Nicole D. Primeau
Lesson Plan 1: Global Warming and Carbon Dioxide
Essential Question:
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- Can we observe if Carbon Dioxide really causes temperatures to increase?
Instructional Objectives:
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1) Students will use inquiry to discover if and how Carbon Dioxide affects temperature
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2) Students will use the Scientific Method as a means of discovering the effects of Carbon Dioxide on temperature.
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3) Students will analyze the limitations of laboratory investigations and try to figure out a way to yield more meaningful results.
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4) Students will develop skills in analyzing graphs.
Supportive Vocabulary:
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1) Global Warming
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2) Greenhouse Gases
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3) Carbon Dioxide
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4) Greenhouse effect
Background:
Before beginning their Scientific Inquiry, the students will be given a journal prompt on the chalkboard: What do you know about global warming and carbon dioxide? The students are given about 5 minutes or so to write down their responses to the journal prompt. After the time is up, the students will share their responses and I will chart their responses on a KWL chart. The students will have access to this information as we move through the unit on global warming and they will be able to observe how their thoughts have evolved through the process of learning about global warming. We will also go over the supportive vocabulary before the students begin their scientific investigation.
They will focus their scientific investigation on trying to find a way to observe if Carbon Dioxide can really affect temperature. They will be given a list of materials that they will be able to use for the investigation. It's up to them how they want to set up the lab so they can collect data to try to observe if Carbon Dioxide can affect the temperature. They already have the background that they will need for creating the carbon dioxide necessary for the experiment. Their list of materials will include 2 liter Soda Bottles with caps, Baking Soda, Vinegar, thermometers, timers, balance, beaker, graduated cylinder, heat lamps, and water. They will use their skills in the scientific method to develop a scientific experiment that will allow them to determine if carbon dioxide does have an effect on temperature. When I conducted the lab myself there was a minimal temperature difference between the two atmospheres. Despite the fact that the lab did not yield the results that I was hoping for, I still see value in having the students conduct the investigation. First of all it's an opportunity for them to enhance their skill in the Scientific Method and use prior knowledge from past topics to create the lab. Secondly it's an opportunity for them to analyze the limitations of the experiment, why didn't the experiment yield the results that they had been expecting to see? Students should think about the fact that the atmospheres may not have been an accurate representation of our own atmosphere; the simulated atmosphere may not have been think enough, etc. What could they do differently to create and experiment that will yield the expected results, what conditions do they need to change, what variables could have been misrepresented? Finally, they will see that there is a lot of trial and error that goes along with Science and that it takes time and patience to investigate and understand the world around us.
Although their experiment didn't yield the expected results and the purpose was to see if they could observe if Carbon Dioxide had an effect on Temperature, they will still have the opportunity to see that CO 2 affects temperature. It just won't be hands-on. They will analyze the graph of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentration and Temperature Change, taken from
An Inconvenient Truth
and using this graph they can interpret what it means and analyze the relationship between Carbon Dioxide and Temperature.
They will use the information collected from this lab and from the analysis of the Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentration and Temperature Change graph as a starting point for their two-week homework assignment, which is to keep track of their own personal electricity usage as a way to determine and calculate the amount of Carbon Dioxide that they are personally responsible for emitting into the atmosphere. A more detailed explanation of this particular homework assignment can be found in the Unit Overview under Section 1: Global Warming.
Assessment:
The students will be required to write a lab report, complete with introduction, materials and methods, data and results and conclusions. I will be looking for them to discuss what their data means, describe the expected results, and provide an analysis for the difference in their own results and their expected results and an analysis of the graph of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and temperature change.
Lesson Plan 2:
An Inconvenient Truth
Essential Question:
Is there validity to the points that Al Gore raises in the documentary,
An Inconvenient Truth
?
Instructional Objectives:
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1) To analyze the points that Al Gore brings up about global warming in
An Inconvenient Truth
.
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2) To read articles that will help further understand and investigate Al Gore's points.
