Description

Purpose

This module is composed of three related activities that introduce students to climate change's complexity from a conceptual standpoint. In the first activity, students work in small groups to explore the global nature of climate change by locating climate change impacts and drivers on a world map. In the second and third activities, students make a concept map and explain common climate change terms. The activities clarify the interactions between people, biology, and the physical aspects of the Earth with respect to the causes and consequences of climate change. A basic understanding of greenhouse gases and their primary emission sources is beneficial, but the small group activities will enable students and teachers to coteach each other about the topics so the module will accommodate students and facilitators with different background knowledge. These highly interactive small group activities emphasize collaborative learning and are suitable for high school, introductory college, and for community teach-in events. 

Overview

The teaching module is composed of three activities. Activity A and B can be completed independently of the other activities. As currently written, activity C is dependent on activity B and could also be used as homework. The time required for each activity is flexible. When the authors ran the activity, the time allotted was approximately 15 minutes for activity A, 30 minutes for Activity B, and 10 minutes for activity C. Activity C can be adapted to be homework.

• Activity A: Mapping Climate Change - World Map Activity
  • Small group activity in which students use physical maps of the world to identify locations of climate change impacts and causes.
    • Student Handout A with specific directions is provided in the module contents.
• Activity B: Climate Change Concept Map Activity
  • Students will work in small groups to create a poster concept map that connects terms related to people, biology, and Earth. Terms will be selected from a keyword list.
    • Student Handout B with specific directions is provided in the module contents.
    • Keyword list is provided at the end of Handout B.
• Activity C: Clarifying Terms/Acronyms in Climate Change Science – Crumple and Toss/Recycle Activity
  • Culminating activity that allows students to reflect on which terms were unclear and to collaboratively share group understanding of the concepts.
  • Students will review the list of keywords from Activity B and choose terms that were unclear. Students will write unclear terms on scrap paper, crumple, and toss into a recycling bin. The instructor will pull out some of the unclear terms from the recycling bin and lead a class discussion to clarify the terms. Students will also take notes on terms that they find unclear.
    • Student Handout C with specific directions is provided in the module contents.

Learning Objectives

Activity A:  Mapping Climate Change

• Locate on a map the countries associated with the highest contributions to greenhouse gas emissions.
• Locate on a map the regions of the world that have coral reefs impacted by climate change.
• Locate on a map the regions of the world that currently are experiencing high rates of deforestation.
• Locate on a map the regions of the world that are likely to be affected by rising sea levels.
• Explain why some countries produce more greenhouse gases than other countries.
• Explain why some areas of the world are more susceptible to climate change than others.

Activity B: Climate Change Concept Map

• Describe the anthropogenic factors that influence climate change.
• Explain the interdependence of factors associated with climate change, especially how people, biology, and physical features of the Earth interact in the context of climate change.
• Explain how people, economics, and government policies can combat or promote climate change.
• Explain the role of indigenous environmental knowledge in understanding, combatting, and adapting to climate change.
• Explain what factors may make specific populations (of people) particularly susceptible to the negative impacts of climate change.

Activity C: Clarifying Terms/Acronyms in Climate Change Science

• Gain greater understanding of terms and concepts used in climate change science.
• Use self-reflection as a means of promoting one’s personal understanding of a topic.

Context

This module is suitable for high school and undergraduate courses where climate change is a topic. The module would also work well for a climate change teach-in event, where students could be the facilitators.

The module was designed for and used in a multi-high school event associated with Pennsylvania Envirothon (approximately 100 students, activities repeated several times to accommodate all groups). These activities were also tested in three introductory college ecology laboratory sessions for non-science students (4 to 15 students).

We recommend that the small groups contain 4 to 6 students. Ideally, each group should have its own workspace where students can face each other and where there is table space to work on the map. At the end of activities, the groups reconvene for the discussion.

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