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Earth Sciences of Climate for Middle School

A collection of resources for middle school students to learn about the earth science aspects of the climate and climate change. Cover image credit Government of Canada.

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Fastest Glacier
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Educational Use
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In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, scientists in western Greenland explain how a glacier there is shrinking and moving faster due to increased melting.

Subject:
Applied Science
Ecology
Environmental Science
Forestry and Agriculture
Geoscience
Life Science
Physical Science
Space Science
Material Type:
Lecture
Provider:
PBS LearningMedia
Provider Set:
PBS Learning Media: Multimedia Resources for the Classroom and Professional Development
Author:
National Science Foundation
WGBH Educational Foundation
Date Added:
01/17/2008
Fastest Glacier
Unrestricted Use
CC BY
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This video from a 2005 NOVA program features scientists who study the Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier in western Greenland. The glacier is shrinking and moving faster due to increased melting in recent years. The video includes footage of scientists in the field explaining methods and animation of ice sheet dynamics leading to faster glacier movement.

Subject:
Applied Science
Environmental Science
Oceanography
Physical Science
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
NOVA scienceNOW
Date Added:
06/19/2012
Fired Up Over Math: Studying Wildfires from Space
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Educational Use
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Students learn how scientists assess wildfires using remote sensing, then use some of the same techniques to solve grade-level appropriate math problems.

Subject:
Applied Science
Atmospheric Science
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:
California Institute of Technology
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
National Aeronautical Space Administration
Date Added:
11/29/2020
Flow: Currents and Climate
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Educational Use
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This video introduces viewers to oceanic thermohaline circulation - the system of global ocean currents that cycle warm and cold water across the planet.

Subject:
Applied Science
Atmospheric Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Oceanography
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:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Science On a Sphere
Date Added:
07/28/2022
Fluid Earth Viewer
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Educational Use
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This interactive online visualization allows the user to view a variety of weather patterns including temperature, wind, and wave action over time.

Subject:
Applied Science
Atmospheric Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Oceanography
Physical Science
Material Type:
Reading
Simulation
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
Ohio State University
Date Added:
07/27/2022
Food Waste & Our Planet
Conditional Remix & Share Permitted
CC BY-NC
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SYNOPSIS: This lesson explores the complexities of food waste and its connection to climate change.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson illustrates the concept of food waste and food loss and provides initiatives to reduce food waste. This will not only help in improving food security but is a good alternative to drawdown greenhouse gas emissions from food waste. All materials have been fact-checked, and the lesson is credible for teaching.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson includes a diverse set of perspectives, communities, and solutions.
-Students are able to learn about the complexity of food waste from different contexts.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-Students are likely to have different perspectives and emotions regarding food waste. It can be an overwhelming experience to learn about the severity of this problem. This lesson embeds questions to give students time and space to process these emotions and inequities.
-The Big Waste video contains some statistics from 2012-2013, so some data may be outdated and obsolete.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Seeing the severity and inequities of food waste might cause feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger, despair, or surprise in some students. It is recommended for teachers to remind them that those feelings are normal and natural. Sharing those feelings with the class can help support students’ social-emotional learning. It is recommended to encourage students to share their honest reactions.
-This exploration and these discussions might naturally lead into the “What can we do about it?” discussion.

Subject:
Geoscience
Physical Science
Social Science
Space Science
Material Type:
Lesson Plan
Provider:
SubjectToClimate
Author:
Kate Strangfeld
Date Added:
06/30/2023
Food and Climate Change
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Educational Use
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In this activity, students listen to a podcast and then investigate causes of and solutions to food waste, plant-based recipes to get excited about, and the diversity and variety of heirloom foods.

Subject:
Agriculture
Applied 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:
Environmental Solutions Initiative
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date Added:
08/01/2022
Food and Climate Change Curriculum
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Educational Use
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Comprehensive curriculum/unit to teach how food systems affect climate change. Strong use of real data is embedded throughout. Full lessons, mini-lessons, and short videos are presented.

Subject:
Agriculture
Applied Science
Biology
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Life Science
Physical Science
Material Type:
Lesson
Lesson Plan
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Alana Siegner
Date Added:
06/20/2019
Gapminder: Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world view.
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In this interactive simulation, students can explore global CO2 emissions displayed by different continents/countries and plotted based on the GDP. A map view is also accessible.

