Carbon Dioxide Heats It Up

Ninety-seven percent of scientists who study climate agree that human activity is warming the planet. Learners explore carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, a gas causing this warming, through a hands-on experiment. Once complete, they...

Students examine mass and use chemistry to identify whether CO2 and CH4 have mass.  In this atomic mass lesson students complete a lab activity by creating CO2 and CH4.

Polar ice samples provide scientists with valuable information about the condition of the atmosphere for hundreds of thousands of years in the past. Of particular interest is the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and its...

How much does your class know about the relationship between climate change and carbon dioxide? Science scholars explore the nature of greenhouse gases and rising ocean temperature through demonstrations, research, and experiments. The...

Can your breath change the acidity in a liquid? A lesson begins with a demonstration that proves it can. Then scholars perform an experiment to determine if other gases can change the pH of liquids. Finally, they research how this...

The Kyoto Protocol—meant to reduce emissions—was first introduced in 1997 and now involves 192 nations, but the United States is not one of them. Through an analysis of energy use by sectors, groups discuss where and who is emitting the...

Split your earth science or environmental studies class into groups and give each a scenario card. Scenario cards describe the lifestyles of 10 different fictitious families, focusing on their energy usage. Carbon dioxide emissions are...

Watt is going on here? Middle schoolers are learning about energy use and carbon dioxide emissions! In the first part of this instructional activity, learners measure how much energy different appliances consume and calculate the amount...

Where does all of the carbon dioxide come from that is supposedly leading to climate change? Earth science pupils test animal, plant, and fossil fuels as sources in this investigation. Using an indicator, BTB, they are able to detect the...

Why don't we just capture carbon dioxide in the air and store it somewhere else? A hands-on lesson allows scholars to explore a complex concept. First, they will create a carbonated beverage, and then they will determine if liquid...