https://koshland-science-museum.org/explore/global-warming-webquest-teachers-section
Marian Koshland Science Museum - National Academy of Sciences
This activity stretches over several weeks. Some pieces could be used as shorter stand-alone activities. Computer access is necessary.
Learn more about Teaching Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness»
See how this Activity
supports the Next Generation Science Standards»Middle School: 1 Disciplinary Core Idea, 3 Cross Cutting Concepts, 4 Science and Engineering Practices
High School: 1 Disciplinary Core Idea, 2 Cross Cutting Concepts, 4 Science and Engineering Practices
Topics
Grade Level
Climate Literacy
About Teaching Climate Literacy
About Teaching Climate Literacy
Other materials addressing Humans can take action
About Teaching Climate Literacy
Other materials addressing Humans affect climate
About Teaching Climate Literacy
Other materials addressing Climate change has consequences
Energy Literacy
7.3 Environmental quality 
7.3 Environmental quality7.3 Environmental quality.
4.7 Different sources of energy have different benefits and drawbacks.
5.4 Economic factors.
5.6 Environmental factors.
6.2 Conserving energy.
Excellence in Environmental Education Guidelines
Other materials addressing:
B) Recognizing citizens' rightrs and responsiblities.
Other materials addressing:
A) Human/environment interactions.
Other materials addressing:
C) Resources.
Other materials addressing:
D) Technology.
Other materials addressing:
B) Sorting out the consequences of issues.
Other materials addressing:
C) Identifying and evaluation alternative solutions and courses of action.
Other materials addressing:
A) Forming and evaluating personal views.
Notes From Our Reviewers
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Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy |
Technical Details
Teaching Tips
- Need to guide student groups to make sure that they maintain a critical eye on the material they are examining.
- Because the activity links to so many external sites, it will be useful for the educator to make sure the links important for their students are working.
About the Science
- The activity links to the scenarios from IPCC 2001. Educator may want to point students to a more recent version. The 2007 version is here: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/mains3.html.
- Activity forms a good connection to real world policies.
- Comment from expert scientist: In this activity, assumptions are, in some cases, not aligned with scientific consensus and are not supported by citation or annotation: e.g. the http://www.koshland-science-museum.org/exhibitgcc/impacts02.jsp claims sea level rise is expected to be from several inches to nearly three feet by the year 2100, whereas the IPCC Working Group 1 2007 states that sea level rise is expected to reach 0.18-0.59 metres by the mid-2090s. There are instances in the activity where the language used does not exemplify good scientific practice by failing to critically assess data: e.g. Other surface temperature data sets differ somewhat from those shown here, but in all of them the modern temperatures are generally greater than during the past several hundred years.
About the Pedagogy
- This is a reading-based activity where students are pointed to a number of online resources. The educator will need to make sure students stay on task given the breadth of material.
- The role-playing aspect of this exercise provides potential for fun and peer learning and will address different types of learners.
Next Generation Science Standards See how this Activity supports:
Middle School
Disciplinary Core Ideas: 1
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: 3
MS-C2:Cause and effect
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-C7.3:Stability might be disturbed either by sudden events or gradual changes that accumulate over time.
Science and Engineering Practices: 4
MS-P6.3:Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources (including the students’ own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
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-P8.3:Gather, read, and synthesize information from multiple appropriate sources and assess the credibility, accuracy, and possible bias of each publication and methods used, and describe how they are supported or not supported by evidence.
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.
High School
Disciplinary Core Ideas: 1
HS-ESS3.D1:Though the magnitudes of human impacts are greater than they have ever been, so too are human abilities to model, predict, and manage current and future impacts.
Cross Cutting Concepts: 2
HS-C2.4:Changes in systems may have various causes that may not have equal effects.
HS-C7.1:Much of science deals with constructing explanations of how things change and how they remain stable.
Science and Engineering Practices: 4
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-P8.3:Gather, read, and evaluate scientific and/or technical information from multiple authoritative sources, assessing the evidence and usefulness of each source.
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).
