The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Lesson 1 Overview
This lesson covers the basics of what climate and weather are. It also addresses why
multi-year datasets are important in climate study. As always, when looking at data
represented in graphs, make sure the students know the meaning of the x-y axes.
Another theme we’ll be examining throughout this week is signal vs. noise, to help
students understand how to determine when an apparent trend is real.
If you want to start with some more basic activities relating to taking temperature and
the concept of "average temperature," see the Climate Lab "Long Curriculum," which is
available on the project website.
Key Ideas
§
Activity 1: Introduction to Signal vs. Noise
This is part one of a five-part activity series on this subject — there's one short
activity in each lesson — so it’s designed to start the students thinking about the
ideas, and build towards a better understanding of the signal and noise in a
dataset; it also connects to the process of data analysis. This activity in particular
is the first half of a two-part activity, the second half being the Signal vs. Noise
activity at the beginning of Lesson 5.
§
Activity 2: Evaporation
By the end of this activity, students should have a concrete understanding of how
temperature affects evaporation rates, and should be prepared to think about
how the relationship between temperature and evaporation will affect wildlife as
the planet warms.
§
Activity 3: Overview of weather and climate
This activity should give students a basic understanding of the importance of
datasets that cover a long period of time, when trying to see what’s going on in a
region’s climate.
Materials
§
Student sheets
§
Projector
Students should be prepared to take notes, either in a paper journal or on the computer.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
These activities include individual work, small-ground work, and whole-class
discussion. For convenience, you can divide your class into groups of 3-5 students.at
the start.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Activity 1: Signal vs Noise; Where’s Waldo? [5 minutes?]
Context for the teacher
This activity is the first of a series designed to get students in the habit of looking for the
signal, or trend, in a dataset. The purpose is to train skills and thought processes, and to
make students comfortable with the basic ideas of "signal vs. noise", so the subject
matter is deliberately not relevant to the informational content of the unit. Towards the
end of the unit, the class will be revisiting this activity in particular, to address the
question of predicting where Waldo might be, as you go over why it’s important to have
a large body of data to analyze, in order to get any kind of clear picture. One "Where’s
Waldo?" puzzle only answers the question, whether Waldo is present in a given picture,
and, if so, where. In order to predict where Waldo is likely to be in a puzzle we’ve never
seen before, we will need more data. Fortunately, that analysis has been done for us, and
we’ll be able to go over those results in lesson Lesson 5 of this unit as we bring the unit
together to form a context for the data collection the students will be doing in the field.
Understanding goals
Students get a basic understanding of the ideas of "signal" and "noise." They will see
that "signal" refers to meaningful information (meaningful to the person asking the
question or doing the investigation), while "noise" means interfering or irrelevant data.
This very basic understanding will get elaborated over the course of the week.
Flow of the activity
This is a small group activity, questions and student context in student sheet.
To begin with, look at an image from “Where’s Waldo?”. Have the class look for Waldo
for a bit, and then have them consider the following questions.
§
What is the purpose of the game? (Answer - to find Waldo)
§
What is the purpose of everything in the puzzle that is not Waldo? (Answer - to
make it hard to find Waldo)
§
What help do we have in finding Waldo? (We know what he looks like, and we
know he’s there)
§
Based on this picture, would you be able to predict Waldo’s location in other
pictures?
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Activity 2: Temperature and Precipitation
Context for the teacher
This section is designed to get students thinking about how changes in temperature and
precipitation relate to each other, first at the level of basic physics, and then in terms of
how temperature and precipitation interact with biology. The primary focus is on how
temperature can act to change the effective amount of water that is available in any
given location. For example, there are two main kinds of rainforests — tropical and
temperate. Both are ecosystems where fresh water — therefor food — is so plentiful that
it is not a limiting factor, and so life has evolved to focus primarily growth and
reproduction. There are two major differences between tropical and temperate
rainforests. In general, tropical rainforests are much, much hotter, and much, much
wetter. The amount of rainfall required to get the same effect on wildlife goes up as
temperature goes up, because higher temperatures also mean increased evaporation,
and increased need for wildlife to be able to cool down. And so the Smokey Mountain
temperate rainforest gets half the annual precipitation of the Amazon rainforest, or less.
This activity is building up to the introduction of the Whittaker Diagram in lesson 4 of
this unit. There’s more on that in Lesson 4, but that diagram is a useful model of the
relationship between temperature, water, and multicellular life. It also provides a good
foundation for understanding what a change in global temperature can mean for plants
and animals.
