Updating search results...

Climate Science for Middle School

A collection of resources that teach about the scientific aspects of climate change, including both life and earth sciences. Image credit United Nations

573 affiliated resources

Search Resources

View
Selected filters:
Can wildlife adapt to climate change? - Erin Eastwood
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
Rating
0.0 stars

This video focuses on animals that have quickly evolved in order to meet their needs from the impacts of climate change.

Subject:
Applied Science
Biology
Career and Technical Education
Ecology
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Life Science
Physical Science
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Reading
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Erin Eastwood
TEDEd
Date Added:
08/01/2022
Capturing Carbon
Unrestricted Use
CC BY
Rating
0.0 stars

This PBS video shows how Klaus Lackner, a geophysicist at Columbia University, is trying to tackle the problem of rising atmospheric CO2 levels by using an idea inspired by his daughter's 8th-grade science fair project. The video examines the idea of pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere via a passive chemical process.

Subject:
Physical Science
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Nova Science Now
Date Added:
06/19/2012
Carbon Calculator Activity
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
Rating
0.0 stars

In this learning activity, students use a web-based carbon calculator to determine their carbon footprint on the basis of their personal and household habits and choices. Students identify which personal activities and household choices produce the most CO2 emissions, compare their carbon footprint to the U.S. and global averages, and identify lifestyle changes they can make to reduce their footprint.

Subject:
Applied Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Diagram/Illustration
Reading
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Environmental Literacy and Inquiry Working Group at Lehigh University
Date Added:
05/15/2012
The Carbon Crisis in 90 Seconds
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
Rating
0.0 stars

This video features a short animated sequence that illustrates the difference between young and old carbon released into the atmosphere from the consumption of food (young carbon) and the burning of fossil fuels (old carbon).

Subject:
Applied Science
Atmospheric Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Physical Science
Material Type:
Diagram/Illustration
Reading
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
NASA
Date Added:
05/08/2013
The Carbon Cycle Game
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
Rating
0.0 stars

In this activity, students develop concept maps of the carbon cycle through a die-rolling game that simulates carbon reservoirs and fluxes. By the end of this activity, students should be able to describe and explain how the carbon cycle has changed in the last 250 years.

Subject:
Applied Science
Biology
Career and Technical Education
Chemistry
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Geology
Life Science
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Cheryl Manning
The National Association of Geoscience Teachers
Date Added:
06/27/2022
Carbon Cycle Role-Play
Read the Fine Print
Rating
0.0 stars

Students will learn that there is a finite amount of carbon on earth, which moves around in the environment, from one place to another. Activity is scaleable from elementary to high school with options to introduce advanced content. Wrap up includes role playing the carbon cycle with the addition of human influences (e.g. burning of fossil fuels). Activity can be done in classroom or outside, includes working in a group and role playing. Grades 3-12. This resources is part of the Our Changing Ocean and Estuaries Series

Subject:
Biology
Life Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
California Academy of Sciences
Author:
California Academy of Sciences
Date Added:
04/30/2012
The Carbon Cycle and its Role in Climate Change
Read the Fine Print
Rating
0.0 stars

In this activity, students use a physical model to learn the basics of photosynthesis and respiration within the carbon cycle.

Subject:
Biology
Career and Technical Education
Chemistry
Environmental Studies
Geology
Life Science
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
United States Global Research Program
Date Added:
11/07/2012
Carbon Dioxide Exercise
Unrestricted Use
CC BY
Rating
0.0 stars

In this activity, students work in groups, plotting carbon dioxide concentrations over time on overheads and estimating the rate of change over five years. Stacked together, the overheads for the whole class show an increase on carbon dioxide over five years and annual variation driven by photosynthesis. This exercise enables students to practice basic quantitative skills and understand how important sampling intervals can be when studying changes over time. A goal is to see how small sample size may give incomplete picture of data.

Subject:
Applied Science
Atmospheric Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Randy Richardson
SERC - Starting Point Collection
Date Added:
06/19/2012
Carbon Dioxide, Shell Building, and Ocean Acidification
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
Rating
0.0 stars

This interactive visualization explains the chemical relationship between carbon dioxide, shell building, and ocean acidification.

Subject:
Applied Science
Biology
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Life Science
Physical Science
Material Type:
Reading
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Date Added:
07/09/2021
Carbon Pollution: Costs and Cures
Read the Fine Print
Some Rights Reserved
Rating
0.0 stars

This video features a number of different climate scientists describing the effects of the increasing amount of carbon dioxide on global climate and proposing a series of solutions to mitigate these effects. Video addresses health problems and other costs to humans associated with climate change.

