Initial Publication Date: July 22, 2016

Step 4: Construct Response and Communicate to Others

Students prepare and communicate their response to the lesson's essential question: What are the primary causes of the annual fluctuations in the Keeling CO2 curve?

Time required: 2 class periods to prepare response and communicate with others in the class.

Step 4.1 - Read Article Describing the Work of Charles Keeling


Featured Resource — Carbon Dioxide: Earth's Hottest Topic is Just Warming Up

Type: Reading

Science Standards: HS.ESS3.D3 Changes in the atmosphere due to human activity have increased carbon dioxide concentrations and thus affect climate.

Learning Goal: Students relate work of Keeling to current and future climate variations.

Summary: Students read the following article and describe how Charles Keeling discovered the relationship between CO2 and the biosphere.

Teaching Strategies and Directions
Students read the following article and describe how Charles Keeling discovered the relationship between CO2 and the biosphere. Carbon Dioxide: Earth's Hottest Topic is Just Warming Up

Step 4.2 - Global Carbon Budget 1960-2100 Model


Featured Resource — Global Carbon Budget 1960-2100

Type: Climate Model

Science Standards: See this page

Learning Goal: Use models to discover relationships between variables.

Summary: Students begin by reading about sources and sinks. They use the interactive model, change variables, such as land use and ocean uptake, and observe how changes in the ecosystem affect Earth's temperature and carbon storage.
Students design their own experiment and communicate their results.

Teaching Strategies and Directions

Students review sources and sinks of CO2. They then manipulate the land use, land uptake, and ocean uptake variables in the model to illustrate how the concentration of atmospheric CO2 is linked to changes in the ecosystem. Students prepare and present their experiment and findings.


Sample questions to use with this activity:
  1. Describe your findings with the Global Carbon Budget 1960-2100 interactive model.
  2. What variables did you change in order to lower atmospheric CO2 concentrations and subsequent temperature?
  3. Complete a challenge of your our design and then prepare a report to share with your classmates.