http://learnmoreaboutclimate.colorado.edu/pdf/lesson-files/hitting-home-lesson.zip
Laura Bicknell, Kellie Courtney, Jessica Campbell, John Gerber, University of Colorado at Boulder
Activity takes about three 50-minute class periods.
Learn more about Teaching Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness»
See how this Activity
supports the Next Generation Science Standards»Middle School: 2 Performance Expectations, 3 Disciplinary Core Ideas, 7 Cross Cutting Concepts, 10 Science and Engineering Practices
High School: 1 Performance Expectation, 1 Disciplinary Core Idea, 8 Cross Cutting Concepts, 10 Science and Engineering Practices
Topics
Grade Level
Regional Focus
Climate Literacy
About Teaching Climate Literacy
4c 
4cOther materials addressing 4c
Other materials addressing 4d
Other materials addressing 5b
Other materials addressing 6d
Excellence in Environmental Education Guidelines
Other materials addressing:
G) Drawing conclusions and developing explanations.
Other materials addressing:
C) Collecting information.
Other materials addressing:
D) Evaluating accuracy and reliability.
Other materials addressing:
A) Processes that shape the Earth.
Other materials addressing:
A) Identifying and investigating issues.
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Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy |
Technical Details
Teaching Tips
- Consider not showing a video to begin the lesson. Do the activity first and use the videos as an extension or summary of the concept.
About the Science
- To investigate whether climate change is happening in Colorado, students examine and analyze various datasets concerning changes in peak river flow, glaciers, temperature, fire frequency, snowpack, changes in birds and plants.
- Uses real data: observations of various natural systems.
- Snowpack and fire data are several years old.
- Comments from expert scientist: It addresses the various elements that students can experience and shows the changes in these parameters. Typically trend lines are put on graphs. Relating the potential climate change to location of species is very interesting and should resonate with students as to impacts of climate change.
About the Pedagogy
- Students engage in a guided version of the scientific process, beginning with observations of real data and continuing through analysis and hypothesis testing, ending with validation or invalidation of hypothesis. Students then do a performance assessment at the end of the activity (write an article to the newspaper).
- Various handouts used for the analysis of the research question provide good scaffolding.
- Videos (online) are suggested as additional materials.
- Aligns with Science and Engineering Practices in the NGSS.
- This resource engages students in using scientific data.
See other data-rich activities
Technical Details/Ease of Use
- Handouts and a lesson plan are provided in a zipfile.
- links to videos referenced in activity: Colorado and a Warming Planet http://learnmoreaboutclimate.colorado.edu/topics/climate-and-weather and Hotter, Drier Colorado http://learnmoreaboutclimate.colorado.edu/topics/water
Next Generation Science Standards See how this Activity supports:
Middle School
Performance Expectations: 2
MS-ESS3-4: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
MS-ESS3-5:Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
Disciplinary Core Ideas: 3
MS-ESS2.C2:The complex patterns of the changes and the movement of water in the atmosphere, determined by winds, landforms, and ocean temperatures and currents, are major determinants of local weather patterns.
MS-ESS2.D1:Weather and climate are influenced by interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, ice, landforms, and living things. These interactions vary with latitude, altitude, and local and regional geography, all of which can affect oceanic and atmospheric flow patterns.
MS-ESS3.D1:Human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, are major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (global warming). Reducing the level of climate change and reducing human vulnerability to whatever climate changes do occur depend on the understanding of climate science, engineering capabilities, and other kinds of knowledge, such as understanding of human behavior and on applying that knowledge wisely in decisions and activities.
Cross Cutting Concepts: 7
MS-C5.3:Energy may take different forms (e.g. energy in fields, thermal energy, energy of motion).
MS-C5.4:The transfer of energy can be tracked as energy flows through a designed or natural system.
MS-C7.1: Explanations of stability and change in natural or designed systems can be constructed by examining the changes over time and forces at different scales, including the atomic scale.
MS-C7.4:Systems in dynamic equilibrium are stable due to a balance of feedback mechanisms.
