A Case Study for British Columbia

Short Description:
This case study explores the ways in which wildfire events impact individual health and livelihood from a micro, meso, and macro level. The case study walks the learner through an introduction to how climate change further exacerbates wildfire occurrence, alongside the myriad health impacts that stem from wildfire smoke exposure.

Long Description:
This case study explores the ways in which wildfire events impact individual health and livelihood from a micro, meso, and macro level. The case study walks the learner through an introduction to how climate change further exacerbates wildfire occurrence, alongside the myriad health impacts that stem from wildfire smoke exposure. Notable importance is given to the need to advocate for Indigenous Sovereignty and traditional ways of knowing around wildfire management. Lastly, through the sharing of a case example from the lived experiences of individuals who fled the 2021 Lytton, British Columbia wildfire, the learner is challenged to consider upstream approaches to emergency preparedness in the face of foreseeable future calamities.

Word Count: 7373

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In this lesson plan, students will be learning about climate change, its causes, and global impacts. They will brainstorm measures to reduce its effects, discuss personal challenges in combating climate change, and create poster presentations outlining specific measures to address it, culminating in a march to protest climate change.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Behind every plant is a community of microbes that support its growth, development, and evolution. Currently, these communities are in danger. Overpopulation, overconsumption, and intensive agriculture are seriously altering the plant microbiome. Signature changes include community imbalance and loss of resilience among plant microbes, and increased resistance to antibiotics, which could result in the emergence of new plant as well as human pathogens. Curbing these effects will require increased effort among microbiome scientists to understand the drivers of systemic shifts and among citizens to acknowledge and reduce their footprint on the planet..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

In this activity, students analyze the results of an experiment, conduct research, and describe the potential importance of positive and negative feedbacks in governing the response of the Earth system. Teacher background information, assessment suggestions, and a scoring rubric are included.This is Activity 5 of the learning module, Global Balance, part of the lesson series, The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. Completing A Sense of Balance: Activity 1 in this module is a prerequisite to complete this investigation.

In this problem-based learning (PBL) activity, students take on the role of a student research scientist and explore the role of solar energy in determining climate. Students conduct experiments to determine the role of albedo in surface warming by investigating the temperature of a variety of surfaces in the environment. The activity should be conducted on a sunny day. Materials required for the investigation include thermometers and paper cups. The lesson is supported by teacher notes, answer key, glossary and an appendix with information about using PBL in the classroom. This is the first of three activities in Investigating the Climate System: Energy, a Balancing Act.

This is a jigsaw activity in which students are assigned to research one step out of five in the geochemical process stages of the organic carbon cycle. Students then teach their step in cross-step groups until everyone understands all five process stages.

This unit will help 4th or 5th grade teachers prepare students to explore two big questions related to the Earth’s changing climate. The primary goal is to nurture an understanding of the element carbon, Earth’s carbon cycle, and how carbon dioxide and other gases contribute to the planet warming greenhouse effect of Earth’s atmosphere. The questions are:

1) What is carbon and why are all living things on Earth considered to be carbon-based lifeforms?

2) What is the greenhouse effect and why should we care about how much carbon is in our atmosphere?

These questions align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for 4th grade that many states have adopted or adapted.1 An annotated list of the applicable NGSS and state science standards can be found in the appendix of this curriculum unit.

Under the NGSS, 4th grade students study concepts related to energy and learn that all fuels used to meet our continuously growing energy demand are derived from natural resources. Consequently, the production and usage of some energy resources adds more carbon dioxide to Earth’s atmosphere. Students are just beginning to develop an understanding of how human activities can impact the Earth and result in either positive or negative consequences.

This lesson plan has students working in small groups to research the Mountain Pine Beetle in Colorado and other inter-mountain Western states. Students identify the factors that control pine beetle population and research how warmer winters and decreasing spring snowpack allow the population of pine beetles to expand.

SYNOPSIS: This lesson promotes students' understanding of the power and influence of the media. Students will leverage this understanding to develop their own media campaigns for their reimagined metro systems.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson enables students to reimagine and pitch ways to advertise public transportation as a key strategy for sustainable green transportation. All materials have been verified and are accurate. For that reason, the lesson is recommended for classroom use.

POSITIVES:
-Students connect professional media practices to their own opinions, ideas, questions, and values.
-Students explore different types of media messages and critically think about their influence on consumers.
-This lesson supports collaboration amongst peers.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-This is lesson 4 of 6 in our 3rd-5th grade Green Transportation unit.
-Students should have an understanding of various platforms or settings people might view advertisements.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Students can use personal devices and work in pairs or small groups to jigsaw the advertisement analysis for each example.
-Teacher can provide an extension activity for advanced students to look for alternative transportation advertisements that highlight sustainable options like public transportation or bikeshare.
-There are differentiated products for culminating projects that are attuned to diverse strengths from students. Students have the option to complete a poster, TikTok, billboard, video ad, or social media post to market their design.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Mangrove forests are home to many varieties of methanogens, microbes that digest surrounding carbon into methane under low-oxygen conditions. Despite their important role in the global carbon cycle and climate change, the metabolic potentials of two novel methanogens in mangroves remain poorly understood. A new study reports on the ecological importance of Methanofastidiosa (MF) and Methanomassiliicoccales (MMA), two recently discovered groups of methanogens found to dwell naturally in the Mangrove Nature Reserve in Shenzhen, China. Using metagenomics, researchers examined how MF and MMA produce methane. Results showed that the two groups of microbes both use hydrogen to produce methane from compounds found naturally in mangrove sediments, including methylsulfides, methanol, and methylamines. This marks the first time the two groups of methanogens have been studied in the wild and could help scientists understand how these microbes contribute to global methane emissions and a changing climate..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Oceans connect all life and affect climate worldwide, and interestingly, the ocean’s smallest residents have a huge role in this process. The ocean microbiota modulates global biogeochemical cycles, which influences energy balance in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the underlying factors structuring the ocean microbiota are unclear, and better understanding is needed to help combat the effects of global climate change. A recent study examined the ecological mechanisms shaping the smallest surface-ocean microbiota: prokaryotes and picoeukaryotes. Researchers identified patterns in DNA sequencing data collected by two global ocean expeditions, Malaspina-2010 and Tara Oceans. Their results showed that different ecological mechanisms affect prokaryotes vs. picoeukaryotes. While picoeukaryotes were largely structured by dispersal limitation, displaying higher differentiation between communities, prokaryotes were structured by a combination of temperature-driven selection, dispersal limitation and random drift..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This video from Kentucky's Last Great Places shows how the Green River has remained unusually clean and why it is home to several endangered aquatic species.

