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Lesson Plan
PBS

Regional Patterns of Climate: Pacific Northwest

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Climate systems involve sunlight, ocean, atmosphere, ice, land forms, and many other factors. Scholars explore each of these variables related to the Pacific Northwest rain forest. They use an online interactive to investigate the polar...
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Interactive
American Museum of Natural History

What do you Know About Climate Change?

For Students 6th - 12th
Test the class's knowledge of the key components of climate change. A 10-question online quiz asks learners about weather, climate, greenhouse gases, and several other concepts related to climate change. Interactive and easy for...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

The Ocean and Climate: Heat Redistribution

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Here on Earth, heat goes with the flow! Young climatologists dive in to the connection between ocean currents and heat distribution during a science lesson. Scholars work with interactive and print resources to create a thorough...
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Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Carbon, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
Climate models mathematically represent the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land, sun, surface, and ice. Part two in the series of four lessons looks at the role greenhouse gases play in keeping Earth warm and has participants...
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Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Historical Climate Cycles

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Ice core samples give scientists access to climates of old—those from more than 800,000 years ago. Through an analysis of various temperature graphs from ice cores, tree rings, and weather stations, scholars compare historical climates...
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Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Climate Change Around the World

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
You know climate change is happening when you see a bee take off its yellow jacket. Part four in a series of five lessons explores all factors affecting climate change: temperature, cloud cover, precipitation, and carbon dioxide. By...
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Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Impacts of Climate Change

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
Scholars become experts on the eight major impacts of climate change through a jigsaw and grand conversation. They then research and present what they learned about effects specific to their region.    
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Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystem Services

For Students 7th - 9th Standards
The fourth activity in a series of five has classes participate in a jigsaw to learn about global impacts of climate change and then share their new information with a home group. Groups then research impacts of climate change (droughts,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bringing Climate Change Into the Classroom

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers investigate the greenhouse effect and examine the potential effects of climate change in the Arctic. They construct a mini-greenhouse and test its effect on temperature, analyze historical climate statistics, and conduct...
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Activity
It's About Time

How Do Plate Tectonics and Ocean Currents Affect Global Climate?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
What do plate tectonics and ocean currents have to do with global climate? This fourth installment in a six-part series focuses on how plate tectonics and ocean currents affect global climate, both now and in the past, outlines an...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Oceans Affect Climate

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Learners draw conclusions about how the ocean affects temperature. In this weather lesson, students use the Internet to gather data to help them come to a conclusion about how the climate in a certain region is directly affected by the...
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Lesson Plan
National Wildlife Federation

Is It Getting Hot in Here, or Is It Just Me?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Currently, only 2.1% of global warming is felt on continents, while over 93% is felt in the oceans. The fourth lesson in the series of 21 on global warming is composed of three activities that build off one another. In the first...
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Lesson Plan
Space Awareness

Oceans as a Heat Reservoir

For Teachers 7th - 11th Standards
Oceans absorb half of the carbon dioxide and 80 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Scholars learn how and why the oceans store heat more effectively than land and how they help mitigate global warming. Pupils...
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Lesson Plan
Space Awareness

Oceans on the Rise

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Temperature rises and land disappears! Through a lab exploration, learners understand the effect of temperature increase on water similar to the effect of global warming on our oceans. As they heat the water in a flask, they measure the...
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Lesson Plan
Forest Foundation

Forests, Carbon & Our Climate

For Teachers 4th - 6th
To conclude their examination of forest ecosystems, class members consider the role forests play in the carbon cycle and how forests can offset climate change.
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Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Causes and Effects of Climate Change

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
Wrap-up a unit on global climate change with a lesson plan that examines the causes and effects of climate change. Learners fill out a chart that represents what they think causes climate change—natural and human-based—and what they...
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Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Causes and Effects of Climate Change

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
It's time for your class to literally show what they know! Pupils illustrate what they learned about the causes and effects of climate change by filling out a graphic organizer to complete the 5-part series of lessons. They discuss them...
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Assessment
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Review and Assessment: Causes and Effects of Climate Changes

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
The last activity in the series of five is a short one where individuals show what they've learned about the causes and effects of climate change. Working independently, they fill in a graphic organizer, then compare their notes with a...
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Lesson Plan
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)

Climate Change Impacts on Blue King Crabs

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Carbon dioxide is not only causing global temperatures to increase, it causes the oceans to become more acidic. Lesson focuses on the blue king crab and the fragility of the habitat due to climate change. Scholars create a concept map...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Day After Tomorrow: How is the Density of Water Related to Climate Change and Global Warming?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Science learners simulate what happens when ice breaks up and floats on water and how increased pressure on ice causes it to melt faster. They view a clip from the movie, The Day After Tomorrow, and relate their lab activities to what...
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Lesson Plan
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Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)

Ocean Acidification: Whats and Hows

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Open this instructional activity by demonstrating the production of acidic carbon dioxide gas by activated yeast. Emerging ecologists then experiment with seashells to discover the effect of ocean acidification on shelled marine...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Changing Planet: The Case of the Leaky Gyre

For Teachers 7th - 10th
The fascinating video "Changing Planet: Fresh Water in the Arctic," introduces your oceanographers to the world's gyres. They learn that melting sea ice is making the gyres larger, and that the changes could, in turn, contribute even...
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Interactive
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NOAA

Energy from the Oceans

For Students 6th - 12th
Can Earth's oceans produce a steady supply of clean energy? Scholars explore the uses of tidal and thermal energy in the 11th installment of a 13-part series about ocean-based alternative energy sources. Learners examine the current...
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Lesson Plan
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Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)

One Ocean: It Matters!

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Here is the first of four poignant lessons on how humans and oceans interact, even if people live far from the coast. This particular lesson also examines studies that are taking place in Antarctica of how climate change is affecting the...