Chicago Botanic Garden
Greenhouse Gas Emissions — Natural and Human Causes
What impact do humans have on greenhouse gas emissions? What are the natural causes of these gasses? Thanks to the carbon cycle, carbon dioxide eats away at the earth's atmosphere with the intensified help of humans. Young scientists...
National Wildlife Federation
Why All The Wiggling on the Way Up?
Some of the CO2 emitted by burning fossil fuels is removed from the atmosphere by natural sinks, such as the ocean. The fifth engaging lesson plan in the series of 21 examines the CO2 data from three very different locations. It then...
NASA
The Big Climate Change Experiment Lesson 3: Climate Change Lines of Evidence
Consider the preponderance of evidence when making a verdict. The third of five lessons in Unit 1: The Big Climate Change Experiment focuses on the evidence for climate change. Learners study graphs, diagrams, and pictures regarding...
Curated OER
The Modern Atmospheric CO2 Record
Students compare carbon dioxide (CO2) data from the Mauna Loa Observatory , Barrow (Alaska) , and the South Pole over the past 40 years to help them better understand what controls atmospheric (CO2).
Curated OER
Comparing Trends in Global Temperature to Global CO2 Levels
Students examine CO2 atmospheric levels. In this atmospheric lesson plan, students examine the correlation between CO2 levels and global warming.
Curated OER
Ecology 5 - Carbon and Oxygen Cycles
Students construct their own diagrams outlining the pathway of carbon and oxygen in our atmosphere. They listen to a lecture on the carbon cycle while drawing an example of the carbon cycle on the board. Students comprehend that CO2 is...
Curated OER
Carbon Cycles
Middle schoolers examine the carbon cycle and how carbon atoms travel through it. In this energy cycles lesson students describe how human activities affect the carbon cycle.
Curated OER
CO2 and Air Pollution
Seventh graders observe and test for the presence of carbon dioxide gas. They compare concentrations of carbon dioxide gas and conclude high concentrations of carbon dioxide gas are unhealthy for human beings.
Curated OER
Modeling the Keeling Curve with Excel
In this modeling the Keeling Curve worksheet, learners use given data beginning in 1960 to create a mathematical model for the changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide over time. Students manipulate the equation to predict the carbon...
Space Awareness
Ocean Acidification
Learn the science behind ocean acidification and its effects on ocean wildlife. Young scientists conduct a laboratory investigation that monitors the acidity level of water. While burning a candle, learners capture the carbon dioxide in...
Curated OER
Atmospheric Chemistry
If you need a comprehensive review of the development of Earth's atmosphere through the ages, then this is for you! The presentation starts with a introduction to theories of planet formation and initial distribution of isotopes in the...
It's About Time
Volcanos and the Atmosphere
In the summer of 1815, snow fell every month in New England. Was this related to the volcanic eruption of Tambora in Indonesia earlier in the year? Young scientists design their own experiments to research the long-term effect a volcanic...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Investigation: Automotive Emissions and the Greenhouse Effect
It is recommended that you conduct this fabulous experiment as a whole-class demonstration. Collect air samples from the environment, human exhalation, and car exhaust, then compare them for carbon dioxide content using bromthymol blue...
Rainforest Alliance
Trees and Carbon
You'll find everything but the kitchen sink here ... or just a carbon sink. In the activity, pairs or groups of middle school learners go outside and measure a tree's circumference and height to estimate its carbon storage potential and...
National Wildlife Federation
The Amazing Adventures of Carbon: How Carbon Cycles through the Earth
Here's a stat for your pupils: 18 percent of the human body is carbon! Part 10 in the series of 12 takes pairs on an adventure through the carbon cycle. After a class reading about carbon, pairs read and choose their own adventure...
It's About Time
Photosynthesis, Respiration, and the Carbon Cycle
Provide your class with the opportunity to view our carbon cycle close up. Young scientists research the cycle of oxygen as it completes the tasks of photosynthesis and respiration. They explore the importance of carbon in an ecosystem...
Colorado State University
How Do Long and Short EM Waves Interact with the Earth's Atmosphere?
Things are about to heat up in your classroom! A kinesthetic lesson asks learners to play the part of the gases in the earth's atmosphere and interact with the sun's radiation. The focus is to learn the impact of the increasing...
Curated OER
The Origins and Maintenance of Earth's Atmosphere
In this atmosphere worksheet, learners read over a data table showing the percentage of carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere over the last 4500 million years. Students create a graph comparing these gases over time and...
Curated OER
Carbon Creating Activity
In this carbon activity, students follow directions and use marshmallows and toothpicks to made carbon dioxide and glucose molecules. Students do this to see how carbon changes as a result of photosynthesis.
Carnegie Mellon University
Bathtub Model
Using a colorful infographic handout and a guide sheet, hold a class discussion about how a bathtub can serve as a model for the greenhouse effect created by Earth's atmosphere. Participants will understand that as energy or matter is...
Curated OER
Leaf Stomata as Bioindicators of Environmental Change
Students perform an experiment to determine the stomaltal index on the upper and lower epidermis of two species of leaves. Stomatal densities change in response to changing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and to annual rainfall.
Curated OER
Geologic Sequestration
Young scholars investigate how geologic sequestration reduces carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. In this earth science instructional activity, students simulate oil mining in the lab. They write down their observations and...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Mapping Greenhouse Gas Emissions Where You Live
After investigating the US Environmental Protection Agency's climate change website, your environmental studies students discuss greenhouse gas emissions. They use an online interactive tool to look at data from power production...
Wild BC
Greenhouse Gas Guzzlers
Teams of six to eight players imagine that they are driving in a vehicle and collect balls that represent carbon dioxide emissions based on their different activities. "Greenhouse Gas Guzzler" cards tell teams how many balls to collect...