Understanding Goals
By the end of this activity, students should understand how temperature changes the
effective amount of water available, from the point of view of plant and animal life. This
means students should understand how temperature affects evaporation, and how that
effects the amount of water that stays in the ground and in bodies of water, and the
amount of water that finds its way into deeper underground reservoirs. Students should
understand that an increase in temperature needs to come with a comparable increase
in precipitation, if the habitat is to keep the same level of livability.
Flow of the activity
This is a small group discussion activity, leading to a whole-class discussion.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Prep work
At the end of a class period before you begin this unit, have each group of students
mostly fill two or more transparent containers with water. Ideally, this will be on a
Friday before starting this unit the next Monday. Using a marker, they should clearly
and precisely mark the water level. The containers should be left uncovered, and some
should be left in places that are likely to be cold, while others should be in warmer
places. The containers of each group should have the same diameter, so that the same
surface area of water is exposed to evaporation. Each container should be labeled based
on its relative temperature assignment.
When students begin this activity, the water will have evaporated, resulting in a lower
water level. The containers placed in warmer areas will have lower water levels than
those in colder places.
Have the students look at their containers, and consider the following questions:
§
Why is there less water than there used to be? (It evaporated)
§
Which containers lost more water, and why? (Warmer ones have less water
because higher temperatures make it evaporate faster)
§
How would you go about keeping the water level the same? (Refill it at regular
intervals or keep a constant trickle of water that matches the rate of
evaporation)
§
If you were keeping the water level constant with a steady drip of water, would
the drip rate be the same at any temperature? (No, warmer temperatures would
need a faster drip rate)
§
Imagine your containers are ponds in different parts of the world. What will
happen if it stops raining? (The ponds will dry out through evaporation)
§
What will happen to the wildlife in the ponds? (It will die or leave)
§
If one pond is in Brazil, near the equator, and one pond is in Canada, which pond
will need more rain to stay full enough for the wildlife?
Once the students have discussed these questions in small groups for a time, bring the
whole class together and to talk about it. What conclusions did everybody reach about
the tie between temperature and evaporation? What about the “pond questions”? What
if we’re not talking about ponds, but about forests? Do the same rules apply? (Answer –
basically, yes.)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Activity 3: Weather vs. Climate [20 minutes?]
Context for the teacher
This activity is a second look at Signal vs. Noise, this time with real data related to the
Climate Lab. It’s based on a graph showing the average annual temperature of
Massachusetts over a period of 50 years. In the first part, students look at a 10-year
segment of the graph, in which temperatures show some variation around a more or less
level trend. From that small dataset, students are then invited to predict future average
temperatures, before being shown the full dataset, which has a clear warming trend. The
intended lesson here is that when you’re dealing with something like climate, which is
defined by temperature and precipitation over time, it’s important to have as big a
period of time as possible, or you’ll miss things.
Note for Teachers: This unit is designed to take only one week, but if you have more
time, and wish to, you can dip into the temperature activities in the Climate Lab "long
unit," which involve actually taking temperature measurements around the school
grounds, and discussing how one reaches an "average" temperature.
Understanding Goals
By the end of this activity, students should have a basic understanding of the importance
of datasets that cover a long period of time, when trying to see what’s going on in a
region’s climate.
This is a small group activity, questions on student sheet.
Have the students look at Figure 1. This figure represents average temperatures in
Plymouth from around 1965 to around 1973. As the students are looking at it, have them
consider the following questions:
• Approximately what was the average temperature in Plymouth during the time
period shown? (47˚F to 47.5˚F)
• If that’s the average, what does it say about temperatures in different
seasons?(Summer will be warmer than that, winter will be colder)
• Based on this graph alone, what would we expect the average temperature to be
in the year 2020? (Probably not much different, since it starts cooling after 1970)
Now have them look at Figure 2. This is the full graph from which Figure 1 was clipped,
showing mean temperatures in Plymouth from 1950-2010.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
§
Have the students orient themselves — Where does Figure 1 fit into this picture?
§
Based on this graph, do they have a different prediction for the average
temperature for the year 2050?
§
What made you change your prediction? (Answer we’re looking for - more data
changes the outlook).
