For TeachersLook below for suggestions on how to introduce global change topics into formal or informal classrooms, and how to link literacy building topics in climate and environmental change science to the state and national frameworks.
Classroom Encounters has led many workshops on how to integrate video into standards-aligned hands-on activities and labs to build scientific literacy. Below is an article Rita Chang was requested to write for the MEES Conference in March 2008 called "Teaching Climate “Aha!s”. Also of interest is her introduction to this section, "Notes on the Future Classroom."
Please share your experiences and teaching suggestions, so we can learn from one another's and our students' creativity. Email us at supporters@classroomencounters.org if you have suggestions, lesson ideas, resources or experiences to share.
Notes on the Future Classroom
by Rita ChangHow to Use Classroom Encounters’ Media to Teach Science and Global Change and How Classroom Teaching is Changing
Climate Teaching "A-Ha!s"
By Rita Chang for the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society (MEES)Want to grab the attention of students prior to a lesson? Want to communicate the essence of science as well as the passion of today's leading scientists? Try showing close-up video clips of pioneering scientists as they talk with students about the latest field discoveries in climate science.
Collaborating to Teach Basic Science of Global Climate Change
By Scott Gordon for the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society (MEES) about teaching with Classroom Encounters DVDsA Classroom Encounters® Hands-On ActivityThe scientific principles behind global climate change cross the boundaries of all major scientific disciplines. The topic of "climate change" can be used to integrate the sciences and show how scientists in the field use expertise from each of the areas of earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics. Specialists studying climate change with expertise in each of these areas come together in teams to try to understand the larger picture.
Teacher Background for the Keeling Vostok Lesson
By Rita Chang & Scott Gordon
A Classroom Encounters® Hands-On Activity
a newsletter for Massachusetts Marine Educators, Fall 2006 that also features a lead article by climate scientist Dr. Kenneth E. Trenberth, from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and articles by two scientists from Woods Hole and NOAA/North East Fisheries.
Here is a first class "in a nut shell" guide to teaching global warming and climate change. It's also a quick primer for anyone - student, teacher, parent, citizen - who wants to separate misinformation from the consensus views of thousands of scientists from around the world. The Classroom Encounters DVDs can then augment your teaching by bringing alive climate science and a science-way-of-thinking through intimate, "face to face" learning encounters with top field scientists.
http://hdgc.epp.cmu.edu/teachersguide/teachersguide.htm
This “global warming art” site has some terrific graphs, created by Robert A. Rohde, that visually convey the state of knowledge on climate change. They speak volumes about what we know and how we know it, so are worth close study by teacher and student alike. Under Featured Galleries, you’ll find graphs on past temperature, carbon dioxide through time, sea level changes, glaciers, and predictions of future changes which can be used in research papers and PowerPoint presentations. Students could be asked to interpret the stories these graphs tell; teachers could use them in lesson plans to show how climate research is recorded and the evidence we have of the past.
http://www.globalwarmingart.com
Classroom Encounters recommends this presentation for State of the Art Information on Carbon Sequestration Technologies
"This is a PowerPoint presentation that contains the state of knowledge on carbon sequestration technologies as of 2005. It was approved and published by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2005, written by over 100 authors from 30 countries on all continents, and extensively reviewed by over 200 experts. It was Presented at UNFCCC COP-11/ Kyoto COP/MOP-1 in Montreal.
"IPCC_Carbon_Sequestration_2005_Presentation.ppt (6MB, so this may take a while to load, depending on your connection speed and web browser)
Scientist Gagged!
The chief scientist at NASA, and the country’s top climate scientist found it politically difficult to speak out, complaining of being “gagged” by the government. Please read what he reported for yourself.
Jim Hansen
Climate Change: On the Edge
(A message from Dr. James Hansen that everyone should read)
Greenland ice cap breaking up at twice the rate it was five years ago…
By Dr. James Hansen, Director, NASA Goodard Institute for Space Studies and Professor, Columbia University
Published Online: 17 February 2006, Independent News and Media Limited, U.K."Threat to the Planet: Actions Required to Avert Dangerous Climate Change"
Acrobat PDF version / Web version
For further suggestions and teaching ideas, there are several additional places to explore on this site.
For supporting material for each scientist, please visit the SCIENTIST GALLERY. Behind each scientist's image are materials that augment the DVDs, and show how you can use video clips to help you “team teach” with top scientists. Materials include photos from the field, recommended articles, links, chapter stops, outlines, PowerPoint Presentations, teaching tips, curriculum and lesson ideas.
For example, for some ideas on how to introduce students to Dr. Hoffman’s "Thin Ice - Earth in the Time of Climate Change" DVD, (he and Dr. Schrag worked collaboratively, and together wrote the highly recommended Scientific American article on Snowball Earth.) please click here.
Standards-aligned topic recommendations for earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics at the middle and high school levels are being developed and will be posted soon.
Check out the STUDENT GALLERY to see what students have created after their learning encounters with scientists. We have modeled some award winning student-made "after the classroom encounter" films, poetry, art, research paper topics and bibliographies, PowerPoints, and even student created sound tracks for science videos.
NOAA has just published a Climate Literacy Brochure. Go to www.climate.noaa.gov/education for more information.
Additional information can be found at www.epa.gov/climatechange; http://nsdl.org; www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov