Planning pathways using climate change resources
This interactive diagram provides a selection of pathways that allow for differing approaches and starting points using some of our climate change resources. The aim is to assist educators with their planning of lessons and units of work by providing options that cover multiple science concepts.
Background image courtesy of Christine Zenino, Creative Commons 2.0
Download a PDF file of the transcript here.
Transcript
Evidence and models
To understand how the climate is changing and to support the claim that changes are due to human actions, scientists gather and interpret data as evidence. They use this data to build and validate complex climate models.
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Video: Thin Ice/University of Waikato
Greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is the natural warming of the Earth’s atmosphere.
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Image: University of Waikato
The role of the oceans
The oceans play an important part in controlling climate. They also act as carbon sinks – holding more carbon from the atmosphere than they give up.
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Image: Kim Currie
Antarctica
Antarctica is an ideal location to study local-to-global scale climate change. Experts use clues from the past to study the impact of greenhouse gases and use this knowledge to make predictions about climate change.
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Image: Dr Adrian McDonald
Melting ice and sea level rise
One implication of climate change is sea level rise. The rising global temperature is causing both land ice and sea ice to melt. Land ice and sea ice are not the same. They form differently, and the consequences of their melting affect the planet in different ways.
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Rising seas – a Connected series article
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Image: Pseudopanax@Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons 3.0
Pedagogy and the nature of science
Climate change is a rich and relevant context. The following resources provide suggestions for scaffolding learning pathways.
The nature of science is interwoven through many of the resources featured throughout this interactive – in the articles listed below and in the activities.
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Image: Public domain
Thin Ice resources
The film Thin Ice – The Inside Story of Climate Science provides a look at our planet’s changing climate, with a range of Science Learning Hub resources designed to support its use in the classroom.
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Video: Thin Ice/University of Waikato
Finding solutions
Climate change is a wicked problem, but it is also an opportunity to get involved and take action. Thousands of scientists worldwide are looking for ways to slow or mitigate the effects of climate change. We can all do our part to help out.
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Image: Yarruta, licensed through 123RF Ltd
Useful link
Returning to a green Antarctica is a comic by Simone Giovanardi and Bella Duncan. It explains why Antarctica once looked more like South Island’s West Coast beech forests than the frozen continent we know today.
