Did you know the hole in the ozone is seasonal and filled by January every year? The lesson uses scientific measurements of the ozone over the South Pole to understand patterns. Scholars learn that the hole grew bigger annually before environmental efforts help it shrink each year. 

Concepts

the ozone layer, ozone depletion, antarctica, the south pole, the stratosphere

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Challenge scholars to explain why some ozone is good (in the stratosphere) and some is bad (in the troposphere)
• Extend the lesson by comparing the ozone in the Arctic and the Antarctic

Classroom Considerations

• Helpful prior knowledge includes the layers of the atmosphere, the structure of ozone molecules, the role of ozone in protection from UV, the causes and consequences of ozone depletion, and dependent versus independent variables

Pros

• Integrates science and math topics
• Uses real data that is updated each year

Cons

• None

Common Core

RST.6-8.3 RST.6-8.4 RST.9-10.3 RST.9-10.4 RST.11-12.3 RST.11-12.4