A program of the Lawrence Hall of Science that seeks to increase ocean literacy through informal and formal education initiatives
Marine Activities, Resources & Education

Curriculum and Activities

Unit 3 Resources

Unit 3: What Are the Causes and Effects of Climate Change?

Unit 3 coverSession Resources include videos, animations, simulations, and websites that are intended to be used with the curriculum. HTML5 versions of the animations were made possible through funding from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, award #16-06-B-00071 Providing More Experience resources are described in the right hand pages of the curriculum and offer excellent supplemental information to support your students' learning. 

Session Resources

Session 3.1: Introducing Earth's History

We recommend using Safari or Firefox as the internet browser to download any video files - Google Chrome may not allow you to download these files. We also recommend that you use QuickTime as your video player. 

Session 3.2: Tracking Earth's CO2 through Time

We recommend using Safari or Firefox as the internet browser to download any video files - Google Chrome may not allow you to download these files. We also recommend that you use QuickTime as your video player. 

Session 3.3: What Does CO2 Have to Do with Temperature?

  • Greenhouse in a Bottle Activity: Through the use of a physical model and a computer simulation, learners explore the effects of atmospheric heat-trapping gases on Earth's climate.

We recommend using Safari or Firefox as the internet browser to download any video files - Google Chrome may not allow you to download these files. We also recommend that you use QuickTime as your video player. 

Session 3.4: Weather vs. Climate

We recommend using Safari or Firefox as the internet browser to download any video files - Google Chrome may not allow you to download these files. We also recommend that you use QuickTime as your video player. 

Session 3.5: Investigating Climate Change: Evidence Stations

  • Sea Level Rise Activity: Through the use of physical models and map exploration, learners explore the causes and effects of sea level rise, globally and locally. They also learn about some ways they might lessen human impact on future sea level rise.

We recommend using Safari or Firefox as the internet browser to download any video files - Google Chrome may not allow you to download these files. We also recommend that you use QuickTime as your video player. 

Session 3.6: Demonstrating Cause and Effect

Session 3.7: Investigating Climate Change: Ocean Currents

We recommend using Safari or Firefox as the internet browser to download any video files - Google Chrome may not allow you to download these files. We also recommend that you use QuickTime as your video player. 

Session 3.8: Connecting Climate and Ocean Currents

Session 3.9: Investigating Climate Change: Organisms

Session 3.10: Solutions to Climate Change, Part 1

We recommend using Safari or Firefox as the internet browser to download any video files - Google Chrome may not allow you to download these files. We also recommend that you use QuickTime as your video player. 

Session 3.11: Solutions to Climate Change, Part 2

We recommend using Safari or Firefox as the internet browser to download any video files - Google Chrome may not allow you to download these files. We also recommend that you use QuickTime as your video player. 

Session 3.12: Thinking Critically about Climate Change

 

Resources marked with a "**" are found on the site PBS LearningMedia, which provides educators with strategies, tools, and professional development resources needed to fully utilize digital learning. These are resources that may be freely accessed through their site, although the site requires that you log in after accessing the site a few times. Logging into the site is free, and allows you to search for a wide variety of educational media. 

All other resources, which are listed in the curriculum's Introduction Book, are also listed at the bottom of this page. We have found these books, DVDs, and websites to be beneficial for additional information on the topics covered in the curriciulum. 

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Resources Listed in the Introduction Book

Books for Students

  • Acting for Nature: What Young People Around the World Are Doing to Protect the Environment

Author: Sneed B. Collard, Action for Nature (corporate author)

Publisher: Heyday Books (2000)

Grade Level: 3

Biographies of ordinary kids making extraordinary efforts to start projects that will save the environment.

  • How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming

Author: Lynne Cherry and Gary Braasch

Grade Level: 5 and up

Publisher: Dawn Publications

Lynne Cherry (author of The Great Kapok Tree) and Gary Braasch take a kid-friendly, evidence-based, and pro-active approach to helping kids understand causes, effects, and solutions to climate change. This book has won over 15 awards and is connected to the website, Young Voices on Climate Change.

  • The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming

Author: Laurie David and Cabria Gordon

Grade Level: 4 and up

Publisher: Scholastic

The producer of An Inconvenient Truth provides a kid-friendly, engaging, and empowering book that kids can share with their families.

  • Climate Change (Groundwork Guides)

Author: Shelley Tanaka

Publisher: Groundwood Books; Revised Edition edition (February 21, 2012)

Grade Level: 8 and up

Climate Change - A Groundwork Guide, not only addresses the science behind climate change and future projections, but also discusses why the political and philosophical issue is so emotionally charged.

  • You Can Prevent Global Warming (and Save Money!): 51 Easy Ways

Author: Jeffrey Langholz and Kelly Turner

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; Original edition (March 1, 2008)

Grade Level: 6 and up

This book provides a list of simple, everyday things people can do to lessen climate change and save money at the same time.

  • Climate Change (DK Eyewitness Books)

Author: DK Publishing and John Woodward

Publisher: DK CHILDREN (June 30, 2008)

Grade Level: 3 and up

A DK Eyewitness picture-filled approach to the causes and effects of climate change as well as some solutions.

  • A Hot Planet Needs Cook Kids: Understanding Climate Change and What You Can Do About It

Author: Julie Hall

Publisher: Green Goat Books

Grade Level: 4 and up

Books for Educators

  • Climate Change: Picturing the Science

Author: Gavin Schmidt, Joshua Wolfe and Jeffrey D. Sachs

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company; Original edition (April 6, 2009)

Beautiful photographs and scientific analysis work together to illustrate the global effects of climate change.

  • Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change

Author: Elizabeth Kolbert

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1st edition (December 26, 2006)

Kolbert has built on her award-winning, three part series in the New Yorker to share the science behind climate change as well as what humans can do to protect our planet.

  • Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming - The Illustrated Guide to the Findings of the IPCC

Authors: Michael E. Mann and Lee R. Kump

Publisher: DK Publishing; Edition (July 21, 2008)

Through a combination of stunning images, well-explained graphics, and clearly written text, this book does an outstanding job of helping the lay reader to understand the science behind climate change.

  • Why We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity

Author: Mike Hulme

Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 25, 2009)

Hulme bases his analysis of the topics addressed in this book on both his work as a climate change scientist and as a public commentator.

  • The Climate Crisis: An Introductory Guide to Climate Change

Authors: David Archer and Stefan Rahmstorf

Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Original edition (January 29, 2010)

DVDs

  • An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Director Davis Guggenheim eloquently weaves the science of global warming with Al Gore's personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change in the most talked-about documentary at Sundance.

Streaming Videos

Select the video tab to find short (about 5-minute) stories on e-waste, landfills, and food waster composting.

A 5-minute movie that explains the work of different ocean scientists as they measure climate change.

Showcases organization and citizens responding to climate change. It reports on environmental consequences of climate change both happening now and potentially in the future.

How do we know that the climate is changing? In this video (19 minutes, 29 seconds), scientist Kendrick Taylor learns how 8-foot long ice core samples extracted from deep in the ice layer of Antarctica hold key evidence of rapidly changing climactic conditions.

The world's climate is changing and California is now being affected in both dramatic and subtle ways. Get an in-depth look at the science behind climate change as we explore the environmental changes taking place throughout the state. 

  • E-Waste(Select the Math & Science tab and search for e-waste)

An animated film illustrates the environmental and human damage caused by electronic waste while offering solutions to this global problem.

Jeff Corwin shares his love of habitats, their organisms, and the devastating effects that are predicted because of climate change. Videos include individual topics of coral reefs, lynx, monarch butterflies, polar bears, sea turtles, and more.

Websites for Educators

Real Climate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. The aim is to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary. Discussion is restricted to scientific topics and will not get involved in any political or economic implications of the science. All posts are signed by the author(s), except "group" posts which are collective efforts from the whole team. This is a moderated forum.

This website from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory provides a selection of short videos that provide concise definitions and explanations about often-complicated topics.

The Green Schools Alliance (GSA) is a non-profit organization started by schools for schools. GSA supports schools as they raise environmental awareness and implement sustainable and energy-smart solutions.

A huge collection of educational resources, scientifically and pedagogically reviewed for teaching about climate science, climate change, and energy awareness. 

This website presents issues related to the ocean and climate, such as: CO2 emissions, polar melt, ocean currents, ocean acidification, and provides a forum for related comments and articles. 

A resource- and information-packed website.

This resources is a classroom activity and hand-held tool that you can use to estimate your household's emissions of carbon dioxide and learn how you can reduce them. One side of the  wheel illustrates how much carbon dioxide a household contributes to the atmosphere per year through activities such as driving a car, using energy in the home, and disposing of waste. The other side shows how changes in behavior (such as buying a more fuel-efficient car) can reduce your emissions. 

Created by the National Wildlife Foundation, Climate Classroom provides a range of resources for teachers and students, including ways that students of different ages can get involved in making sustainable changes within their homes and communities. 

This site provides more than 25 easy steps you can take at home, at school, from the office, and on the road to protect the climate, reduce air pollution, and save money.

This website has a number of personal stories from people in Wisconsin affected by climate change. 

Created by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, this site is a small part of the information presented on the ocean and climate. It provides access to video clips, curricula and activities and further resources. 

ACE provides classroom and whole-school presentation on climate change and things your school community can do to make a difference. After participating in their presentation, students are invited to create their own initiatives with the support of the ACE staff. ACE allows children to dream big and follow through. 

A comprehensive classroom resource including video modules, teacher's guide, student templates, and other resources. 

An online course on climate change, developed for Grade 6-12 educators.

A short simulation by NASA explaining feedback systems. 

Have your class participate in activities that provide an opportunity to help scientists all across the country measure and track a very important and highly variable part of the climate system - precipitation. With an inexpensive rain gauge and a small amount of training (usually provided onine, but sometimes in classes taught locally by volunteer leaders), people of all ages can help. In most cases, volunteers have to purchase the rain gauge themselves (price around $30 including shipping), but CoCoRaHS does have sponsors in some parts of the country. 

Websites for Students

This website has streaming inspirational movies of student-driven change that students can view. Author and illustrator Lynne Cherry, originator, producer and director of the Young Voices for the Planet films, is well-known for her popular children's books, especially her rain forest classic, The Great Kapok Tree and her environmental history A River Ran Wild. Resources are also available for teachers. 

There are many things you can do to help reduce climate change and its effects on people and the environment. Use this calculator to learn about some simple steps you can take to reduce your impact on the planet. 

Bill Nye's Climate Laboratory is an educational website for elementary and middle school teachers, students, and families. Join Nye on fun missions and activities to reduce energy consumption and thwart climate change. You'll hunt down energy vampires, design a "green" home, grow a virtual garden - and compete to become a "Climate Champion."

National Geographic has collected dozens of short articles and video clips on environmentally-friendly ideas and actions anyone can take.

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