University of Colorado at Boulder
CU: Home | A to Z | Campus Map

Evidence of Climate Change

What Makes You Hot?

HITTING HOME: CLIMATE CHANGE IN COLORADO

How would we know if Colorado’s climate is changing & how will it affect us?

Created in the Making Global Local workshops, University of Colorado at Boulder

The driving question for "Evidence of Climate Change" is "How would we know if Colorado's climate is changing and how will it affect me?" Students warm up to the topic by discussing media coverage of climate change in Colorado, their own opinions about the topic and evidence supporting their hypothesis. Featuring video and power point presentations, data analysis and group presentations, the lesson concludes with each student writing a newspaper article summarizing the class findings. This lesson is designed for middle school science students, but is adaptable to older students.

Driving Question

How would we know if Colorado’s climate is changing and how will it affect us?

Grade Level

6th Grade Science (adaptations for 3rd to 8th grade are easily made)

Lesson Time Requirement

4 hours

Climate Literacy Principles Addressed

  • Standard 4: Earth's weather and climate systems are the result of complex interactions
  • Standard 6: Evidence indicates human activities are impacting the climate system

Colorado State Standards Addressed

  • High School:  PS5, PS6, LS2, ES4, ES6
  • 8th Grade:  PS2, PS3, LS1, ES1, eS2
  • 7th Grade:  LS1, LS2, ES2
  • 6th Grade:  LS1, LS2, ES2

Learning Objectives

  • Students will be able to describe how scientists use a variety of data to make conclusions
  • Students will be able to explain why the steps of the scientific method are used in real world situations
  • Students will be able to provide evidence for or against the argument that climate change is occurring in Colorado and the world.
  • Students will be able to describe some impacts that would occur in Colorado if climate change is occurring.

Sign up to receive model lesson updates, professional development opportunity announcements, and new tools for sharing innovative ways to teach climate science with other educators.

HITTING HOME: CLIMATE CHANGE IN COLORADO

How would we know if Colorado’s climate is changing & how will it affect us?

PDF of lesson plan

Full ZIP file of lesson plan, handouts, and resources

 

Prior Knowledge Required

  • Students will be able to compare and contrast climate and weather
  • Students will be able to diagram and explain the concept of the Greenhouse Effect

Common Student Misconceptions & Prior Understandings

  • Students might think that global climate change is not occurring or that it is not occurring in Colorado

Materials

1. Evidence Cards:  Slides that should be made into laminated cards.  Two sets of cards are a minimum.
2. Student handouts (see “handouts” below)

Introduction to Lesson

Is climate change happening in Colorado?  It’s important to approach such questions from a rational and scientific viewpoint, by examining actual data.  In this lesson, students are given a set of observational data and asked to determine whether it supports or does not support the hypothesis that climate is changing over time in Colorado.   

Lesson Sequence

Engagement

News stories in the local papers talk about climate change occurring in CO. What are your thoughts on this subject? What evidence would you use to support your hypothesis?
(Do a think pair share and have kids report out)

Show two climate videos from http://learnmoreaboutclimate.colorado.edu:
i. Clip #1: Colorado and a Warming Planet (8:51)
ii. Clip #2:  Hotter, Drier Colorado (7:59)

Analyzing Data

1. Model how to fill out the Part A:  Individual and Group Observation sheet with the class
2. Divide each class into 8 groups and assign them one of the following topics, giving the relevant Evidence Cards for that topic:

1. Snow Pack
2. Yearly Precipitation
3. Average Yearly Temperature
4. Frequency of Forest Fires
5. Peak River Flow Days
6. Glaciers
7. Changes in Latitudinal Location of Bird Species

3. In groups have students fill in the topic and their hypothesis on the Part A: Individual and Group Observation sheet

1. Formative questioning

4. Then have students analyze the data and fill in the rest of the Part A: Group Data Analysis sheet
5.  Assign a recorder, a presenter, facilitator, time keeper within the group
6. Give students time to prepare their presentations
7. Hand out the Part B:  Summary of Group Data sheet
8. Have each group present; at the conclusion of each presentation have students fill in the appropriate part of the Part B worksheet
9. Summarize all of the findings with the class Share out – 3 minutes max

1. Questions for how all this evidence shows climate change.

1. What data did you look at?
2. What were your results?
3. Were you able to answer your question? If not why do you think your results were inconclusive?
4. Maybe you weren’t able to conclusively answer your question or if you didn’t obtain group consensus…what were the areas of conflict? What other information would you need to answer your question?

2. Pulling it Together

1. What trends did you notice in the overall data?
2. What was it like to support your claims using the evidence provided?
3. How this is important to our lives?

10. Show a Colorado Climate Video from http://learnmoreaboutclimate.colorado.edu

1. Listening to Colorado's Ecology
2. Colorado and a Warming Planet (8:51)
3. Hotter, Drier Colorado (7:59)

11. Hand out Part C: Conclusion worksheet and have students write a newspaper article summarizing the class findings

Student Handouts

All available at LearnMoreAboutClimate.Colorado.edu under “For Educators.”
Part A:  “Climate Change in Colorado.”  Individual and group observations recording sheet.
Part B:  “Observations Regarding Colorado’s Climate Data.”  Summary of Group Data worksheet.
Part C: “Hitting Home: Climate Change in Colorado?”  Conclusion, Newspaper article writeup instruction.