§
Is this graph showing us weather data or climate data? (Climate data)
§
Why? (Because it’s an average temperature over time, not day-to-day or hourto-hour)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Homework: Climate and Birds [20-30 minutes]
Context for the teacher
This reading assignment is intended as advance review for Lesson 2, which looks at how
plants and animals experience climate, begins to look at how New England species are
responding to climate change.
Understanding goals
After doing this reading, students should have an idea of what “ecological mismatch”
means, and how climate and climate change affect wildlife.
Have the students read the climate change brief, and the three bird profiles in the
student packet.
To guide their reading, have them consider the following:
Questions
§
The science brief talks about ecological mismatch, when there are changes in
seasonal patterns result with the result that seasonal behaviors that would
normally happen at the same time, to happen at different times. One common
example of this is the European Pied Flycatcher, whose migration timing has not
changed as much as the climate in its summer breeding grounds. As a result, the
birds are missing the springtime insect boom they rely on for feeding their
young, and the young starve. Which of the three species is most vulnerable to
ecological mismatch, and why?
§
Which species is least vulnerable, and why?
§
The information in these examples is presented as evidence of the effect that
global warming is having on migratory birds. How could changes in seasonal
behavior be used to tell us about changes in climate, even without a temperature
record? How could we use bird data like this as “bio-indicators” of what is
happening in Earth’s climate?
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Lesson 1 Review and Vocabulary
Context for the teacher
These are questions and terms you may find useful either for homework, for reviewing
the lesson, or as part of a review of the whole unit for students. Use them or not as you
see fit.
Review Questions
§
What is the value of having a large data set?
§
What factors make up a regional climate?
§
What parts of human life are affected by climate?
Vocabulary
Biome: A regional ecosystem type, defined by climate, flora, and fauna.
Climate: Typical weather conditions (temperature and precipitation) in a defined area
over a long period of time.
Data: Information (data is plural - the singular is datum).
Data set: A collection of related information.
Temperate: The latitudes, on Earth, that lie between tropical and polar regions.
Ecological Mismatch: A change in the seasonal behavior of one species that disrupts the
behavior of a second species that relies on the first to be active at certain times.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Activity 2
Figure 1
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Figure 2
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Reading Materials [in Student packet]
Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythropthalmus)
The Eastern Towhee lives in the United States. In
some areas in the Southeast, the towhee lives in the
same place all year. Others live in the Northeast
during summer, migrate to the southern states for
the winter, and come back north in the spring.
Towhees eat a variety of things like seeds or insects.
They will even eat small salamanders or snakes, if
given the chance.
Photograph by William H. Majoros
Their lives and migration patterns are strongly affected by seasonal changes in daylight
and temperature. Because of this, we expect them to show the biggest changes of the two
bird species you are reading about. They do, if you compare the two graphs:
Compared to the species described next, they migrate a relatively small distance. This
could be a good thing for this species. It would enable them to change the timing of their
migration from year-to-year. This would allow them to benefit from the “boom” in food
that happens every spring when spring arrives earlier. In fact, the change in migration
time suggests that the Eastern Towhee is already adapting to climate change by
adjusting its migration time.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Red-Eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)
The Red-eyed Vireo spends its winter in South
America’s tropical forests. Like the Towhee,
they migrate north into the United States and
Canada to feed on the explosion of life that
occurs in spring.
The abundance of caterpillars and other insects
provides them with enough food for breeding
and for raising their young.
Photograph by William H. Majoros
Because tropical day length and temperatures
are always more or less the same, they rely on an internal clock to tell when it is time to
migrate. Birds that winter in the tropics try to fly towards the north in the spring even
when in closed rooms where they cannot tell what’s happening outside! Since they rely
on an internal, we would expect them to show the least response of our two species to
climate change. This turns out to be the case:
You can see that they are arriving earlier in the year as time goes by. However, the
change is not as large as it is in the species that winter in North America. One possible
explanation for this is that any individuals in the population that happen to arrive
earlier might be more successful at reproduction. As a result, their young are beginning
to make up a larger portion of the population.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
Climate and the New England Biosphere
How can plants and animals respond to climate change?
Earth's climate system is changing, and New England's
climate is showing the effects. The organisms of our
backyards, forests, and coastlines are starting to make this
very clear. What are the options for plants and animals in a fast-changing climate? How
will their responses shape New England's landscape in the future?
What climate scientists are telling us
The number of Americans who accept the reality of climate change is increasing.
