Julie Nicholas (San Leandro High School), Rick Denny (Fremont Unified)

How will Climate Change Affect the SF Bay Area?

Generative Question/Problem

CA Science Content StandardsGrades 9-12: Earth Science4. Energy enters the Earth system primarily as solar radiation and eventually escapes as heat. As a basis for understanding this concept:c. Students know the different atmospheric gases that absorb the Earth’s thermal radiation and the mechanism and significance of the greenhouse effect.Investigation and Experimentationd. Formulate explanations by using logic and evidence. m. Investigate a science-based societal issue by researching the literature, analyzing data, and communicating the findings. k. Recognize the cumulative nature of scientific evidence.Learning Objectives• Students will describe credible scientific evidence of climate change.• Students will explain causes of increased greenhouse gas emissions.• Students will identify expected effects of climate change.• Students will synthesize information on climate change to create and communicate a presentation, work or performance to the class.• Students will evaluate peer presentations against an assessment rubric.21st Century Skills• Information Literacy• Collaboration• Media Literacy• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving• Communication• Initiative and self-direction• Productivity and accountability

Scientific InvestigationMore specific questions will help to answer the generative question: • What is some evidence that global climate is changing?• What are some of the mechanisms of climate change?• How is a changed climate projected to affect the SF Bay Area, and other parts of the world?• What can we do to mitigate climate change?• What can I do today to reduce my contributions to global climate change?

Understanding the greenhouse effect is critical prior knowledge to understand anthropogenic climate change.

Five greenhouse gases, including CO2 and methane, contribute the most to climate change.

The carbon cycle explains the main sources of carbon, as well as carbon sinks.

Photos of Muir Glacier in Alaska, above, in 1941 and 2004, show dramatic changes. Likewise, photos of Whitechuck Glacier, below, in 1973 and 2006, highlight glacier melt.

Key Lessons and ActivitiesEngagement• Using information from a NASA video clip, on piecing together the puzzle of increasing world temperatures, students will complete a graphic organizer.• Students will look at global climate change data characterized in temperature graphs, tree rings (dendrochronology) and CO2 levels recorded by the Mauna Loa station in Hawaii.• Students will view a KQED Quest Video that reports on environmental changes in the SF Bay area.Exploration• Students will graph CO2 data from Mauna Loa in Hawaii and compare with a constructed graph of CO2 data from the South Pole. In addition participation in an activity with simulated tree cores will add another point of evidence to global climate change. • Students will perform an experiment that investigates the different levels of carbon dioxide in human breath and car exhaust.Explanation • Students will analyze graphs from data and activities to understand the change in global climate and to relate that to present changes and projected consequences of global climate change. • Frontload academic and skill vocabulary.Extension• Students will make observations on changes seen in four indicators of global climate change, using NASA Climate Time Machine. In addition students gather more information by reading articles from the NSF climate change report.Evaluation • Students will demonstrate ability to construct and interpret information from a graph. In addition they will write a essay on a prompt explaining the credible indicators and consequences of global climate change. Finally they will have varied group projects that show how mitigation of global climate change could occur.

Research-Based Instructional Strategies• Students will write Cornell notes.• Students will use graphic organizers for readings.• Students will use words in depth vocabulary strategy. • Students will use precision partnering techniques to deepen learning.• Students will strengthen writing skills with learning logs, quick writes and exit tickets.

Capstone Project/Investigation and Assessments• Students will pick from an array of projects that will show their content knowledge of global climate change and the actions they can take to mitigate the effects of global warming. • Projects include: Participating in a political action group, environmental action group, presenting a skit or video they produce, newscast skit, submitted an article to the school newspaper, presenting a song/rap/poem or designing a comic strip.• Students will be rated by their peers, based on a defined rubric.

Implementation Plan and Next Steps• Customize experiments to better fit level of students and address our essential question.• Construct graphic organizers or scaffolded note taking methods for video clips.

Resources• Global Climate Change: NASA’s Eyes on the Earth: climate.nasa.gov/ • KQED Clue into Climate: www.kqed.org/education/educators/clue-into-climate/• US Climate Change Science Program: www.climatescience.gov/• San Francisco, Bay Area and Sacramento Valley - Sea Level Rise Map: geology.com/sea-level-rise/san-francisco.shtml•National Center for Atmospheric Research activity Trees: Recorders of Change.• Lawrence Hall of Science GSS Climate Change: lawrencehallofscience.org/GSS • NSF Climate Change Report: www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/climate/

What are some ways that global climate change might affect the SF Bay Area, as well as other areas? This case was inspired as a means to connect students with the

issue that many scientists and educators feel is the most important challenge of our time.