The term "Earth system science" is typically used to describe the science (especially quantitative modeling) of the interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere, and biosphere---the addition of lithosphere to that list provides all of the main generalized components ("spheres") of the Critical Zone.
In this lesson, students will consider basic concepts of system science (studying complex systems), specifically as it can be applied to Critical Zone science. Students will engage in developing a qualitative systems model graphic of the Critical Zone. The knowledge gained here will be applied later in the semester to more in-depth systems thinking of the Critical Zone.

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How are rising sea levels already influencing different regions? This unit offers case study examples for a coastal developing country (Bangladesh), a major coastal urban area (southern California), and an island nation (Maldives). What are the anticipated consequences of additional sea-level rise this century in these different places? This introduction to the module is designed to prompt student consideration of the economic and social impacts of sea-level change. As a class, students conduct a stakeholder analysis for one or more of the case study regions in order to better understand how different segments of a society affect and will be affected by sea-level change.

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Online-adaptable: This exercise could be converted to online whole-class discussions and a breakout group activity. At least the whole-class portion would probably need to be done synchronously.

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This unit is designed to engage students by introducing them to patterns in recent climate and investigating possible reasons for recent changes. Students work in small groups to plot and analyze real-world temperature data covering a decade, and use that information to make predictions about future climatic trends. Whole-class discussions illustrate the differences between short- and long-term trends. Students also analyze graphs of solar irradiance to begin to determine reasons for the observed increase in temperature, setting the stage for Unit 2, which examines the role of the atmosphere in controlling Earth's surface temperature.

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How does water move throughout the Earth system? How do scientists measure the amount of water that moves through these pathways? This unit provides an alternative way for students to learn the major components of Earth's water cycle, which includes actively thinking about how we measure the water system. In this unit, students annotate a schematic diagram to identify the major reservoirs and fluxes in the hydrosphere. They also work in teams of different "experts" to identify traditional and geodetic techniques that are used to measure components of the hydrosphere and the changes over time. Using their recently acquired knowledge about these techniques, they make inferences about which methods are best for measuring different components of the hydrosphere. Measurement methods include stream gauges, groundwater wells, snow pillows, vertical GPS changes, reflection GPS for snow depth, and GRACE satellite (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment).

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Online-adaptable: Main exercise is a jigsawactivity that could be done in an online course but student groups with online collaboration (probably synchronous) would need to be organized OR the exercise would need to be adapted away from group format.

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Students will identify how they, as individuals, think about climate science and explore common perceptions and misconceptions that exist about climate science. The activities within this unit incorporate individual reflection by students, small group work, and larger group/class discussions, and endeavor for students to learn how to discern true and untrue statements using logic and fact. Students are presented with various statements about climate science and are tasked with determining whether these statements are factually true and whether they are logically valid. We recognize that students may have limited background factual knowledge in climate science before starting these activities, so some exercises are intended more as a way for students to evaluate how they think about climate science and how to create logically valid scientific statements (i.e., how to think and talk like a scientist). By learning how to identify logically and factually true and untrue statements, students will, by the end of this unit, be able to create and evaluate statements about climate science (even with limited factual knowledge) and critique common misconceptions about climate science.

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This introductory lesson will build the foundation for students to progress through the remaining units by defining food security and discussing the major factors contributing to food insecurity today (climate change, population growth, economic downturns, and change in global food consumption/wealth). Tied intimately to global food security is the concept of malnutrition. In this unit, students will engage with the three subcategories of malnutrition, which will provide an important basis for understanding the variation of food security across the globe and will challenge often held assumptions that food security only comes in the form of extreme hunger. Finally, students will be introduced to the global food system and will use the case study of chocolate to describe its components. As a formative assessment, students will take a five question multiple-choice quiz on the concept of malnutrition and the major causes of global food insecurity.

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In this unit, students explore the role of ocean circulation in climate modification and bioproductivity. The activities require students to interpret the effect of horizontal and vertical seawater movement on heat distribution, carbon dioxide dissolution, and nutrient availability. Students will use their new knowledge to predict how those parameters may change as a result of major shifts in ocean circulation associated with global climate change.

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Unit 1 serves as an introduction to Earth's climate system components. After exploring climate data, students are introduced to the natural processes responsible for global climate and how specific variables are interpreted by scientists.

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