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Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Are Global CO2 Levels Changing?

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
According to the Mauna Loa observatory, carbon dioxide levels increased by 3 ppm in our atmosphere between 2015–2016. Individuals analyze carbon dioxide data from around the world and then share this with a home group in lesson three of...
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Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

Rising CO2! What Can We Do?

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
It is colorless and scentless, but it makes a large impact on the environment. Learners explore carbon dioxide emissions and what they mean for the environment using an interactive graph. They review changes over time and how they impact...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Carbon Dioxide - Sources and Sinks

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Where does all of the carbon dioxide come from that is supposedly leading to climate change? Earth science pupils test animal, plant, and fossil fuels as sources in this investigation. Using an indicator, BTB, they are able to detect the...
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Lesson Plan
National Wildlife Federation

Why All the Wiggling on the Way Up? CO2 in the Atmosphere

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
The climate change debate, in the political arena, is currently a hot topic! Learners explore carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere and what this means for the future in the 11th installment of 12. Through an analysis of carbon dioxide...
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Activity
It's About Time

How Do Carbon Dioxide Concentrations in the Atmosphere Affect Global Climate?

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Does carbon dioxide really affect temperatures across the world? This fifth installment in a six-part series investigates the relationship between carbon dioxide and global temperatures. Graphs created from genuine data help young...
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Lesson Plan
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Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)

Carbon Dioxide & Krill: Impacts

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What effects do temperature and carbon dioxide levels have on the zooplankton of Antarctica? This concluding lesson plan in a short unit on climate change and the ocean helps environmental scientists answer these questions. After...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Avoiding Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Burning Fossil Fuels

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Chemistry and earth science meet in a lesson plan on carbon dioxide emissions. After reading about atmospheric problems caused by using fossil fuels, science stars balance equations for the burning of different alkanes. They compute the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

CO2 and You

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students study the scientific evidence about carbon dioxide emissions. They learn to calculate the amount of energy used by different appliances. They complete a worksheet which analyzes the amount of energy that their home uses.
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Lesson Plan
Carnegie Mellon University

Ocean Acidification

For Teachers 9th - 12th
After brainstorming what they know about ocean acidification, youngsters place eggs in acid to determine the effects on calcium-containing organisms, and add carbon dioxide to solutions with sea shell material to discover the impact on pH. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using the Carbon Cycle Interactive Game in the Classroom

For Teachers 4th - 9th
An online reading and interactive game bring the path of a carbon molecule to life for your earth science explorers! As an assessment, learners can map out or write about their experience in the carbon cycle. Thoroughly written...
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Activity
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NOAA

Why Should I Care?: Show How Increased Carbon Dioxide Makes the Ocean More Acidic

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
How does a change in pH affect the ocean ecosystem? Scholars explore the idea by making an acid-base indicator in part seven of the 10-installment Discover Your Changing World series. First, they explore impacts of carbon dioxide in...
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Lesson Plan
US Environmental Protection Agency

Getting to the Core: The Link Between Temperature and Carbon Dioxide

For Teachers 6th - 10th Standards
Polar ice samples provide scientists with valuable information about the condition of the atmosphere for hundreds of thousands of years in the past. Of particular interest is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and its...
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Lesson Plan
US Environmental Protection Agency

Carbon Through the Seasons

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Meteorologists view an animated video by the Environmental Protection Agency to learn how the carbon cycle works, and then move into groups to analyze and graph actual data of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration from Hawaii's...
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Activity
2
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Ocean Acidification

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Human impacts on the environment can sometimes be difficult to measure, especially under water! An activity centered on ocean acidification gives science scholars the opportunity to examine the effects of carbon dioxide on marine life....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Avoiding Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Burning Fossil Fuels

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers calculate stoichiometrically the amount of carbon dioxide that would be emitted from burning a mole of varios alkanes that comprise fossile fuels. If the energy released from burning a mole of these alkanes is known, then...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Influence of Carbon Dioxide on the Chemistry of Soda

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the carbon dioxide content of different sodas. In this chemistry lesson, students explain why PET containers are preferable than HDPE for soda bottles. They collect data and graph them.
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Handout
Information is Beautiful

How Many Gigatons of Carbon Dioxide...?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Here is an interesting infographic that presents information on the amount of carbon dioxide we can safely release into the atmosphere compared to the actual amount we have released to date.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Greenhouse Effect

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Why does it get so hot inside of our cars in the summertime? The greenhouse effect! Lab groups experiment to see what happens to an ice cube enclosed in a jar and placed in sunlight as compared to an ice cube outside of the jar. They...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Environmental Puzzle: The Carbon Cycle

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle school science stars examine fuels and energy with a variety of activities. They begin with a KWL chart, read an informative passage, and then complete a puzzle. The puzzle itself is included. Cleverly, each piece corresponds to a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Case Study of Local Trends in the Carbon Cycle

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students examine the relationship between chlorophyll and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  In this investigative lesson students study the local effects of climate change. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Changing Planet: Ocean Acidification - the Chemistry is Less than Basic!

For Teachers 7th - 10th
A video and laboratory investigation are highlights to this instructional activity on acidification of ocean water due to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Using bromothymol blue (BTB) as an indicator, pupils analyze the amount of...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Comparing Trends in Global Temperature to Global CO2 Levels

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Students examine CO2 atmospheric levels. In this atmospheric lesson, students examine the correlation between CO2 levels and global warming.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Carbon Dioxide Exercise

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Students work in groups, plotting carbon dioxide concentrations over time on overheads and estimating the rate of change over five years. Stacked together, the overheads for the whole class show an increase on carbon dioxide over five...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Carbon Dioxide Increases

For Students 7th - 10th
In this atmospheric carbon dioxide worksheet, learners use a graph of the Keeling Curve showing the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide since 1958 to solve 6 problems. They determine the rate of increase, the find the percentage of...