Climate Teaching “A-Ha!s”
Literacy Building Media To Teach Science
By Rita Chang April 2008
©2008 Classroom Encounters, LLC
Want to grab the attention of students prior to a lesson? Show a real world connection? Offer an elegant wrap up? Want to communicate the essence of science as well as the passion of today’s leading scientists? Try punctuating your lessons, labs, and hands-on activities with video clips of pioneering scientists explaining how the planet works and sharing the latest field discoveries in climate science with students.
“The ice sheets at the poles are the most temperature-sensitive part of
the planet. They are the canaries. We’re doing an experiment on Earth that
hasn’t happened in 35 million years. No one has ever seen such high levels
of carbon dioxide on Earth.” Dr. Dan Schrag,
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Director, Harvard
University Center for the Environment, in Freeze,
Freeze, Fry: Climate Past, Present, and Future.
“The answer once again is we don’t know how long it would take the Greenland ice sheet to slip into the ocean. We’re monitoring it today. We see melt water forming every summer, getting into the cracks and lubricating the base. Every summer, we watch the Greenland ice sheet lurch.” Dr. Paul Hoffman, Professor of Geology, Harvard University, in Snowball Earth: Extreme Climate Events.
“We live on a remarkable planet with a long history of life. We are capable of doing things for good or for ill. We have the capacity to undue what evolution has produced over four billion years…”Dr. Andrew Knoll, Professor of Natural History and Evolution, Harvard University, in UnEarthing Life: The Deep History of a Living Planet and UnEarthing Life: On Mars?
Professors Hoffman, Schrag, and Knoll are three of six eminent scientists who appear in a library of new media available in DVD format from the series, Classroom Encounters with Global Change Scientists. The DVD series is the result of a first of its kind scientist, teen, teacher, and filmmaker collaboration. It grew out of a project that began at Wellesley High School when Rita Chang, an earth science teacher, joined forces with Alan Fine, a director and film and media-maker who lives in New York. Five titles in this teacher-created and National Science Teacher Association recommended DVD series are now available (Wards Geology, Social Studies School Service, Carolina Biological, Teachers’ Discovery and www.classroomencounters.org).
The video content was filmed by a professional and student camera crew in Rita Chang’s classroom. Two hundred students were involved in the productions – as learners, participants, and artists.
Classroom Encounters DVDs allow teachers to bring world-class scientists into any classroom. The series offers eight hours of video clips on a range of standards-aligned cross-curricula topics that teachers can use to build understanding and scientific literacy. Teachers can use snippets of video to teach the science of climate change and to model curiosity, passion, and how good science is done in the real world.
The interactive chapter stops were designed to let teachers pick and choose whatever video segments best fit their time, lesson, and learning objective on any given day.
Embedded multimedia in lessons, labs, and hands-on activities can be used to:
Chapter stops make it easy to navigate, study, and review content, and to link lessons to national and state science standards. Teachers can pick and choose short or longer segments to teach specific concepts, connect students to current research, or convey how scientists think and apply science in the real world. The programs:
How might teachers use video of scientists-teen interactions to teach good science and the core curriculum?
That was the subject of a MEES presentation in March, 2008 led by Rita Chang and Scott Gordon, Science Chair at Lynnfield High School. The two teamed up to show how video clips that build scientific and climate literacy can be integrated into hands-on learning activities linked to Massachusetts (and national) frameworks in Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Earth Science.
The modeled lesson began with selected video clips to introduce the concepts of “albedo” and “feedback” and to show its connection to the big picture so students understand why it matters. (The DVDs are designed with interactive menus that “click” to 30-40 chapters stops of 1-7 minutes each that make up the full program.) In the DVD segments shown, Dr. Hoffman and Dr. Schrag reveal how the movement of vast ice sheets and the accelerated melting of the Arctic can be explained by understanding how albedo and feedback work in the climate system. The matching lab activity has students create boxes of varying amounts of white and black colored strips to model objects that are more reflective (ice) versus those that absorb more of the sun’s radiation (oceans). Students then collect data measuring the impact of varying albedo on temperature and share their results with one another. The lab can then be wrapped up with another video clip that show how scientists apply the concept of albedo feedback to explain the unexpected: why Arctic melting appears to be accelerating. This lesson, with selected video, can be easily adapted for middle school and younger students.
(Look for the box at the end of the article for more details on this and other lessons and visit www.classroomencounters.org.)
