This article aligns the concepts of Essential Principle 2 of the Climate Sciences to the K-5 content standards of the National Science Education Standards. The author also identifies common misconceptions about heat and the greenhouse gases effect and offers resources for assessing students' understanding of interactions among components of the Earth system. This article continues the examination of the climate sciences and climate literacy on which the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is structured.

In this article, the author identifies science content standards for grades K-5 from the national standards that are aligned with the third essential principle of the climate sciences--life on Earth depends on, is shaped by, and affects climate. In addition she reviews misconceptions commonly held by children about adaptations and natural selection. The free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle is structured around the seven essential principles of the climate sciences and explores a different principle each issue.

Each issue of the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle explores an essential principle of climate science and climate literacy with background information, lessons, activities, original stories, and more for the K-5 classroom. This article shows the alignment of these materials with the content standards of the National Science Education Standards.

This article explores the alignment of the sixth essential principle of the climate sciences to national science education standards and its connections to the K-5 curriculum. The article also identifies some common misconceptions young students have about weather and climate. The free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle focuses on the topics that are appropriate for young learners and introduce them to climate literacy concepts.

This article identifies age-appropriate national science education content standards and curriculum connections for introducing complex concepts contained in Principle 7 of the Essential Principles of Climate Sciences. The principle describes consequences of climate changes on Earth systems and human lives. The content standards will help teachers determine appropriate topics for their students. A number of resources from the online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle are highlighted for their connection to the science curriculum in the early grades. In addition, the article identifies common misconceptions about weather and the water cycle often held by students.

The year is 2050 and your once-idyllic beachfront vacation home is now flooded up to the second story. The crab your family has enjoyed every Christmas for as long as you can remember has now become an endangered species. The oceans have changed. In Earth 540, Oceanography for Educators, we explore the mechanisms that lead to sea level rise and ocean acidification. We strive to understand how natural processes such as ocean currents, the gulf-stream, tides, plate tectonics, and the Coriolis Effect, affect our oceans and ocean basins. We then predict how man-made issues such as climate change and overfishing will affect our beloved waters and our livelihoods. Want to see into the future? Then this course is for you!

The year is 2050 and your once-idyllic beachfront vacation home is now flooded up to the second story. The crab your family has enjoyed every Christmas for as long as you can remember has now become an endangered species. The oceans have changed. In Earth 540, Oceanography for Educators, we explore the mechanisms that lead to sea level rise and ocean acidification. We strive to understand how natural processes such as ocean currents, the gulf-stream, tides, plate tectonics, and the Coriolis Effect, affect our oceans and ocean basins. We then predict how man-made issues such as climate change and overfishing will affect our beloved waters and our livelihoods. Want to see into the future? Then this course is for you!

This is a static visualization, referenced from a UNEP rapid response assessment report entitled In Dead Water, depicting the estimated contributions to sea-level rise from 1993 - 2003.

This is a service-learning project for students in Geography 204 (Weather, Climate and Ecosystems). Students will assess prior estimates of carbon offsets associated with plant and soil biomass on their college campus; and as a result, they will understand the complexity of measuring the complex sources of carbon emissions and offsets; address the challenges of coordinating data collection and field measurement; and realize importance of estimation in public policy contexts.

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This video segment examines ethanol, a cleaner-burning fuel alternative to gasoline, and the efforts to produce it more efficiently.

This course presents an examination of ethical issues relevant to systems-based research procedures, professional conduct, social and environmental impacts, and embedded ethics in research and professional practice in RESS based jobs. In this course, you will consider case studies of ethical issues that can arise when engaging renewable energy and sustainability systems. You will also develop an ethics case study based on your area of RESS interests. The goals of the course are to provide you with tools for analyzing ethical issues both in the line of professional duties and in consideration of the various ethical issues that face an entire sector of renewable energy and that underpin the very reasons for taking a sustainable and renewable approach.

The purpose of the assignment is twofold: first, to expose students to what is sometimes called a "feminist" or "care" perspective in ethics. The second is for students to apply these abstract ideas in ethics to the very real and complex issues relating to climate change in environmental ethics.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students explore three different personal perspectives on the effects of climate change, evaluate arguments and reasoning, and advocate for climate change through a personal call to action.

SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson inspires students to take an active role in combating climate change while also teaching them about various climate change impacts. The initial video talks about climate change from three different angles and gives students various ideas of how they could act such as voting, education, and activism. It introduces the idea of environmental racism and justice. The three videos about New Jersey sea level rise are all accurate and informative. This resource is recommended for teaching.

POSITIVES:
-This lesson can be used in English, persuasive writing, and social studies.
-Students are given voice and choice in this lesson.
-Students become agents of change in their own communities.

ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES:
-Students should be familiar with the basics of climate change and potential effects to their own region.
-Students will be writing a call to action. The goal of a written call to action is to inspire others to perform a specific act with some urgency.
-Students should understand the basics of persuasive argumentation and using personal connections as evidence and reasoning to support an argument.

DIFFERENTIATION:
-Calls to action can be expressed in different platforms. Students can explore adapting their calls to action in different platforms: creating a video, choosing specific social media outlets, and incorporating supporting artwork. Make sure to follow all school rules and monitor students’ progress if you allow this in the classroom.
-You may allow students to brainstorm and pursue other methods of communication not listed.
-Students can evaluate the effectiveness of using different platforms to make their calls to action.
-Students can present their calls to action to different audiences.

Evaluating has been called one of the six most important reading comprehension strategies. In this article, it is also considered as a strategy for analyzing and interpreting data. This professional development article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which integrates science education and literacy instruction for K-grade 5 teachers. Each issue examines one of the recognized essential principles of climate literacy and the climate sciences and one or more reading strategies for elementary teachers and their students.

In this activity, students learn about the pros and cons of co-firing woody biomass fuels with coal to produce electricity.

Students observe the process of evaporation, make comparisons about the process, then construct a diagram and use it to describe the process of evaporation.

In this adapted video segment, ZOOM guest Tommy takes us on a tour of the Florida Everglades. He describes what makes a wetland biome unique, including the soil, precipitation, and biodiversity.

This activity provides an opportunity for students to examine the evidence that supports climate change and engage in a classroom discussion and self-reflection on that experience and empower them to consider their own actions and how they can make changes in their life practices

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

In this activity, students make a model sea floor sediment core using two types of buttons to represent fossil diatoms. They then compare the numbers of diatom fossils in the sediment at different depths to determine whether the seas were free of ice while the diatoms were alive.

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:

"A warming climate means big changes for polar wildlife, including the polar regions’ smallest residents. Unfortunately, we have a limited understanding of how polar microbiota adapt to their environments and lack functional studies linking genetics to metabolic traits needed for adaptation. A recent study evaluated microbiota in 60 seawater samples collected from several Arctic and Antarctic regions as well as data from the Tara Oceans project. Using metagenomic sequencing, researchers identified the locally enriched strains in each polar region, which differed from those in temperate locations. The results revealed that these microbes differed in the metabolic pathways needed to adapt to their unique environments. Interestingly, antibiotic resistance genes were enriched in the Arctic, while DNA recombination functions were enriched in the Antarctic..."

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