• • understand how global warming affects changes in climate
  • describe how global warming and climate change can potentially affect human health in different ways and in different regions of the world

Per class

• Climate Change standards  (View)
• Climate Change futures  (View)
• Climate Change teacher resource guide  (View)

as determined by instructor

• poster boards, markers, glue sticks, construction paper

• Climate Change rubric  (View)
• Climate Change student resource guide  (View)
• Climate Change worksheet  (View)
• Climate Change worksheet answer key  (View)

• global warming - an increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
• greenhouse gases - gaseous components of the atmosphere that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gases
• greenhouse effect - The phenomenon whereby the earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation, caused by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through but absorb heat radiated back from the earth's surface. Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/greenhouse-effect
• climate change - refers to changes in the Earth's climate. In the most general sense, it can be taken to mean changes over all timescales and in all of the components of climate, including precipitation and clouds as well as temperature. Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/climate-change?gwp=19

Set-up Directions:

Familiarize yourself with the background information on global warming and the greenhouse effect (see teacher_resource_guide.doc for online review resources and lesson plans)

Review the online animation and be prepared to use it as a review of global warming and greenhouse gases. http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/version2.html.  Note that the animation does not have audio, but pop-up bubbles serve as good explanations of concepts covered.

You will need a computer connected to the Internet and LCD projector.

You will need the Climate Change Futures example (cc_future.doc)

Make enough copies of the student worksheet (cc_worksheet) for the discussions.

Pre-assign approximately six groups of students, with each group having three or four students.  Each group will get a copy of ONE of the following articles (each article will be given to two groups).

Article #1 - Climate
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/Climate.html

Article #2 What Climate Changes are Projected
http://www.gcrio.org/ipcc/qa/06.html

Article #3 Why Should a Few Degrees of Warming be a Cause for Concern
http://www.gcrio.org/ipcc/qa/10.html

Depending upon class size, you will make about 8 copies of each article.

 

 

Teacher Presentation & Motivation:

Tell students...

Imagine that the temperature where you live became much warmer (all year-round), than it is now. What aspects of life would change because of this new weather pattern?

Guide a brainstorming session on what students think would happen.  You might want to draw a graphic organizer or diagram on the board to organize their brainstorming session.

 

Activity 1 - Review: Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect

Conduct a short review on global warming and the greenhouse effect.

Guide a class discussion.  Ask students...

What is global warming? What is greenhouse effect?  What are greenhouse gases?

Summarize the class discussion by showing the online animation.

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Show an animation of the global warming and the greenhouse effect to review the concepts.

Begin by asking if a student can explain what's happening in the first scene.  Break down the global warming process by examining each scene.

 

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/kids/version2.html

Students will be responsible for reinforcing their understanding of global warming and the greenhouse effect.  This can be accomplished by filling in questions from each scene of the animation.

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Students will be able to relate these concepts to climate change

Activity 2 - Review: Climate

Review climate. Make sure students know the difference between weather and climate. 

Climate is how weather acts over many years.  It is the average weather, usually taken over a 30 year time period, for a particular region and time period. Climate is not the same as weather, but rather, it is the average pattern of weather for a particular region. Weather describes the short-term state of the atmosphere. Climatic elements include precipitation, temperature, humidity, sunshine, wind velocity, phenomena such as fog, frost, and hail-storms, and other measures of the weather.

Tell students that since 1860 the four warmest years in the earth’s history have been in the last six years….2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 with 2005 being a “near record) (source: http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/info/warming/ Show the graph to illustrate the point http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/info/warming/ 

 

Activity 3 - Global Warming and Climate Change

1. Guide a class discussion.
   
   Why do you think climate change and global warming are on the news so much today? Why is climate change even an issue? Should we be concerned over a few extra degrees?
   
   Climate change has arrived. Through erratic weather patterns, forest fires and glacier melt we are already experiencing the effects of climate change. Worse, the process of climate change, based on the levels of greenhouse gases we have already put in the atmosphere, is likely to increase the severity and frequency of severe weather events. If we allow levels of greenhouse gases to continue to rise, the disasters of today will be dwarfed by future catastrophic impacts. Let's see how...
   