MS-C1.2: Patterns in rates of change and other numerical relationships can provide information about natural and human designed systems
MS-C1.4:Graphs, charts, and images can be used to identify patterns in data.
MS-C2.2:Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict phenomena in natural or designed systems.
Science and Engineering Practices: 10
MS-P4.1:Construct, analyze, and/or interpret graphical displays of data and/or large data sets to identify linear and nonlinear relationships.
MS-P4.2:Use graphical displays (e.g., maps, charts, graphs, and/or tables) of large data sets to identify temporal and spatial relationships.
MS-P4.4:Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for phenomena.
MS-P6.1:Construct an explanation that includes qualitative or quantitative relationships between variables that predict(s) and/or describe(s) phenomena.
MS-P6.5:Apply scientific reasoning to show why the data or evidence is adequate for the explanation or conclusion
MS-P7.2:Respectfully provide and receive critiques about one’s explanations, procedures, models, and questions by citing relevant evidence and posing and responding to questions that elicit pertinent elaboration and detail.
MS-P8.5:Communicate scientific and/or technical information (e.g. about a proposed object, tool, process, system) in writing and/or through oral presentations.
MS-P1.7:Ask questions that challenge the premise(s) of an argument or the interpretation of a data set.
MS-P1.1:Ask questions that arise from careful observation of phenomena, models, or unexpected results, to clarify and/or seek additional information.
MS-P1.3:Ask questions to determine relationships between independent and dependent variables and relationships in models.
High School
Performance Expectations: 1
HS-ESS3-5: Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.
Disciplinary Core Ideas: 1
HS-ESS2.D4:Current models predict that, although future regional climate changes will be complex and varied, average global temperatures will continue to rise. The outcomes predicted by global climate models strongly depend on the amounts of human-generated greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere each year and by the ways in which these gases are absorbed by the ocean and biosphere.
Cross Cutting Concepts: 8
HS-C1.4: Mathematical representations are needed to identify some patterns.
HS-C2.1:Empirical evidence is required to differentiate between cause and correlation and make claims about specific causes and effects.
HS-C2.2:Cause and effect relationships can be suggested and predicted for complex natural and human designed systems by examining what is known about smaller scale mechanisms within the system.
HS-C5.2:Changes of energy and matter in a system can be described in terms of energy and matter flows into, out of, and within that system.
HS-C5.3:Energy cannot be created or destroyed—only moves between one place and another place, between objects and/or fields, or between systems.
HS-C5.4: Energy drives the cycling of matter within and between systems.
HS-C7.1:Much of science deals with constructing explanations of how things change and how they remain stable.
HS-C7.3:Feedback (negative or positive) can stabilize or destabilize a system.
Science and Engineering Practices: 10
HS-P1.1:ask questions that arise from careful observation of phenomena, or unexpected results, to clarify and/or seek additional information.
HS-P1.3:ask questions to determine relationships, including quantitative relationships, between independent and dependent variables
HS-P1.7:Ask and/or evaluate questions that challenge the premise(s) of an argument, the interpretation of a data set, or the suitability of a design.
HS-P4.1:Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models (e.g., computational, mathematical) in order to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
HS-P6.1:Make a quantitative and/or qualitative claim regarding the relationship between dependent and independent variables.
HS-P6.3:Apply scientific ideas, principles, and/or evidence to provide an explanation of phenomena and solve design problems, taking into account possible unanticipated effects.
HS-P6.4:Apply scientific reasoning, theory, and/or models to link evidence to the claims to assess the extent to which the reasoning and data support the explanation or conclusion.
HS-P7.2:Evaluate the claims, evidence, and/or reasoning behind currently accepted explanations or solutions to determine the merits of arguments.
HS-P7.3:Respectfully provide and/or receive critiques on scientific arguments by probing reasoning and evidence, challenging ideas and conclusions, responding thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, and determining additional information required to resolve contradictions.
HS-P8.5:Communicate scientific and/or technical information or ideas (e.g. about phenomena and/or the process of development and the design and performance of a proposed process or system) in multiple formats (i.e., orally, graphically, textually, mathematically).
