Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Carbon Calculator Activity

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this learning activity, students use a web-based carbon calculator to determine their carbon footprint on the basis of their personal and household habits and choices. Students identify which personal activities and household choices...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Understanding Ocean Acidification

For Teachers 9th - 10th
The following is a series of 5 activities regarding ocean acidifcation Learners will learn about rising Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, climate change, ocean reefs, marine calcifers and ocean pH.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Global Ocean Conveyor Belt

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This hands-on activity explores the driving forces behind global thermohaline circulation.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: How Much Energy Is on My Plate?

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity leads students through a sequence of learning steps that highlight the embedded energy that is necessary to produce various types of food. Students start by thinking through the components of a basic meal and are later...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Life Cycle Assessment of Biofuels 101

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Multi-instructional activity activity in which students conduct a life cycle assessment of energy and carbon dioxide used and produced in ethanol production.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Evaluating Woody Biomass Options for North Carolina's Electricity Future

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this activity, students learn about the pros and cons of co-firing woody biomass fuels with coal to produce electricity.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Fueling the Future: Evaluating the Sustainability of Biofuels

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students consider the impact and sustainability of use of different biofuels on the economy, the environment, and society. Students also learn about bioelectricity and how converting biomass to electricity may be the more efficient way...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Fermentation in a Bag

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A hands-on inquiry activity using zip-lock plastic bags that allows students to observe the process of fermentation and the challenge of producing ethanol from cellulosic sources. Students are asked to predict outcomes and check their...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Time Series: Uncovering the Hidden Processes in Science

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In the following exercise, students will review techniques useful to scientists asthey analyze series of data. Learn about scientific observation and try to recognize a pattern or trend within the data.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Penguin Communities Shift on the Antarctic Peninsula

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This multi-lesson activity investigates the shifting of three penguin communities in Antarctica in response to climate change.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: It's Time to Tell the Story About Buds, Leaves and Global Warming

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this activity, students explore how, in New England, the timing of color change and leaf drop of deciduous trees is changing.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Investigating Behavior of Krill

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this lab activity, students use brine shrimp as a substitute for krill to investigate how changes in environmental factors affect behavioral responses of krill in the unique environment of Antarctica.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Introduction to Earth's Climate

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson is an introduction to Earth's climate and covers key principles regarding Earth's unique climate, atmosphere, and regional and temporal climate differences. Students will gain an understanding of how the weather and climate...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: A Global Issue: The Impacts of Climate Change

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This is activity five of a 9-activity module. Activity explores the effects of climate change on different parts of the Earth system and on human well-being: polar regions, coral reefs, disease vectors, extreme weather, and biodiversity.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Hurricanes as Heat Engines

For Teachers 9th - 10th
For this activity, young scholars examine the effects of hurricanes on sea surface temperature using NASA data. They examine authentic sea surface temperature data to explore how hurricanes extract heat energy from the ocean surface.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Greenhouse Gases: A Closer Look

For Teachers 9th - 10th
One lesson in a larger module covering different aspects of the major greenhouse gases including some of the ways in which human activities are affecting the atmospheric concentrations of these key greenhouse gases.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Is Climate Change Happening?

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A instructional activity studying climate change. Students will discuss how greenhouse gas concentrations relates to climate. This instructional activity is part of a series of nine-instructional activity module.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Carbon Dioxide Fertilization of Marine Microalgae Cultures

For Teachers 9th - 10th
For this experiment, students investigate the importance of carbon dioxide to the reproductive growth of a marine microalga, Dunalliela sp.
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Climate and Civilization: The Maya Example

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students use geophysical and geochemical data collected by the Ocean Drilling Program to examine climate in Central America during the recent past. They also have the opportunity to investigate the link between climate change and...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Climographs: Temperature, Precipitation, and the Human Condition

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A lesson where students learn how to read, analyze, and construct climographs which display monthly average temperature and precipitation. Students also practice matching climographs to various locations and summarize global-scale...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Mt. Pinatubo and the Atmosphere

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson explores the impact of volcanic eruptions on the atmosphere. Students will analyze three types of visual information: a graph of aerosol optical depth v. global temperature, a global map with temperature anomalies, and an ash...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: State Electricity on Google Earth: How Many Solar Panels Would It Take?

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity addresses the Energy Awareness Principle by having students calculate electricity use by state, and also determine how much land would be required to replace all sources of electricity with solar panels considering costs...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Carbon Dioxide Sources and Sinks

For Teachers 9th - 10th
For this lab activity, students use a chemical indicator (bromothymol blue) to detect the presence of carbon dioxide in animal and plant respiration and in the burning of fossil fuels and its absence in the products of plant...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: Us Energy Production and Consumption

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this lesson students will compare and contrast regional energy production of 5 different US regions, including California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington. Students will also analyze production and consumption data of US...