description

Reflect the rigor of NGSS with this activity bundle that has a little bit of everything – a webquest, atmosphere timeline card sort, an activity to promote discussion and critical thinking, graphing climate data, and mapping carbon emissions.

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Resources Included:

1. History of Earth’s Atmosphere Timeline Activity
2. NGSS-Based Climate Change WebQuest
3. Two Truths and a Lie Critical Thinking Activity
4. Graphing Climate Data Activity
5. Mapping Carbon Emissions Activity

Individual Descriptions:

History of Earth’s Atmosphere Timeline Activity: Great introduction to a unit on climate change! In this activity, students will:

• READ a short introduction about how the atmosphere has changed since the beginning of the Earth itself.
• ORGANIZE TIMELINE CARDS. Students are given 9 atmosphere cards, each describing the atmosphere at a particular point in history. Information includes the makeup of gases (nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, etc.) and factors that influenced the atmosphere (volcanoes, oceans absorbing carbon dioxide, evolution of plants, etc.). USING CONTEXT CLUES and the dates on the cards, students put the cards in chronological order. Critical thinking is required!
• ANSWER follow-up analysis questions including a claims/evidence/reasoning section.

NGSS-Based Climate Change WebQuest: This webquest takes students step-by-step through accessing two NASA websites (one current, one archived version). As they read each webpage entry, students answer questions related to the text. Their research and answers guide them to think about 4 provided focus questions:

• How are fossil fuels used by humans?
• How have greenhouse gases been affected by human activity?
• How do we know the climate is changing?
• What are the effects of climate change?

Two Truths and a Lie Critical Thinking Activity: Get kids THINKING! Promote lively discussions and critical thinking about global warming and related issues using a “Two Truths and a Lie” activity. In this activity, students will:

• READ (in pairs or groups) a “Two Truths and a Lie” card that has 2 true facts about climate change and one lie or misinformation. (15 total cards are provided.)
• DISCUSS which choice they believe is the lie on the card.
• Turn the card over to discover the lie and learn more about the truth.
• ANSWER questions on a 4-page follow-up worksheet that corresponds to the information in the cards.

Graphing Climate Data Activity: In this activity, students will:

• READ about how scientists obtain historical climate data from ice cores, the source of modern data, and an explanation of units used for carbon dioxide and temperature.
• ANSWER text-dependent questions to check for understanding.
• GRAPH data on pre-labeled graphs. One graph uses a data set from ice core records and the other uses data dating back to the 1950s. Both sets of data include carbon dioxide and temperature information.
• COMPLETE a Claims-Evidence-Reasoning section and answer analysis questions.

Mapping Carbon Emissions Activity: In this activity, students will:

• READ a 1-page article about greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, what per capita means, and the activity directions.
• CONSTRUCT a World Map by attaching 2 provided pages (it’s easy!).
• COLOR CODE countries on the map according to their per capita carbon emissions.
• ANSWER analysis questions focusing on the greenhouse effect, sources of carbon emissions, and how developed countries compared to underdeveloped countries.

Teacher Notes:

• This activity bundle supports both NGSS MS-ESS3-5, HS-ESS3-5, and ESS3-4.
• All answer keys are included.
• Please note: these PDF documents are not editable.
• Check out more climate change resources in the climate change section of our shop!