Subject:
Applied Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Geoscience
History
History, Law, Politics
Physical Science
Material Type:
Simulation
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
Gapminder.org
Date Added:
10/27/2014
Global And Great Lakes Climate Change
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In this activity students work with data to analyze local and global temperature anomaly data to look for warming trends. The activity focuses on the Great Lakes area.

Subject:
Applied 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:
Ohio Sea Grant
Ohio State University
Date Added:
09/24/2018
Global Change in Grasslands, USDA-ARS
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Educational Use
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This video features the Prairie Heating and CO2 Enrichment Experiment near Cheyenne WY, where scientists expose mixed-grass prairie to higher temperatures and CO2 concentrations to study impacts on the prairie for late in this century.

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:
USDA-ARS and Fireside Productions
Date Added:
08/29/2012
Global Climate Change
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Paul Andersen explains how the climate on the earth is affected by the amount of solar radiation and the greenhouse affect. The addition of anthropogenic greenhouse gases has led to global warming which is impacting humans on the planet. A discussion of the greenhouse effect and greenhouse gases (including water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and CFCs) is included. Countries have committed to reduce through both the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.

Subject:
Atmospheric Science
Physical Science
Material Type:
Lecture
Provider:
Bozeman Science
Date Added:
11/23/2016
Global Climate Change Model: Making Predictions About Future Climate
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Educational Use
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How might Earth's temperature change in the future? Use this model to explore how changing human emissions of greenhouse gases might affect the temperature. The model incorporates positive and negative feedback loops. Ice cover and cloud cover change in response to the level of water vapor and temperature in the model.

Subject:
Geology
Physical Science
Material Type:
Simulation
Provider:
Concord Consortium
Provider Set:
Concord Consortium
Author:
Concord Consortium
Date Added:
05/14/2021
Global Climate Change: The Effects of Global Warming
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Some Rights Reserved
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The activity follows a progression that examines the CO2 content of various gases, explores the changes in the atmospheric levels of CO2 from 1958 to 2000 from the Mauna Loa Keeling curve, and the relationship between CO2 and temperature over the past 160,000 years. This provides a foundation for examining individuals' input of CO2 to the atmosphere and how to reduce it.

Subject:
Applied Science
Atmospheric Science
Environmental 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:
Teachers' Domain
Date Added:
06/19/2012
Global Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
Unrestricted Use
CC BY
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In this activity, students will practice the steps involved in a scientific investigation as they learn why ice formations on land (and not those on water) will cause a rise in sea level upon melting. This is a discovery lesson on ice and water density and displacement of water.

Subject:
Applied Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
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:
California Academy of Sciences
Date Added:
06/19/2012
A Global Issue: The Impacts of Climate Change
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This is lesson five of a 9-lesson module. Activity explores the effects of climate change on different parts of the Earth system and on human well-being: polar regions, coral reefs, disease vectors, extreme weather, and biodiversity.

Subject:
Applied Science
Atmospheric Science
Biology
Career and Technical Education
Ecology
Economics
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Life Science
Physical Science
Social Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Provider Set:
CLEAN: Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network
Author:
The Kings Centre for Visualization in Science
Date Added:
09/24/2018
Global Warming Threatens Shishmaref
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Educational Use
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In this video segment adapted from Spanner Films, visit the Alaska Native village of Shishmaref, and learn how an entire town may be forced to relocate because of warmer temperatures, melting sea ice, and coastal erosion.

Subject:
Applied Science
Ecology
Environmental Science
Forestry and Agriculture
Geoscience
Life Science
Physical Science
Space Science
Material Type:
Lecture
Provider:
PBS LearningMedia
Provider Set:
PBS Learning Media: Multimedia Resources for the Classroom and Professional Development
Author:
National Science Foundation
WGBH Educational Foundation
Date Added:
11/04/2008
Graphing Sea-Level Trends
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Educational Use
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Students use long term sea-level rise data set to create models and compare short-term trends to long-term trends. They then determine whether sea-level rise is occurring based on the data.

Subject:
Applied Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
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:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Date Added:
06/25/2019
Graphing the Extent of Sea Ice in the Arctic and Antarctic
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In this activity, students learn about sea ice extent in both polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic). They start out by forming a hypothesis on the variability of sea ice, testing the hypothesis by graphing real data from a recent 3-year period to learn about seasonal variations and over a 25-year period to learn about longer-term trends, and finish with a discussion of their results and predictions.

Subject:
Applied Science
Career and Technical Education
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
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:
Randy Russell
Windows to the Universe
Date Added:
06/19/2012