LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Abrupt climate change

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?DocID=323

A lesson plan for Grades 9–12 Earth/Environmental Science

Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science

About this resource

Appropriate grades
9–12
Subjects
science (environmental science, meteorology)
Provider
American Association for the Advancement of Science

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This Science NetLinks lesson focuses on a current issue in science in order to help students understand the process by which scientific knowledge is developed and refined. In this lesson, students will be introduced to some recent ideas about abrupt climate change. This will give them a glimpse into how scientific theories are formed and refined by new data.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Science (2005)

Grades 9–12 — Earth/Environmental Science

  • Goal 1: The learner will develop abilities necessary to do and understand scientific inquiry in the earth and environmental sciences.
    • Objective 1.03: Evaluate the uses of satellite images and imaging techniques in the earth and environmental sciences.
    • Objective 1.06: Identify and evaluate a range of possible solutions to earth and environmental issues at the local, national, and global level including considerations of:
      • Interdependent human and natural systems.
      • Diverse perspectives.
      • Short and long range impacts.
      • Economic development, environmental quality and sustainability.
      • Opportunities for and consequences of personal decisions.
      • Risks and benefits of technological advances.
  • Goal 5: The learner will build an understanding of the dynamics and composition of the atmosphere and its local and global processes influencing climate and air quality.
    • Objective 5.02: Evaluate meteorological observing, analysis, and prediction:
      • Worldwide observing systems.
      • Meteorological data depiction.
    • Objective 5.03: Analyze global atmospheric changes including changes in CO2, CH4, and stratospheric O3 and the consequences of these changes:
      • Climate change.
      • Changes in weather patterns.
      • Increasing ultraviolet radiation.
      • Sea level changes.