Assessment

Students will complete a newspaper article about Climate Change.  See materials section Part C for prompt and guidelines.

Lesson Development Prompts

This lesson was developed for middle school physical science courses by a collaboration of scientists, teachers, and educational researchers in the Making the Global Local workshops at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Background Reading for Students and/or Teachers

See “references” and “extensions” for additional readings. 

References

Snowpack Data ftp://ftp.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/data/snow/snow_course/table/history/colorado/05j42s.txt
Precipitation and Temperature Data--Colorado Climate Report 2008
Wildfire Data   A. L.  Westerling et al.,  Science  313, 940 -943 (2006)
Peak River Flow Colorado Basin River Forecast Center    
Glacier Photos 
     Photographer: Andy Leach; leachfam.com
      Photographer: W.T. Lee; NSIDC
      Photo J.R. Brackett
      Photo H. Waldrop
      Photo W.T. Pfeffer
Bird Data National Audubon Society

Extensions

Why Should We Care?

How will climate change affect Colorado's native species?  Will invasive species increase?
Will climate change affect our water usage?  Will we have enough water?
How will economic industries like agriculture be affected by climate change?  Will we lose jobs?
What kinds of new jobs may be formed in response to the need for reducing our carbon footprint?
 
Water footprint calculator:  http://www.h2oconserve.org/home.php?pd=index
Carbon footprint calculator:  http://www.h2oconserve.org/home.php?pd=indexwww.h2oconserve.org/home.php

Links to on-line curriculum:
     http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/4d5d013eaca14ee2eab3a4f355bd4565.html
     http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/
     http://www.colorado.gov/energy/in/uploaded_pdf/ColoradoClimateActionPlan_001.pdf
     http://www.mathaware.org/index.html
     http://www.climatechangeeducation.org/k-12/index.html
     http://eo.ucar.edu/educators/ClimateDiscovery/
     http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/08/g68/climatecontrols.html
     http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/climatechange/index.html
     http://education.arm.gov/teacherslounge/lessons.stm

Climate Literacy Essential Principles Addressed

Standard 4:  Earth's weather and climate systems are the result of complex interactions
Interaction between various climate components can produce emergent phenomena unique to the system.  Humans are an integral part of Earth's climate system.  Human activities such as fossil fuel burning or deforestation can affect climate and alter the equilibrium of the climate system.

Standard 6:  Evidence indicates human activities are impacting the climate system

Colorado State Science Standards (New standards)

High School


PS5. Energy exists in many forms such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, radiant, thermal, and nuclear, that can be quantified and experimentally determined



PS6. When energy changes form, it is neither created not destroyed; however, because some is necessarily lost as heat, the amount of energy available to do work decreases



LS2. The size and persistence of populations depend on their interactions with each other and on the abiotic factors in an ecosystem



ES4.  Climate is the result of energy transfer among interactions of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere



ES6. The interaction of Earth's surface with water, air, gravity, and biological activity causes physical and chemical changes


8th Grade


PS2. There are different forms of energy, and those forms of energy can be changed from one form to another – but total energy is conserved



PS3. Distinguish between physical and chemical changes, noting that mass is conserved during any change



LS1. Human activities can deliberately or inadvertently alter ecosystems and their resiliency



ES1 Weather is a result of complex interactions of Earth's atmosphere, land and water, that are driven by energy from the sun, and can be predicted and described through complex models



ES2. Earth has a variety of climates defined by average temperature, precipitation, humidity, air pressure, and wind that have changed over time in a particular location


7th Grade


LS1. Individual organisms with certain traits are more likely than others to survive and have offspring in a specific environment


6th Grade


LS1. Changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of individual organisms, populations, and entire species



LS2. Organisms interact with each other and their environment in various ways that create a flow of energy and cycling of matter in an ecosystem



ES2. Water on Earth is distributed and circulated through oceans, glaciers, rivers, ground water, and the atmosphere

About the Authors

These Making the Global Local teachers teamed up to share their expertise and collaborate in developing and piloting a reform-oriented lesson about evidence of climate change in Colorado for middle school science students.

  • Laura Bicknell, General Science, Patterson International Elementary School
  • Kellie Courtney, Earth Science and Biology, Lyons Middle and High School
  • Jessica Campbell, Earth Science, Altona Middle School
  • Jon Gerber, Earth Science, Shadow Ridge Middle School

These problem-based lessons were developed through an innovative process that brought together teachers, scientists and science education faculty for "Making the Global Local (MGL)," a teacher professional development workshop hosted by CU-Boulder in July 2009. Developing and teaching of the lessons is centered around a single driving question that students explore, discuss and answer. While addressing a variety of Colorado content standards, the lessons also seek to localize climate change for Colorado middle and high school students. MGL teachers then took their newly developed lessons to test and refine them in their own classrooms during the Fall 2009 semester.

Lesson Resources

You may download a zip file including all lesson plan handouts and resources.

Possible Extensions

  • Why Should We Care?
  • How will climate change affect Colorado's native species? Will invasive species increase?
  • Will climate change affect our water usage?
  • Will we have enough water?
  • How will economic industries like agriculture be affected by climate change?
  • Will we lose jobs?
  • What kinds of new jobs may be formed in response to the need for reducing our carbon footprint?

Valuable Resources

Links to Curriculum

 

Share your thoughts about this site