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3) To develop their own opinion about global warming after reading and discussing several articles and Al Gore's documentary.
Background:
After several lectures on the background information on what global warming is and the causes of global warming, not just the human causes, but the natural causes as well, student will watch
An Inconvenient Truth
, and read several articles on the human causes of global warming. I think it's important to stress the human causes of global warming, because those are the things that we can control to help alleviate the problem of global warming. There are a few articles that they will also read in conjunction with this video as a follow up to the evidence that Al Gore provides about global warming, the articles are taken from the University of Colorado, Boulder and focus on the Arctic Sea Ice Shrinking and the Antarctic Ice Shelf collapse. They will also read two newspaper articles, one taken from The Washington Post, entitled Undeniable Global Warming and the other taken from the New York Times, called Poorest Nations Will Bear Brunt as World Warms. They will take all of the information gathered and have a discussion about their understanding of Global Warming and human impacts. The discussion will have a general focus question: How have humans impacted global warming? The discussion will also be completely student-centered using a discussion protocol, which holds all students accountable for participating in the discussion. The way the protocol works, is students are given certain point values for participating in certain ways in the discussion. For instance: If the student makes a comment s/he will receive 1pt, if the student asks a question s/he will receive between 3-5 pts (depending on type of question), if the student refers to the text s/he will receive 2 pts, and if the student builds off of another student's comment s/he will receive 2pts. The students are required to earn a specific amount of points as a minimum so the entire class can't earn points until everyone has earned the minimum point value, so they have to listen to each other and actually follow the conversation and hold each other accountable for listening to each other and participating in the conversation.
Assessment:
Students will be video taped during the discussion and I'll be looking for them to demonstrate an understanding of the readings and the video with the comments that they make and the questions that they ask throughout the discussion.
Lesson Plan 3: Connecting Global Warming to Hurricanes
Essential Questions:
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1) Are Hurricanes affected by global warming?
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2) What do you believe about the idea of global warming and its affect on the earth?
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3) How far are you willing to go if all of the evidence is still not in; do you act without sufficient evidence and risk a major economic crisis or wait until it's too late?
Guiding questions for the students to focus their research on is:
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1) Is global warming really happening,
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2) Is Carbon Dioxide (CO2) causing the global temperature to change?
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3) Are natural disasters affected?
Instructional Objectives
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1) Students will learn how to research multiple perspectives on the varying issues of the topic of global warming and hurricanes.
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2) Students will take a stand on whether they believe that humans should do something to fix the problem of global warming even if there is limited evidence to suggest global warming exists and is changing the world in which we live.
Background Information
:
The students will be participating in a debate on two issues the first and foremost issue, is the one of global warming and its effect on hurricanes, that debate is really the starting point for the main debate question which is, how far are you willing to go with the limited evidence of global warming? Should we as humans make changes in our daily lives and routines? Should we risk an economic crisis or wait until it's too late? Is our use of fossil fuels really to blame? Do we really need to find alternative forms of energy? Is Carbon Dioxide really to blame and are we really adding excess carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that is causing the earth to warm at a much faster rate than it is supposed to? All of these questions should be questions that the students are prepared to answer during their debate. The debate will follow a very specific protocol. The first section of the debate is the briefs: First affirmative (introduction), First negative (introduction), Second affirmative (body), Second negative (body), Last affirmative (conclusion), Last negative (conclusion). The second section of the debate is the rebuttal: First negative controls a minute of questions and then the First affirmative controls a minute of questions; rotation continues through panel until rebuttal is finished or becomes circular. The final part of the debate is the summation: Affirmative panel selects the most effective speaker to sum up the strengths of their case and the weaknesses of the opposition and finally the negative panel sums up.
Assessment:
The rest of the class observing the debate will have tally sheets keeping note of the logical points made by each team and making comments on each team member. The class will decide which team won the debate and will have reasons for why this team was the overall winner of the debate.