A simple three-part diagram from UNEP GRID Vital Water Graphics showing how global warming could impact coastlines and populated areas of Bangladesh with a 1 and 1.5 meter sea level rise relative to the current coastline.

This is a five-activity module that explores the evidence for and impacts of melting glacial ice, with resources from major institutions and scientists who study glaciers -- primarily in Arctic areas. The suite of activities includes both glaciers and melting ice, as well as the impact of melt water downstream. Each activity follows the 5E model of Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation.

This lesson is comprised of three activities (three class periods). Students use web-based animations to explore the impacts of ice melt and changes to sea level. Students are introduced to topographic maps by doing a hands-on activity to model the contours of an island. Then students examine the relationship between topography and sea level rise by mapping changing shorelines using a topographic map.

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students learn about habitats and how plants, prey, and predators interact based on their needs. Students see how factors like warming temperatures and human interactions can alter habitats and affect wildlife.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson clearly demonstrates the interrelationships existing in an ecosystem. It allows students to identify species and analyze what they need to survive in a given habitat accounting for the impact of human-caused climate change on biodiversity. The games, activities, and all materials featured in the lesson have been reviewed and are suitable to improve students' understanding on the topic. On that account, this lesson has passed our science credibility process and is recommended for teaching.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson illustrates the interactions of living things in a habitat through student interactions.
-This lesson features kinesthetic learning to activate interest in the topic.
-In this lesson, students get the chance to receive feedback from peers, reflect on their work, and make changes to their work based on feedback and personal reflection.
-This lesson features speaking and writing practice using academic language.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-This lesson is 1 in 3 in our Number Sense & Biodiversity unit.
-A large area is needed for the game. If the classroom is used, you may want to move desks to one side of the room.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-During the Inquire section, students could be given a list of animal names or pictures to check off as they appear in the video.
-Species cards include pictures of animals for students who have more difficulty reading.
-Cause and effect language frames are differentiated.
-Teacher may wish to play a "fishbowl" version of the game and have students watch a few students play to see the interactions.

Facing sea level rise, increasing numbers of wildfires, and encroachment of invasive species, managers of a national forest chose to integrate climate change into their new plan.

This module includes 10 topics related to finding, evaluating, and presenting scientific information related to climate change or other interdisciplinary topics.

The ultimate goal is for students to prepare a paper and present it to their colleagues as though they were giving it at typical professional meeting such as American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America, or American Quaternary Association. However, the technical level of the talk should be at a level that the class will understand and enjoy.

The topic should demonstrate scientific method rather than being merely descriptive or primarily applied science/technology. Students should use current literature. The presentation will be more interesting if the subject is somewhat controversial. The final product should demonstrate that the student understands and has gained the skills presented in all 10 topics.

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A federal study assessed vulnerabilities of transportation infrastructure to extreme events in Mobile, Alabama. The effort also resulted in tools and approaches that other transportation departments can use to assess and address their own vulnerabilities.

In this activity, students explore the way that human activities have changed the way that carbon is distributed in Earth's atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere.

SYNOPSIS: This lesson connects Indigenous communities with the natural environment.

SCIENTIST NOTES: The lesson explores the relationship between man and nature and how culture influences ecosystem services. It gives a foundation for young people to be change agents in their generation. This lesson has passed our credibility process and is recommended for the classroom.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson connects government policy to Indigenous activism.
-Heterogeneous small groups allow for supported learning.
-Excellent social studies and ELA integration.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-This is lesson 3 of 6 in our 3rd-5th grade Green Spaces unit.
-If you choose to have the students walking around and writing on posters in the Inspire section, you must have the posters up and ready before the lesson. Students could also write their thoughts on a chalkboard or whiteboard.
-Prior knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and their resistance to colonialism is helpful.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Newsela offers different reading levels and read alouds for students of varying abilities.
-Grouping students by ability may be helpful in the Investigate section if students are reading aloud to each other.

Short Description:
Crafted on behalf of RbD by: Janis Brooks, Erynne Gilpin, Beth Cougler Blom, Robin Cox, Krista Lambert, & Brigit Forssman. Artwork by Nikki LaRock.

Long Description:
This course invites learners into deeper thinking, reflection and content pertaining to Indigenous perspectives in climate adaptation and mitigation.

This course is part of the Adaptation Learning Network led by the Resilience by Design Lab at Royal Roads University. The project is supported by the Climate Action Secretariat of the BC Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Strategy and Natural Resources Canada through its Building Regional Adaptation Capacity and Expertise (BRACE) program. The BRACE program works with Canadian provinces to support training activities that help build skills and expertise on climate adaptation and resilience.

Word Count: 32822

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

This activity relates water temperature to fishery health within inland freshwater watersheds as a way to explore how environmental factors of an ecosystem affect the organisms that use those ecosystems as important habitat.

The lectures introduce a number of topics that are important for IWRM and the modeling exercise. The lectures introduce water management issues in the Netherlands, Rhine Basin, and Volta Basin. The role-play is meant to experience some of the social processes that, together with technical knowledge, determine water management.

The City of Ann Arbor recognized stormwater runoff as a growing threat to the quality of their water supply. They're addressing the issue with two complementary strategies.

The goal of this project is to insert sustainability concepts and issues into the general chemistry curriculum. Specifically, I focus on carbon as the example to be considered throughout the quarter.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

In this learning activity, students use a web-based geologic timeline to examine temperature, CO2 concentration, and ice cover data to investigate how climate has changed during the last 715 million years.

This course examines the interconnections of international politics and climate change. Beginning with an analysis of the strategic and environmental legacies of the 20th Century, it explores the politicization of the natural environment, the role of science in this process, and the gradual shifts in political concerns to incorporate “nature”. Two general thrusts of climate-politics connections are pursued, namely those related to (a) conflict – focusing on threats to security due to environmental dislocations and (b) cooperation – focusing on the politics of international treaties that have contributed to emergent processes for global accord in response to evidence of climate change. The course concludes by addressing the question of: “What Next?”

This resource is an informational video about the impact of climate change on the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica.

This set of investigations focuses on the use of sedimentary facies (lithologies interpreted to record particular depositional environments) to interpret paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic changes in Neogene sediment cores from the Antarctic margin. Particular attention is given to characteristics of settings close to the ice (ice-proximal) and far from the ice (ice-distal) in high-latitude settings. In Part 1, students build their knowledge of polar sediment lithologies and the corresponding facies through conceptual diagrams, geological reasoning, and use of core images and core logs (a graphical summary of the sediments). In Part 2, the core log for the entire 1285m ANDRILL 1-B core is presented. Students characterize each of the key lithostratigraphic subdivisions and use their knowledge of depositional facies to write a brief history of the Neogene climatic and environmental conditions in the Ross Sea region. In Part 3, students use their core log reading skills and facies knowledge to evaluate patterns in the Pliocene sediments from ANDRILL 1-B. They quantitatively correlate patterns in their dataset with cycles in insolation (incoming solar radiation), influenced by changes in the Earth's orbit during the Pliocene.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Learn how scientists have pieced together a continuous 800,000-year record of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and ocean temperatures in these videos from NOVA: Decoding the Weather Machine. Use this resource to review the difference between inference and observation and to consider the relationships between carbon dioxide, Earth's temperature, and climate change.

Using web-accessed climate data, students will examine the latitudinal distribution of CO2 and explain how (and why) that has changed over (recent) time. They will then work in groups of two or three to download, graph, and interpret carbon dioxide concentration data from one individual location (different groups will be assigned a different site). Each student will complete a series of questions to ensure their understanding of the concepts outlined above.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)