Students can vicariously and directly experience the excitement of discovery when video clips are embedded in lessons and hands-on activities labs (see above box). Here are the voices of ninth graders (Freeze, Freeze, Fry):
“I used to think that climate change would not be such a big deal because a change of less than one degree couldn’t possibly make a difference. Now I know even a small change like this can unbalance entire ecosystems. ” (Michael Z, 9th grader)
“I was able to have several hour-long chats with my Dad – something that has never happened before - about the Earth and various systems and phenomena, such as ocean currents and the thermohaline system.” (Lisa H, 9th grader)
“I definitely feel more motivated to explore science careers because Dr. Schrag hated chemistry as a kid, but then it became his passion. I’m not saying I hate science, but I now know it should definitely not be ruled out.” (Megan W, 9th grader)
“I enjoyed learning about life as a scientist and wished I could have heard more.”
(Hilary H, 9th grader)
“I really got a feel for how exciting field work can be.” (Christina S, 9th grades)
“Some of these scientists, like Dr. Hoffman, are the first to do something – like go to Namibia to find out if Snowball Earth really happened. It’s really cool to learn about the science they use to do their research. ” (Julia M, 9th grader)
Scientists as Student Mentors:
“What makes a good scientist?” “What advice do you have for students?” Here are video samples of scientists’ responses to student questions during the featured interviews:
“Be curious. Curiosity opens the door to learning.” (Knoll, UnEarthing Life)
“Debate is absolutely essential to science.” (Dr. Kerry Emanuel of MIT, in a forthcoming title.)
“Study a broad array of science; know they will come together in unexpected ways.” (Knoll, Unearthing Life)
“Get outside, on your own. ” (Hoffman, Snowball Earth)
“Read a lot.” (Knoll, UnEarthing Life: On Mars?)
“Writing is an essential skill for all scientists,” ( Knoll, UnEarthing Life)
“Any scientist will tell you, an active imagination is very important,” (Hoffman, Thin Ice: Earth in the Time of Climate Change.)
Students don’t often have opportunities to meet top scientists. But when, as the next best thing, they can use video to meet leading scientists “face to face” in their classrooms, as part of the learning process, students become engaged and want to learn. Their impressions of scientists and of science as a career also can be changed significantly:
“The question I asked Dr. Hoffman was how long would it take the ice to melt. I liked how he said, “we don’t know,” rather than making up an answer.” (Najauna S).
“What I loved most about Dr. Schrag is that he is sacrificing and contributing his skills to the advantage of the world.” (S. Lee, 9th grader)
“One thing that really sticks with me is the picture that shows how much the ice sheets have receded on Greenland. ” (Katie K, 9th grader)
“The more information I found on Greenland, the more interest I seemed to have.” (L. Hu, 9th grader)
“It was fascinating to learn how different types of oxygen isotopes are used to learn about past climates.” (Carolyn V, 9th grader)
Scientists have important messages about how to instill a love of nature, science, and the environment in young people. They have insights and advice to share with teachers, parents, and young people. These samples come from the featured teacher interviews of the scientists:
“Impart an interest in the natural world and a curiosity as to why it is the way it is.” (Hoffman, Snowball Earth)
“Kids are over-supervised. They need to be outdoors, alone with their imagination and their imaginary friends.” (Hoffman, Snowball Earth)
“What individuals do makes a huge difference.” (Moomaw, Climate Change and Our Future)
"The sciences are interconnected… The most interesting things we’re learning about Universe today are when physics and chemistry come together, or biology and earth science, as in my case…” (Knoll, UnEarthing Life)
Learning More About Classroom Encounters
Please visit the Scientist, Student, and Teacher Galleries at www.classroomencounters.org for more information on the featured scientists, teaching resources, student work, and ways you can use video of global change scientists to engage your students. Classroom Encounters is donor supported. Proceeds from the sales of DVDs provide much needed additional support.
Five NSTA recommended titles on DVD have been released to date. (Booklist, Video-Librarian, and School Library Journal have also recommended titles.)
This exciting collaboration continues to grow thanks to the interest of teachers, scientists, parents, and donors. Please join us, support us, or find out more.
Rita Chang
Classroom Encounters is a sponsored program of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit 501c3 arts-service organization in New York. Donations to Fractured Atlas in behalf of Classroom Encounters are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Proceeds from sales of the DVDs support Classroom Encounters programs.