https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/wheel-card.html
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
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Activity takes two to three class periods.
Learn more about Teaching Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness»
See how this Activity
supports the Next Generation Science Standards»Middle School: 1 Performance Expectation, 2 Disciplinary Core Ideas, 4 Cross Cutting Concepts, 10 Science and Engineering Practices
High School: 1 Performance Expectation, 3 Disciplinary Core Ideas, 5 Cross Cutting Concepts, 10 Science and Engineering Practices
Topics
Grade Level
Climate Literacy
About Teaching Climate Literacy
GPg 
GPgEnergy Literacy
7.3 Environmental quality.
6.2 Conserving energy.
6.8 Calculating and monitoring energy use.
2.6 Greenhouse gases affect energy flow.
Excellence in Environmental Education Guidelines
Other materials addressing:
A) Human/environment interactions.
Other materials addressing:
C) Resources.
Other materials addressing:
D) Technology.
Other materials addressing:
E) Environmental Issues.
Other materials addressing:
A) Identifying and investigating issues.
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:
D) Evaluating the results of actions.
Notes From Our Reviewers
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Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy |
Technical Details
Teaching Tips
- Engaging students in energy audits is a great way of diffusing gloom and doom feelings that might overwhelm students after learning about climate change issues.
- This set of lessons is not recommended for high school students because it is oversimplified.
About the Science
- Using the wheel card helps students understand their energy use, the emissions they cause, and ways that energy can be saved.
- Good background materials are provided as well as the information and numbers that are used for the wheel.
- Comments from expert scientist: This is a wonderful activity for grade school, I would not take it much above 6th grade level.
About the Pedagogy
- Multiple learning styles are addressed in this 3-part lesson.
- In some situations, asking students to work with their home energy bills might cause unease since it shows the type of house each student lives in. If this arises, the educator should provide students with sample bills and give them the choice of which they want to use.
- Each day students build on the previous day's activity.
Next Generation Science Standards See how this Activity supports:
Middle School
Performance Expectations: 1
MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
Disciplinary Core Ideas: 2
MS-ESS3.C2:Typically as human populations and per-capita consumption of natural resources increase, so do the negative impacts on Earth unless the activities and technologies involved are engineered otherwise.
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: 4
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.
MS-C5.3:Energy may take different forms (e.g. energy in fields, thermal energy, energy of motion).
MS-C6.1:Complex and microscopic structures and systems can be visualized, modeled, and used to describe how their function depends on the shapes, composition, and relationships among its parts; therefore, complex natural and designed structures/systems can be analyzed to determine how they function.
Science and Engineering Practices: 10
MS-P1.2:ask questions to identify and/or clarify evidence and/or the premise(s) of an argument.
MS-P2.1:Evaluate limitations of a model for a proposed object or tool.
MS-P3.4:Collect data to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence to answer scientific questions or test design solutions under a range of conditions
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-P4.8:Analyze data to define an optimal operational range for a proposed object, tool, process or system that best meets criteria for success.
MS-P5.4:Apply mathematical concepts and/or processes (e.g., ratio, rate, percent, basic operations, simple algebra) to scientific and engineering questions and problems.
MS-P6.1:Construct an explanation that includes qualitative or quantitative relationships between variables that predict(s) and/or describe(s) phenomena.
MS-P6.6:Apply scientific ideas or principles to design, construct, and/or test a design of an object, tool, process or system.
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.
High School
Performance Expectations: 1
HS-ESS3-2: Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.
Disciplinary Core Ideas: 3
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.
HS-ESS3.A2:All forms of energy production and other resource extraction have associated economic, social, environmental, and geopolitical costs and risks as well as benefits. New technologies and social regulations can change the balance of these factors.
HS-ESS3.C2:Scientists and engineers can make major contributions by developing technologies that produce less pollution and waste and that preclude ecosystem degradation.
Cross Cutting Concepts: 5
HS-C1.5:Empirical evidence is needed to identify patterns.
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-C5.3:Energy cannot be created or destroyed—only moves between one place and another place, between objects and/or fields, or between systems.
HS-C6.1:Investigating or designing new systems or structures requires a detailed examination of the properties of different materials, the structures of different components, and connections of components to reveal its function and/or solve a problem.
HS-C7.4:Systems can be designed for greater or lesser stability.
Science and Engineering Practices: 10
HS-P1.4:ask questions to clarify and refine a model, an explanation, or an engineering problem
HS-P2.1:Evaluate merits and limitations of two different models of the same proposed tool, process, mechanism or system in order to select or revise a model that best fits the evidence or design criteria.
HS-P3.2:Plan and conduct an investigation individually and collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence, and in the design: decide on types, how much, and accuracy of data needed to produce reliable measurements and consider limitations on the precision of the data (e.g., number of trials, cost, risk, time), and refine the design accordingly.
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-P4.6: Analyze data to identify design features or characteristics of the components of a proposed process or system to optimize it relative to criteria for success.
HS-P5.2:Use mathematical, computational, and/or algorithmic representations of phenomena or design solutions to describe and/or support claims and/or explanations.
HS-P6.2:Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations, peer review) 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.
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-P7.3: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).