However, many think the change will come in a few years, and will affect other parts of
the world. But changes in the climate here in New England have already been seen.
For example: Since 1970, the yearly average
temperature has risen about 0.54°F each
decade— more than 2° so far. During the same
time, the growing season has expanded by 2.5
days per decade. Ice-out, the dates when the ice
cover on ponds and lakes breaks up, now comes
8-10 days earlier in New Hampshire. There have
also been significant changes in precipitation.
How organisms respond to climate changes
Climate change is a constant feature of Earth's history. It is an important part of the
history of life as well. Present climate change, driven by humans, is unusual because it
is happening so fast. Changes of a few degrees in average temperature have happened
many times. However, until now, they have happened over thousands or tens of
thousands of years. The climate change we are now experiencing has happened over a
few decades.
Organisms have the same 4 options they have had throughout the history of life on
earth. Many of the options described below have not been recorded in New England yet.
However, they have been seen elsewhere, and are likely to be happening here as well.
a. Change behavior. Plants are flowering earlier, and many bird species are
arriving at their northern nesting ranges earlier. However, ecological mismatches are happening for some species. For example plants may now be
flowering before their insect pollinators start to fly, or bird nestlings hatch before
the caterpillars they feed on have hatched.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 1
b. Change range. Many bird species have expanded their breeding ranges. The
breeding ranges of others have moved northward. Mountain species, such as the
pika, are moving higher up their mountains to avoid the stress of rising
temperatures.
c. Evolve. Some insect and bird species have evolved in response to climate
change.
d. Go extinct. Climate change can lead to local extinctions. For example, if the
range of a species has moved northward, populations of the species in the
southern edge of the range can go extinct.
Open questions
The climate of New England is changing. Climate scientists can predict what our
temperatures and precipitation may be like in 10, 20, 75 years. It is harder to predict
how the plants and animals will respond. What the changes will mean for the quality of
life for New England's people is not at all clear, either. However, we can all contribute to
a better understanding by paying attention to the landscape we live on, and the
organisms that share it with us. In other readings, we'll provide up-to-date science
behind the changes that you are tracking in your own area.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
Lesson 2: Overview
This lesson explores how climate influences the lives and life cycles of flora and fauna in
New England, and how data about local species’ changes in behavior might provide an
indication of what’s going on in the climate.
Key ideas
§
Activity 1: Continuation of Signal vs Noise
This activity covers two important concepts. The most important is that
increasing the amount of data can improve the reliability of the conclusions
drawn from those data. The second is that similarities may be misleading. While
both Waldo and the moth and snake in this activity match their surroundings, the
reasons for that match are different.
§
Activity 2: How do plants and animals experience climate?
This activity is designed to get students thinking about the life histories and
seasonal habits of local plants and animals, and how those are influenced or
governed by the regional climate.
§
Activity 3: Manomet bird data
This activity should give students a basic familiarity with some of the ways
wildlife responds to a changing climate. It also introduces the concept of
“bioindicators” – using change in the behavior of various organisms to indicate
what changes are happening in the regional climate.
Materials
§
Student sheets
§
Projector
§
Blackboard/whiteboard
Students should be prepared to take notes, either in a paper journal or on the computer.
Students should bring reading materials and notes taken from the previous night’s
homework.
Teaching suggestions
These activities include individual work, small-group work, and whole-class discussion.
For convenience, you can divide your class into groups of 3-5 students at the start.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
Distribute the student sheets at the beginning of the class.
Note: There are two extensions activities in Activity 1: Signal vs. Noise. These address
the theory of evolution, but are not directly relevant to the unit subject matter. You may
choose to use both, either, or none.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
Activity 1: Signal vs Noise; hiding in plain sight [10-15 minutes]
Context for the teacher
This activity takes the students a little farther than the "Where’s Waldo?" activity.
Students are presented with two images: a tulip tree beauty moth, and a sand viper. As
with "Where’s Waldo?", the students are searching for something that’s blending in with
its surroundings in each picture. Once the animal is found, students are asked to go
beyond the “signal” of the animal’s presence, and look into what signals the animal itself
is sending. Because we know they’re animals with evolved camouflage, we know they’re
both sending a “There’s nobody here!” signal. If they were alien creatures that we knew
nothing about, that’s all we’d be able to tell. They’re not, though, and so we have more
data, which allows us to detect a clearer signal. The moth is hiding because it’s a popular
prey item for a wide variety of insectivorous creatures. The snake is hiding because it’s
an obligate carnivore and an ambush predator. It’s lying in wait for prey. Two creatures
hiding, but divergent signals. More data get us more useful results.
