In this lesson, students will explore one type of observation scientists use to study climate change - glaciers and sea ice melt - through online video and interactive media tools. Students will be asked to evaluate the strength of climate change as a scientific theory based on evidence they find, and reflect on what it means to both local and global communities.

Students read and analyze a topical news article about some aspect of climate change and share their analysis with their classmates.

This article discusses how crops, such as wine grapes, are shifting their harvest times due to climate change.

When water utility personnel recognized their groundwater withdrawals were damaging ecosystems in the Tampa Bay area, they found new ways to reduce their dependence on it.

From weeks-long dry spells to extreme precipitation events, farmers face significant challenges in bringing crops to market. Here’s how one grower uses seasonal climate forecasts to increase his chances for success.

This interactive explores sea ice, sea level, carbon emissions, and average global temperature over time.

Find areas that are predicted to change because of climate change.

GeoInquiries are designed to be fast and easy-to-use instructional resources that incorporate advanced web mapping technology. Each 15-minute activity in a collection is intended to be presented by the instructor from a single computer/projector classroom arrangement. No installation, fees, or logins are necessary to use these materials and software.

Anticipating increasing demand as well as changes in the timing and amount of future water supply, state agencies and researchers are gathering information to help decision makers plan for Colorado's water future.

Each winter, massive waves attract surfers and visitors to the North Shore of O‘ahu in Hawai‘i. Some years, the waves cause severe erosion, and continuing sea level rise will accelerate this issue. Residents and the state are taking steps to preserve homes and beaches.

In this computer-based activity, students download, graph, and analyze authentic satellite temperature data for coral reef sites around the world. The activity includes a mapping component so the students work individually on one particular coral reef location and then the findings for the whole class are summarized on a set of world maps. After observing global trends in the data, students evaluate the threat to coral reefs from heat stress, which has been occurring with increased intensity and frequency in recent years.

This video discusses the impact climate change is having on coral reefs around the world and what we can do to preserve these important and diverse ecosystems. A set of discussion questions and post-viewing activities are provided.

In this activity, student teams identify the locations of coral reefs around the world, examine infrared satellite images of the Earth, and research the impacts that are threatening the survival of coral reefs. Each team creates a short oral presentation describing the coral reef they have researched. Students then plot on a composite map the locations where coral bleaching is occurring. Student worksheets, a teacher guide, and assessment rubric are included. This activity is part of Coastal Areas: Coral Reefs in Hot Water, part of the lesson series, The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change.

In this problem-based learning (PBL) activity, students take on the role of a student research scientist and explore the role of solar energy in determining climate, focusing on the urban heat island effect. Students conduct research and compare temperatures between two cities, and determine the factors that are responsible for the difference exhibited between them. The lesson is supported by teacher notes, answer key, glossary and an appendix with information about using PBL in the classroom. This is the third of three activities in Investigating the Climate System: Energy, a Balancing Act, and serves as an authentic assessment for all three modules.

Students explore 150+ years of scientific work, an interdisciplinary body of knowledge that contributed to the discovery of global warming. Students will develop a qualitative and quantitative sense about how Earth"™s global mean temperature has changed over the Industrial Era and its relationship global carbon dioxide levels.

Students learn that atmospheric composition is one of the major factors in the long-term control of Earth's climate. They then build a model of how carbon cycles through the Earth system.

Students are introduced to the unanswered question about the future of Earth's climate. They explore data showing temperature changes over the past 120 years and data illustrating climate trends over different time scales. Students evaluate the information the data provide and consider the limitations of conclusions based on the data.

In this activity, students participate in a class discussion of the carbon cycle and how increases in carbon may impact global climate patterns. This activity is complementary to the video "The Ecology of Climate Change."

Students build on their knowledge of individual impacts on the ocean to see how the whole system can react to threats and changes. They examine ways in which human actions throw marine ecosystems out of balance, explore the concept of how impacts can build, and review their understandings of ecosystem dynamics.

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This activity explores patterns and characteristics of El Niño and effects on global climate.

GeoInquiries are designed to be fast and easy-to-use instructional resources that incorporate advanced web mapping technology. Each 15-minute activity in a collection is intended to be presented by the instructor from a single computer/projector classroom arrangement. No installation, fees, or logins are necessary to use these materials and software.