2. Distribute copies of the three articles to student groups (note, each group only receives one article..depending upon class size, approximately two groups will read the same article).
   • Article #1 - Climate
     http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/Climate.html
   • Article #2 What Climate Changes are Projected
     http://www.gcrio.org/ipcc/qa/06.html
   • Article #3 Why Should a Few Degrees of Warming be a Cause for Concern http://www.gcrio.org/ipcc/qa/10.html
     
3. Individually, students read their assigned article, and then discuss it in their groups, answering questions on their worksheet (cc_worksheet.doc) 
4. Bring class back together and  guide a discussion about the articles, focusing on the questions on the worksheet. Call on student groups to respond to questions based on information found in their articles.
   Note:  the articles build upon one another, so be sure to follow the order on the worksheet.
5. Instruct students to fill in their worksheets (in the sections of the two articles they have not read) as you guide the class discussion on the articles.
   

The purpose of this activity is to establish a correlation between global warming and climate change, in order to lay the foundation for the many effects that changes will have on humans and the environment.

Wrap Up:

Summarize by telling students:

Rising global temperatures are expected to raise sea level, and change precipitation and other local climate conditions. Changing regional climate could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies. It could also affect human health, animals, and many types of ecosystems. Deserts may expand into existing rangelands, and features of some of our National Parks may be permanently altered.

Bring up the diagram in the Climate Change Futures document (cc_futures.doc).  This is just ONE of many examples of the impact of climate change

A modification of this (if time): instead of using the Climate Change Futures diagram example, as a class on the board, draw a graphic organizer based on the information reported by the student groups from the previous discussion.

For illustrative purposes, bring up the Global Warming: Early Warning Signs website http://www.climatehotmap.org/index.html to illustrate how climate changes bring about local and global consequences (mention that they will be using this map more extensively in their research).

Tell students that during the next day's activities, they will focus on health effects of climate change.

Collect student worksheets.

Set-up Directions:

You will need a computer connected to an LCD and high-speed Internet access to show the online video, Global Warming and Africa http://www.newdream.org/consumer/climate.php

Review the first video and be sure you are comfortable guiding a class discussion.

Make enough copies of the student resource guide (student_resource_guide.doc) and project rubric (cc_rubric.doc)

Teacher Presentation & Motivation:

Review climate change and the fact that change in climate affects regions of the world differently, with a higher impact on some areas than others.  Tell students that today, they will focus on how climate change may affect human health.  You'll begin by looking at how it is may already be affect one region of the world.

Activity 1 - Global Warming and Africa: One example of the effects of climate change

Show the Global Warming and Africa video found at http://www.newdream.org/consumer/climate.php

Tell students to look for two main ideas illustrated in the video (jotting down notes in their notebooks)

1. What are basic needs of the people in the video?
2. How are some of their basic needs not being met?
3. How has global warming affected Africa? 
4. What are the indirect health effects of changes in climate?
   

The point of the video is to illustrate how an increase in climate change affects one region of the world.

Segue into the student project.

Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Students will watch a short video (about 6-7 minutes) that illustrates how one region of the world may already be affected by global warming and climate change.

Teacher Instructions

After section on basic needs, pause the video when the people are at the well (about 1.20 minutes into video); ask students what are basic needs (fire and water)

Pause after narrator says..."crops will wither and die in fields" (about 2:47).  Discuss the importance of water for these people. 

• farming
• need dependable rain to avoid famine
• if it rains there's food; if not, crops wither

Pause at 3:20, right after translated discussion on the effects of the drought.  Note to students, "providing food is becoming increasingly difficult." 

Mali section

• Pause at 4:28 after a brief intro to Mali.  Ask students if they know why children have such large bellies (signifies malnutrition). 
• Pause at 5:35 and discuss
• Coping with environmental change - rains no longer fall consistently
• Niger River -crops dried up for the first time in history  harvests falter.
• Continuous land degredation could effect up to 80% of land.
  

 

Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?

Students will take notes in their notebooks as the teacher periodically pauses the video to discuss the content:

 

Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?

Summarize --

Climate change has resulted in increase in drought which affects the ability to grow crops, therefore, there's less food;  less food contributes to an increase in famine.

Segue to student project.

Activity 2 - Student Research: How health is affected by climate change

Distribute and review the Student Resource Guide (student_resource_guide.doc) and project rubric (cc_rubric.doc)

Explain to students that in their groups, they will conduct research on how climate change has affected human health. Students will create a PowerPoint presentation, poster or bulletin board illustrating what they learned.

Students will use the resources listed in the student_resource_guide to help them with their research.

You may want to give students several days to conduct research and work on their projects.  Or, assign as homework / out-of-class time.

Wrap Up:

Student groups will give an oral presentation on the impact that climate change has had on human health, focusing on one particular region or health issue.