Subject:
Physical Science
Material Type:
Reading
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Climate Change Education Resources
Date Added:
09/24/2018
Carbon Travels - Then and Now
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
Rating
0.0 stars

Students play the role of carbon atoms to learn about the carbon cycle and how it is changing. Students create two carbon cycle diagramsâvisual models of the cycle before and after the Industrial Revolution. They reflect on the game and how scientists believe humans are impacting this critical Earth system.

Subject:
Applied Science
Atmospheric Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Bay Area E-STEM Institute
Date Added:
08/01/2022
Carbonated Communities
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
Rating
0.0 stars

This series of two lessons uses cutting-edge scientific research on the effects of climate change on communities in the intertidal. Through a combination of a dynamic presentation and several videos, students are introduced to the effects of climate change on the ocean (ocean acidification and temperature increase) and what is known about how ocean organisms are affected. Then students read and interpret graphs and construct a scientific explanation based on data from this research.

Subject:
Applied Science
Career and Technical Education
Ecology
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Life Science
Oceanography
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Lacey Moore
Shape of Life, Sea Studios Foundation
Date Added:
03/02/2020
Car of the Future
Unrestricted Use
CC BY
Rating
0.0 stars

In this activity, student teams research and develop a proposal to decrease the carbon footprint of their city's/town's public transportation system and then prepare a report that explains why their transportation plan is the best for their community.

Subject:
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Jeff Lockwood
NOVA Teachers
Date Added:
06/19/2012
Catan: Global Warming
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
Rating
0.0 stars

This game is an expansion on the popular board game Catan, it adapts the regular Catan game to become a game about sustainability and climate change. It's a neat idea, but teachers must already own the game and know how to play it.

This game-based learning would be great for after-school activities, environmental clubs, or a 'free' period in school. The amount of setup needed to get the game going and explain the rules may be too involved for regular classroom use.

Subject:
Atmospheric Science
Physical Science
Material Type:
Game
Interactive
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Manchester Game Studies
Sam Illingworth and Paul Wake
Date Added:
06/18/2019
Catching a Heat Wave
Read the Fine Print
Educational Use
Rating
0.0 stars

Students model the effect of greenhouse gases on Earth's atmosphere. They find that greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are uniquely shaped to catch and pass on infrared radiation, and so they are responsible for the warmth we enjoy on Earth. The children discuss how the addition of greenhouse gases by human activities leads to further warming and what steps we can take to slow it.

Subject:
Applied Science
Atmospheric Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Universities Space Research Association
Date Added:
06/11/2020
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Unrestricted Use
CC BY
Rating
0.0 stars

This activity engages learners in exploring the impact of climate change on arctic sea ice in the Bering Sea. They graph and analyze sea ice extent data, conduct a lab on thermal expansion of water, and then observe how a scientist collects long-term data on a bird population.

Subject:
Applied Science
Biology
Career and Technical Education
Ecology
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Life Science
Oceanography
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Full Course
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Alaska SeaGrant
Alaska Seas and Rivers Curriculum
Date Added:
06/19/2012
Changes Ahoof: Could Climate Change Affect Arctic Caribou?
Read the Fine Print
Rating
0.0 stars

Students run a simplified computer model to explore how climate conditions can affect caribou, the most abundant grazing animal in the Arctic.

Subject:
Applied Science
Biology
Career and Technical Education
Ecology
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Life Science
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Date Added:
06/19/2012
Changes in Hardiness Zones
Read the Fine Print
Rating
0.0 stars

This animation illustrates how the hardiness zones for plants have changed between 1990 and 2006 based data from 5,000 National Climatic Data Center cooperative stations across the continental United States.

Subject:
Agriculture
Applied Science
Biology
Career and Technical Education
Ecology
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Life Science
Physical Science
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Arbor Day Foundation
Date Added:
09/24/2018
Changes in Our Local Environment
Unrestricted Use
CC BY
Rating
0.0 stars

In this activity, students research changes to the environment in the Arctic/Bering Sea over time using oral and photographic histories. Developed for Alaska Native students, this activity can be customized for other regions.

Subject:
Applied Science
Environmental Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Alaska Sea Grant
Alaska Seas and Rivers Curriculum
Date Added:
06/19/2012
Changes in global average surface temperature, global average sea level, and northern hemisphere snow cover
Unrestricted Use
CC BY
Rating
0.0 stars

Key figure from the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that shows changes in global average surface temperature, global average sea level, and Northern Hemisphere snow cover from as far back as 1850.

Subject:
Applied Science
Environmental Science
Physical Science
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) AR4 Synthesis Report
Date Added:
06/19/2012