sciencegeekgirl » How do I teach about climate change?

It seems to be in vogue to teach about climate change. Thank god. I mean, is there anything else more confusing nowadays? Teaching students just to wade through the puddles of mud being slung across party lines is a message in media digestion in itself!

Luckily there are many resources being developed to help educators teach about climate change. Here I’m listing a bunch that I’ve been running across.

1. Free standards-based climate change films (polar regions)

From CIRES in Boulder comes a set of films for use in the classroom. Sadly, they’re right now out of DVD’s, but you can see all the clips on their website. They say: “The film contains 7 stand-alone segments appropriate for use in all kinds of science classrooms and informal settings from the middle level through college. The segments illustrate the problem of climate change and how scientists are working in Alaska and Greenland to understand it. Each segment is about 10 minutes long. The video was developed to align strongly with the National Science Education Standards across all science subjects”

Segment 1: Introduction to Climate Change
Segment 2: Polar History
Segment 3: Studying Alaskan Permafrost
Segment 4: Ice Core Drilling
Segment 5: Studying Glaciers
Segment 6: Studying Sea Ice
Segment 7: Conclusion and Solutions

2. Hot questions about climate change

Also here in Boulder (working for NCAR/UCAR), my fellow blogger Sharon Glassman has created a set of 30-second climate change videos, such as “What difference can a few degrees make?” (embedded below). She says: “The segs are fun, trustworthy, free – and designed to be spread through the atmosphere of the Web and friendship.”
©UCAR

3. Climate Discovery online courses

Also from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are a set of online courses. They are accepting registrations for winter term (starting Jan 22nd) here. They cost $225 and there are several courses available. They say: “Are you seeking a K-12 professional development opportunity that will enhance your qualifications, competency, and self-confidence in integrating Earth system science, climate, and global change into your science classroom? The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) offers a series of six and seven week online courses for middle and high school teachers that combine geoscience content, information about current climate research, easy to implement hands-on activities, and group discussion. The courses run concurrently from January 22 through March 14, 2010.”

4. How to effectively teach climate change

One teacher recommends a glacial melt activity here. And a carbon calculator for kids.

CIRES has been working on a set of resources to help teach about controversial projects like climate change. They have a set of helpful resources here. In particular:

Common misconceptions about climate change (PDF)
Climate change clicker quiz (PPT)
Edutopia’s Taking the fear out of teaching global warming (HTML)
Dealing with controversy (PDF)

5. I also have a few activities and webcasts on climate change myself:

Several hands-on activities about weather and climate here and here (such as a rice model of the composition of the earth’s atmosphere, and a model of how carbon dioxide resonates in the infrared).
A set of webcasts – climate in the past (a synopsis of the included activities here) and in the future (a synopsis of content and activities here).

Also recommended are the following two books: