Critical Thinking through An Inconvenient Truth

Using “An Inconvenient Truth” to improve students’ critical thinking skills <Worksheets>

Using “An Inconvenient Truth”

to improve students’ critical thinking skills

<Worksheets>

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In this set of worksheets, there are 4 activities related to the film “An Inconvenient Truth” and the development of critical thinking skills. For Activity 1-Activity 3, each of them is divided into 3 parts – 1) Activities before watching the film; 2) Activities when watching the film; and 3) Activities after watching the film. You may finish them in 3 stages according to such arrangement (i.e. Finish Part (A) of Activities 1-3 before watching the film. Then, complete Part (B) and Part (C) of these 3 activities when you are watching and after watching the film respectively). For Activity 4, it is a summary of Activity 1-Activity 3, so it should be done after finishing all the activities in Activity 1-Activity 3.

(A) Activities before watching the film:

The film “An Inconvenient Truth” won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in the 79th

Academy Award. The actor of the film is the United States (US) former Vice President Al Gore who has made the issue of global warming a recognised problem worldwide in recent years. He has joined the environmental conversation campaign after his failure in 2000 US president election. Seminars of “Global Warming” were hold in different states in US which aimed at calling peoples’ attention on climate crisis, and suggesting actions that need to be taken immediately before desperation.

1. a) Have you heard “Al Gore”? Collect information about Al Gore and jot down key points in the following box.

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(B) Activities when watching the film:

1. According to the information in the film, how does Gore’s personal experience affect his work in environmental conservation? Record them in the box below.

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(C) Activities after watching the film:

1. a) Some people have uploaded many comics related to Al Gore onto the Internet after he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 so as to express their opinions. How do you interpret the following comics? Think and share with your classmates.

Comic A

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Two Properties of Gore:A 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom house, with a swimming pool in Nashville, TennesseeA 4,000-square-foot house in Arlington, Virginia.

An inconvenient house

You’re feelingwarmer

£50,000-£85,000 per speechHold stock options of Google (worth £15 m)Earn £4m by selling books

&


Comic B

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Forgive me for buying a private

car, please!


Comic C

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Band Itinerary:

-Private jet to London-Received at airport by four Hummer limos-Perform at Live Earth Concert to increase public awareness of global warming


b) Collect the comments of mass media on Gore’s promotion of environmental protection and jot down some key points below.

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c) Now, what do you think about his motivation behind his action? Why?

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1. a) Brainstorming about the concepts of “global warming” in groups of 4. Record them below.

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b) Complete the concept map below by classifying the above concepts of “global warming” into different categories.

Concept Map – Global Warming

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c) i) Complete the following activities:1. Refer to the concept map on P.10.2. Choose ten most representative concepts. Then complete column 1 of Table 1

(P.12).3. Deduce and differentiate that ten concepts into the following three kinds of fact

systematically. Tick the appropriate boxes in the column “Before watching the film” in Table 1.

A. Definite Fact B. Possible FactC. Theory

(B) Activities when watching the film:

1. When you are watching the film, check your classification in column 2 of Table 1 with the information in the film and jot down relevant information.

(C ) Activities after watching the film:

1. a) With reference to Table 1, review your original ideas and classification of fact (definite fact, possible fact and theory) about global warming after watching the film. Put a tick in a suitable box of the last column.

b) After completing the activity in a) above, highlight which part(s) of your answers

has/have been changed? Why?

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Concepts of Global WarmingBefore Watching the Film After Watching the Film

Definite Fact

Possible Fact Theory Definite Fact

Possible Fact Theory

e.g. Greenhouse Effect

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Table 1 Classification of facts about the concepts of global warming

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1. Study the information in the column “Arguments of the skeptics and objectors” of Table 2 (P.14-18). Collect relevant information and jot down key points in the following box.

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Arguments of the Skeptics or Objectors Arguments of Gore in “An Inconvenient Truth” Your Personal View

Temperature is not increasing continuously

We should investigate the pattern and the speed of temperature rise. In fact, increase in temperature in the 20th century was not continuous. It rose mainly in two periods - 1910 to 1945 and 1976 to 2000. All those studies which show an increase in global temperature are not representative and have bias because most of the measurements are taken at weather stations in urban areas. Normally, they are warmer than rural areas. These weather stations are also located primarily on land, and most are in the Northern Hemisphere.

Temperature is increasing

Rising amount of CO 2 may notcause temperature increase

In the past 135 years, carbon dioxide increased only 20 percent. This increase coincides with the start of the industrial revolution. As a result, some scientists claimed that human beings should be responsible for the rising amount of CO2. According to Kenneth Watt of the University of California at Davis, increasing level of carbon dioxide will cause increase in temperature. This will increase the evaporation of tropical oceans and lead to an increase in condensation of clouds at high elevations. Cloud cover then blocks sunlight from heating the earth with a cooler globe as a result.

Human being s should bare the responsibility of global warming

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B io d iversity in regions of high elevations and latitude s is higher than before

Peter M. Vitousek’s research discovered that the biodiversity in regions of high elevations and latitudes were higher than those in the past under the effect of global warming. Well-publicized examples are the migration of robins to Alaska and the dog salmons to the Arctic Ocean. In the past, these regions were too cold. They turn to be better habitats for creatures with the effect of global warming. Thus, global warming increases the number of species and habitats of living things in these regions which enhances biodiversity and reducing the risks of species extinction.

Global w arming leads to lower biodiversity

I ncreasing amount of glaciers in some regions

Although some researches show glaciers are melting, Ola Johannessen (a scholar in Norway) pointed out in his research that glaciers at the inland of Greenland were growing.

Global warming has led to the melting ofg laciers in the Arctic and Antarctic a

Increasing amount of solar radi ation leads to global climate change

Human beings should be responsible for global warming

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A study by Swiss and German scientists suggested that increasing amount of solar radiation was responsible for global climate change. Dr Sami Solanki, the director of the renowned Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Gottingen of Germany, discovered that the Sun was at its strongest over the past 60 years. More solar radiation is released and affects global temperature. The Sun is now in a changing state. It is brighter than it was a few hundred years ago and this brightening started relatively recently - in the last 100 to 150 years.

Large-scale increase of pest after using pesticides for a long period of time

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FA0) discovered the massive increase of antibiotic pest after using pesticides for long term. The research showed there was an increase from 50 types of antibiotic harmful insects in the 1950s to 552 types in the beginning of 1990s. In the late 90s, the number increased to 900. In addition, changes of land uses also increase the number of harmful insects.

G lobal warming leads to large-scale increase of pest

No change in the frequency of cyclones globally over the past thirty - five years

Ris ing ocean temperature causes stronger hurricanes

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Peter Webster found that there was no change in the frequency of all tropical storms and hurricanes over the past 35 years globally. Although he discovered an increase in the frequency of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes, there was no proven link between global warming and hurricanes.

Altering d ry and wet periods periodically

Analysis of climate data from Africa, Asia, and Europe fails to prove the linkage between global warming and drought. Dry and wet periods have changed during periods of warming and cooling for centuries.

Global warming makes droughtsmore severe and frequent

Increasing number of p olar b ear s in e astern part of Arctic

Polar Bear s are at risk of extinction

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Hmmm. So (a biologist) discovered that global warming did not lead to the reduction in the population of polar bears at the Arctic Circle adjacent to east Canada. Studies showed that in the Davis Strait area (the part of Arctic Circle near east Canada), the size of one group of polar bears had grown from about 850 in the mid-1980s to about 2,100 now.

Table 2

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( B ) Activities when watching the film:

1. With reference to column one of Table 2, summarise briefly in column 2 what Al Gore claims in the film about each of these issues.

(C) Activities after watching the film:

1. After watching the film, evaluate the arguments of both sides about the issues in Table 2 and then express your own views on the issues. Complete column 3 of Table 2.

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1 With reference to all the information in Activity 1-Activity 3, collect more relevant information to conduct a class debate.

Ai ms : To gain a deeper understanding on the issue of g lobal w arming and to learn to think from different angles through the process of debate .

Motion: Global Warming is a disaster induced by human behaviour

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What do we need to note in preparing for the above debate?

We should think about the questions below:

1. How does Gore’s personal and political background

affect his arguments about global warming in the

film?

How do those physical factors affect global warming?

To what extent is the physical factors and human factors

affect the degree of global warming?

Are the arguments of the ‘skeptics’ and ‘objectors’

believable? Why?

What actions have been taken by the countries

worldwide to lessen the effects of global warming?


1. 《與氣候一起飆舞?坦然面對氣候變遷》，二零零七年十月二十五日http://www.alps.ntct.edu.tw/env96/source/warm/GCC.pdf

2. 「全球暖化減緩墨西哥灣流活動　可能導致歐洲酷寒」，《東森報》，二零零五年五月十一日。

3. 吳俊傑(2006)，〈颱風與氣候變遷〉，《科學發展》，第403期，76-78頁。4. 全球暖化與生態教育的路向

http://www.ecotourism.org.hk/other%20files/Eco-review_0207.htm5. 《研究：墨西哥灣流減速10%可能是1200年至1850年小冰期的成因》，二零零七年十月二十五日http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:IAjtJOkR59oJ:e-info.org.tw/node/17150+%E5%A2%A8%E8%A5%BF%E5%93%A5%E7%81%A3%E6%B5%81%E5%9C%B0%E7%90%83%E8%87%AA%E8%BD%89&hl=zh-TW&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=hk

6. Anne Johnson, Reforestation as a Carbon Sink: Toward Slowing Global Warming? TDRI Quarterly Review, Vol. 7 No. 1 March 1992, pp. 8-14

7. Global Warming: Early Warning Signshttp://www.climatehotmap.org/index.html

8. Polar Bear Baby Boom Occurring in Eastern Arctic, Will Media Notice? October, 28, 2007 http://newsbusters.org/node/12694

9. Climate resets ‘Doomsday Clock’ , October, 28, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6270871.stm#story

10. Climate Change , October, 28, 2007http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/

11. Experts say global warming is causing stronger hurricanes, October, 28, 2007http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2005-09-15-globalwarming-hurricanes_x.htm

12. Widespread amphibian extinctions from epidemic disease driven by global warming, October, 28, 2007http://www.utpa.edu/dept/biology/pounds.pdf

13. Sun's Direct Role in Global Warming May Be Underestimated, Duke Physicists Report, October, 28, 2007http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/09/sunwarm.html

14. Scare Mongering as Journalism: A Commentary on Time’s “Special Report” on Global Warming , October, 28, 2007http://cei.org/pdf/5288.pdf

15. Common Sense on Climate Change: Practical Solutions to Global Warming , October, 28, 2007http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/common-sense-on-climate-change-practical-solutions-to-global-warming.html

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http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/common-sense-on-climate-change-practical-solutions-to-global-warming.html

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/common-sense-on-climate-change-practical-solutions-to-global-warming.html

http://cei.org/pdf/5288.pdf

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2005-09-15-globalwarming-hurricanes_x.htm

http://newsbusters.org/node/12694

Documents

Critical Thinking through An Inconvenient Truth