The Heat is On: Cause and Effect and Climate
https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/the-heat-is-on-cause-and-effect-and-climate
https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/the-heat-is-on-cause-and-effect-and-climate
California Academy of Sciences
This learning activity takes one 60 minute class period.
Learn more about Teaching Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness»
See how this Activity supports the Next Generation Science Standards»
Grade Level
Online Readiness
Topics
Climate Literacy
This Activity builds on the following concepts of Climate Literacy.
Click a topic below for supporting information, teaching ideas, and sample activities.
- Humans can take action
- Climate is complex
- Our understanding of climate
- Humans affect climate
- Climate change has consequences
Energy Literacy
This Activity builds on the following concepts of Energy Literacy.
Click a topic below for supporting information, teaching ideas, and sample activities.
Notes From Our Reviewers
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Teaching Tips | Science | Pedagogy |
Technical Details
Teaching Tips
- Include additional material about the science of global warming
- Consider going further than the article provide by having students investigate more difficult (and actual) climate denial claims. The examples offered are silly and are a good first step in considering causation vs. correlation, but actual denial arguments are much more advanced and could help students consider how to confront causation vs. correlation in the real world.
About the Content
- The data students investigate in this activity focus on temperature and CO2 and the relationship between them.
- The science presented in this teaching material is sound if a little dated (2015). However, the material focuses more on the general concept of understanding causation versus correlation and less on the actual science of global warming. Teachers might want to supplement with additional material to better understand the scientific process
- Investigating causation vs. correlation is a very useful exercise for middle school students about to jump in to a huge amount of information in the coming years.
- Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
About the Pedagogy
- In this activity, students develop a graphic organizer, engage in discussion, investigate temperature and CO2 data, and learn about hypothesis generation and testing.
- The pedagogy is well designed in that it is ready to teach out of the box with suggested activities and homework. However, the material goes over fossil fuels very quickly. While the material does recommend showing the video twice, it might still not give the students a thorough enough scientific basis or an understanding of climate change.
- The lesson sets out to help students understand causation vs. correlation. The activity provided is an oversimplification, but does provide a good introduction. If teachers want to help students better understand the concept, followup lessons would be very helpful.
