Chapter 6

Climate Change

Classroom Applications

Preliminary Lesson Planning

Materials Preparation:

• Duplicate copies of the article Climate Change in Appendix B to give for each student.
• Duplicate copies of the task sheet Global Warming: Reaching a Consensus in Appendix C for each student.

Vocabulary Considerations:

Before using the article Climate Change and the task sheet Global Warming: Reaching a Consensus, consider what vocabulary students will need to know in order to carry out the lesson successfully. Determine which vocabulary items are already familiar to students, and which will be new to them. Some important terms and their definitions are included in the glossary in Appendix A.

Warm-Up Activity (approximately 10 minutes)

Purpose:

• To stimulate students’ interest in the topic of climate change
• To activate students’ background knowledge about the topic
• To allow students to express their own ides about the topic
• To introduce and review key vocabulary related to the topic

Procedure:

1. Write the phrase "climate change" on the board. Ask the class, "What words do you associate with the phrase ‘climate change’?" As student volunteers give their answers, write their responses on the board. (The numerous possible student responses include temperature, rainfall, wind, greenhouse effect, global warming, weather, atmosphere, carbon dioxide, and sunlight.)
   
   
2. Before asking the next question, write the following three words on the board: Yes, No, Unsure.
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3. Conduct an informal class survey. Ask students, "Do you believe the Earth’s climate is getting warmer?" Read off the three words (Yes, No, Unsure) you have written on the board, one at a time, and ask students to raise their hands if it is their answer. Put tally marks under (or next to) each word.
   
   
4. Tell the students that they have probably already heard something about global warming, but there is probably a lot more they would like to know about it. Explain that in this lesson they are going to read an article called "Climate Change" and then work together to share their ideas about climate change, especially the effects of global warming.

Activity #1 (approximately 15 minutes)

Purpose:

• To expose students to some key concepts related to the topic of climate change
• To give students the opportunity to read and use key vocabulary associated with the topic
• To have students practice reading, speaking and listening in a meaningful way

Procedure:

1. Write the following focus questions on the board:
   
   What do you think was the most interesting part of the article?
   
   Was there anything in the article that really surprised you?
   
   Why are many people worried about climate change?
   
   According to the article, how do humans cause climate change?
   
   
2. Divide the class into groups of four or five students and distribute the article Climate Change, to each student.
   
   
3. Call student's attention to the focus questions on the board. Explain the task to the class. Students are to read the article, and then discuss it in their group, asking one another the focus questions.
   
   
4. After pairs have read the article and discussed it in their groups, ask the class the focus questions, one by one. Allow two or three student volunteers to answer each question.

 

Activity #2 (approximately 20 minutes)

Purpose:

• To have students practice reading, speaking and listening in a meaningful way
• To have students examine some of the reasons people have for being concerned about global warming
• To encourage students to reflect on and make value judgments about the effects of global warming
• To give students the opportunity to express their own points of view about the effects of global warming
• To allow students to work together and listen to their classmates’ ideas about the effects of global warming

Procedure:

1. Distribute the task sheet Global Warming: Reaching a Consensus, giving one to each student.
   
   
2. Explain the task to the students. Working individually, they are to read the task sheet and ranking the reasons from 1 (the reason they feel is the most important) to 7 (the reason they feel is the least important). Then they are to work together in their groups (the same groups they worked with in Activity #1), discussing the items, sharing their ideas, and trying to reach a group consensus on how to rank each statement. Finally, they should decide who in their group will present the group’s final rankings to the class.
   
   
3. Students carry out the task described in Step 2.
   
   
4. Students from each group take turns reporting their group’s ranking of the seven items on the task sheet. Encourage students to give reasons why their groups ranked the items as they did.
   

 

Cool Down Activity (approximately 10 minutes)

Purpose:

• To encourage students to reflect on what they have learned
• To give students an opportunity to discuss the relevance of the lesson
• To practice writing
• To conclude the lesson

Procedure:

1. Ask students to write a paragraph summarizing what they have learned in today’s lesson and explaining whether or not they believe global warming is a serious issue.
   
   
2. Give students five minutes or so to write their paragraphs.
   
   
3. After students have written their paragraphs, ask for volunteers to read their paragraphs aloud to the class.

Possible Extensions to the Lesson

1. Have students research the topic of global warming and carry out a debate. A good source for information about both sides of the scientific argument about global warming is Global Warming: An Explanation, Weather Eye. See: http://www.weathereye.kgan.com/expert/warming/explain.html
   
   
2. Ask students to research the causes of global warming and create a brochure on how we can slow down the process of global warming.
   
   
3. Have students take a look at the actual text of the Convention on Climate Change negotiated by 150 nations in the period 1991-92. (The convention text is available at http://www.unfccc.de/. For a beginner’s guide to the convention, see http://www.unep.ch/iuc/.) Discuss these questions: What does signing the convention require nations to do? By which year? What effect will these actions have on global warming?
   
   
4. Have students research the greenhouse effect and create a flow chart to show how the greenhouse effect causes additional global warming.
   
   
5. Have students do a mini-survey on global warming. Students interview ten people to find out their answers to the following questions: Do you believe global warming is a serious problem? Why or why not? Students then write a one-page summary of the responses and tell the class what they learned from the people they interviewed.

   Refer to the web sites listed in the next section of this chapter for more information and lesson planning ideas.

 

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