Earth Science

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Global Warming 101

Grade Level: 3 – 12
Activity Summary:

  • The Global Warming101 Lesson Plans help students master the requisite background information on global climate change processes, the importance of the Arctic to global climate, the potential effects of global warming in the Arctic, and consider what could/should be done in response. They also help students communicate about the issue using communication strategies.

Activity Material:
http://willstegerfoundation.org/index.php/educator-resource-binder

[Materials provided by Will Steger Foundation and is free for download with simple online registration]

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Climate Change, Wildlife, and Wildlands Toolkit

Grade Level: 1 – 12
Students Will:
For Ecosystems and species

  • Identify likely migration of plant and animal species and ecosystems in the Great Lakes region, and potential impacts on biodiversity.
  • Identify phenological changes over the past 100 years.
  • Correlate observed and predicted changes in wildlife, ecosystems and phenology with changes in climate.
  • Differentiate between impacts at various time scales (years/decades/centuries/millennia).

For Recreation/Tourism

  1. Summarize climate change impacts on tourism/recreation from lake levels, algae growth, snow sports, trout, ice fishing

Activity Material:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/ORWKit.html#studies
[Interpretive kit that includes a video, trail cards, global warming wheel card, and a CD-ROM, which contains fact sheets, brochures, case studies, sample trail talk out-lines, and a number of interactive activities. The kits focuses on four areas of the nation: • Western Mountains and Plains • Great Lakes and Upper Midwest • Chesapeake Bay and Assateague Island • Everglades and South Florida]

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Climate Change and Ski Resorts

Grade Level: 6 – 12
Students Will:

  • Learn how climate change is affecting ski resorts in Europe and how they are adapting.
  • Use data from Wisconsin ski resorts to investigate whether similar trends are occurring in Wisconsin.
  • Develop plans to adapt ski resorts for functioning in a warmer climate.

Activity Material:
Climate Change and Ski Resorts Student Worksheet (Word)
Required Readings:

  1. European ski resorts and climate change
  2. Global warming forces European ski resorts to offer summer sports – Telegraph
  3. Climate change and recreation
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Thinking Like an Ecologist

Grade Level: 9 – 12
Students Will:

  • Analyze data from the Aspen FACE (Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment) research site in northern Wisconsin.
  • Make connections between their influence and current field of research.
  • Propose solutions to global climate issues.

Activity Material:
http://wupcenter.mtu.edu/news/NSTA_Thinking_Like_An_Ecologist_Jenn_Carlson.pdf

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Project Budburst

Grade Level: 6 – 12
Students Will:

  • Identify several tree or flower species in their area, and observe the sequence
    of budding in those species relative to each other
  • Observe budding phenology and understand how the budding stage fits into a
    plant’s life cycle
  • Understand the relationship between weather and phenology.
  • Enter data into Web-based databases and compare their observations with those
    of students in other regions.
  • Interpret their data and convey results in graphics and/or in writing.

Activity Material:
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen_science/budburst/TeacherGuide_PB2007.pdf

[Source:Center for Teaching and Learning at Chicago Botanic Garden]

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Birds, Mosquitoes, and Viruses

Grade Level: 6 – 12
Students Will:

  • Distinguish between direct and indirect disease transmission.
  • Identify various vectors associated with disease.
  • Simulate the spread of a vector-borne disease.
  • Research a specific vector-borne disease.
  • Create and present a poster relating global warming to spread of disease.

Activity Material:
http://www.ecohealth101.org/classroom/diseases.html

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Water, Water, Everywhere – Is It Safe?

Grade Level: 8 – 12
Activity Summary:

  • Students explore the contents of untreated water, using a microscope to find organisms, create their own filtering system to clean the water, and then research water-borne pathogens that may be increasing in number due to effects of global warming.

Activity Material:
http://www.ecohealth101.org/classroom/water.html

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Changes in Lake Ice: Ecosystem Response to Global Change

Grade Level: 9 – 12
Activity Summary:

  • This activity uses ice cover data from three lakes in Madison, Wisconsin. Students work in groups to make predictions based on prior knowledge and assumptions, manipulate and summarize data, interpret the data by suggesting trends, and construct arguments from the data related to evidence of global change.

Activity Material:
http://tiee.ecoed.net/vol/v3/issues/data_sets/lake_ice/overview.html