Resources: For Teachers and Students
Last Update: 12.06.2017
Teachers who have a science unit on Climate Science and Climate Change might be interested in this innovative
suggestion for student group projects. An old Astronomy colleague sent me the attached paper on which her daughter,
Susan Lynds, was a co-author. It was published in the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
Science Scope magazine Vol 41 #2 October 2017. Students work in groups to produce short films about the impact
that climate change is having in their communities, interview local experts or officials in their communities. In the
process they learn climate science basics, group skills, basic research procedures and responsible journalism.
I don’t have a way of judging what age group this idea is most suited for, and I think it requires quite a bit of pre-planning
on the part of the teacher, but with the availability of cell phone and tablet video capabilities I am guessing that middle school
through 9th and 10th grade classes could do this. This project could certainly be integrated into the Next Generation Science
Standards curriculum described at the end of the paper. If you feel, as I do, that science literacy and critical thinking
are crucial for students and you know of teachers who might be interested, please pass this on to them.
In any case, look at some of the videos in the “Resources” appended to the paper. Look especially at the following, about “Steroids and Baseball”, not a student production but done by scientists at the University of Colorado. It is very clever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW3b8jSX7ec
Here is the link to the paper. Enjoy
http://common.nsta.org/resource/?id=10.2505/4/ss17_041_02_86
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Virginia 3rd grade teacher Alberta Ferris kindly called my attention to a wonderful resource for teachers who are doing a unit on weather, Air & Water: Weather Forecasting for Kids (link below), on which you will find 15 links to further teaching resources about the weather. I think they are suitable for both elementary and middle school classes. Since the primary focus of my website is climate science education I immediately checked out A Student's Guide to Global Climate Change (link below), which has further links to explore various topics in more depth, including an excellent short video. My only mild criticism would be that I wish there were a segment explaining a little more explicitly the difference between "weather" and "climate" since these concepts are often confused in the minds of adults as well as children. All in all, however, these are great resources and thanks to Alberta Ferris for bringing these sites to my attention.
A Student's Guide to Global Climate Change
"his is part of a website provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The main site: Here is a very good source
of information for adults about climate change.
Air & Water: Weather Forecasting for Kids
Teacher Patty Nevlin and her students suggest the following article having excellent links to climate change, energy and waste reduction and recycling information designed for use by children.
NASA Climate Kids NASA's Eyes on the Earth
A great NASA website for children.
The resources here are from the Climate Portal of the Universal-Universalist United Nations Office:
- Climate Resources for Teachers
- Kids' Climate Corner
- Education, IPCC, Videos: Science, Impacts, Mitigation, Models, Data
Global Warming is Hot Stuff Part of the "Environmental Education for Kids" (EEK) series.
suggestion for student group projects. An old Astronomy colleague sent me the attached paper on which her daughter,
Susan Lynds, was a co-author. It was published in the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
Science Scope magazine Vol 41 #2 October 2017. Students work in groups to produce short films about the impact
that climate change is having in their communities, interview local experts or officials in their communities. In the
process they learn climate science basics, group skills, basic research procedures and responsible journalism.
I don’t have a way of judging what age group this idea is most suited for, and I think it requires quite a bit of pre-planning
on the part of the teacher, but with the availability of cell phone and tablet video capabilities I am guessing that middle school
through 9th and 10th grade classes could do this. This project could certainly be integrated into the Next Generation Science
Standards curriculum described at the end of the paper. If you feel, as I do, that science literacy and critical thinking
are crucial for students and you know of teachers who might be interested, please pass this on to them.
In any case, look at some of the videos in the “Resources” appended to the paper. Look especially at the following, about “Steroids and Baseball”, not a student production but done by scientists at the University of Colorado. It is very clever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW3b8jSX7ec
Here is the link to the paper. Enjoy
http://common.nsta.org/resource/?id=10.2505/4/ss17_041_02_86
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virginia 3rd grade teacher Alberta Ferris kindly called my attention to a wonderful resource for teachers who are doing a unit on weather, Air & Water: Weather Forecasting for Kids (link below), on which you will find 15 links to further teaching resources about the weather. I think they are suitable for both elementary and middle school classes. Since the primary focus of my website is climate science education I immediately checked out A Student's Guide to Global Climate Change (link below), which has further links to explore various topics in more depth, including an excellent short video. My only mild criticism would be that I wish there were a segment explaining a little more explicitly the difference between "weather" and "climate" since these concepts are often confused in the minds of adults as well as children. All in all, however, these are great resources and thanks to Alberta Ferris for bringing these sites to my attention.
A Student's Guide to Global Climate Change
"his is part of a website provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The main site: Here is a very good source
of information for adults about climate change.
Air & Water: Weather Forecasting for Kids
Teacher Patty Nevlin and her students suggest the following article having excellent links to climate change, energy and waste reduction and recycling information designed for use by children.
NASA Climate Kids NASA's Eyes on the Earth
A great NASA website for children.
The resources here are from the Climate Portal of the Universal-Universalist United Nations Office:
- Climate Resources for Teachers
- Kids' Climate Corner
- Education, IPCC, Videos: Science, Impacts, Mitigation, Models, Data
Global Warming is Hot Stuff Part of the "Environmental Education for Kids" (EEK) series.