Flow of the activity
This is a small-group activity. Questions are on student sheets, but lead them through
in order.
Have your students look at Figures 1 and 2, and discuss the following questions in their
small groups:
§
What are you looking at? (A picture of a snake and a picture of a moth)
§
In Where’s Waldo, the surroundings are patterned to look like the subject in the
image (Waldo). Is that the case with these images? (No. In these images, the
subject has evolved to look like the surroundings – the opposite of the situation
in Where’s Waldo)
§
In Where’s Waldo, Waldo is the “signal”, but what is the signal in these pictures?
There are two creatures - what message are they trying to send? (Answer “There’s nobody here!”)
§
If that was all we knew about these creatures, then that would be the only
conclusion we could be sure of.
§
But we know what these creatures are. One is a moth, and one is a snake.
§
What do we know about moths and their role in an ecosystem? (They’re popular
prey animals)
§
So what purpose does the moth’s camouflage serve? (It hides the moth from
potential predators)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
*Optional exercise: Evolutionary adaptations*
Why does the moth look the way it does?
Answer: Because over the course of many generations, moths that looked more
like their surroundings were more likely to avoid being eaten, which meant that
they could reproduce, and pass on the “camouflage” genes to their offspring. Of
those new moths, the ones that weren’t as good at blending in were more likely to
be eaten, and so only the best-camouflaged survived to reproduce. In time, that
resulted in moths that look like the surfaces they rest on.
Note for the teacher: Possibly the most common study into camouflage in moths is
Kettlewell’s work with Peppered Moths. You can find the 1958 paper here:
(http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v12/n1/pdf/hdy19584a.pdf ) or look at places
like National Geographic for more info
(http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/09/evolution-in-color-frompeppered-moths-to-walking-sticks/ )
§
What do we know about snakes and their role in an ecosystem? (They’re obligate
carnivores)
§
So what purpose does the sand viper’s camouflage serve? (It means prey can’t see
the snake, so it can survive as an ambush predator)
Note to the teacher: This presentation of the purpose of a viper’s camouflage is an
over-simplification. It draws attention to the purpose the viper’s camouflage serves that
the moth’s does not. The viper’s camouflage also helps to keep it safe from the various
predators that might be willing and able to kill and eat a venomous snake. Identifying
the evolutionary causes for any particular trait can be difficult, because every trait
evolves in the presence of multiple pressures, some of them pushing in different
directions. If you have time, covering these complexities might be worthwhile.
*Optional exercise: Evolutionary adaptations*
Why does the snake look the way it does?
Answer: Because snakes that get more food are more likely to reproduce on a
regular basis (and snakes that go hungry will often go for one to many years
without reproducing). Snakes that could lie in wait for their prey, and avoid being
seen were able to catch more food, and spend less energy doing it. That meant
that they could reproduce more. Over many years, the best camouflaged of each
generation were the most successful, resulting in snakes that look like the sand
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
they hide in and that evolved the behavior of burying themselves, with only their
eyes showing to further camouflage themselves.]
In the case of "Where’s Waldo?," we knew that Waldo was there, but the image told us
little about why he was there, or why there were so many hats, canes, and pairs of
glasses all over the place. In the case of the moth and the snake, we had more data, and
so we were able to get a clearer signal, and draw more certain conclusions.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
Activity 2: How do plants and animals experience climate?
[15 minutes]
Context for the teacher
This activity is designed to get students thinking about the life histories and seasonal
habits of local plants and animals, and how those are influenced or governed by the
regional climate.
A good way to do this might be to select familiar plants and animals that interact in
some way. For example red-tailed hawks sometimes migrate south in the winter, in part
because of cold, and in part because the species they eat (e.g. chipmunks) have
migrated, are hibernating, or are under the snow.
Chipmunks, sometimes prey for hawks, hibernate because temperatures are low, and
food is scarce in the winter, and foraging for food while maintaining body temperature
would require a lot of energy.
Chipmunks in turn live off of a variety of foods, including fruits, nuts, bulbs, and
mushrooms, all of which are dead, frozen in the soil, or too scarce to be a reliable food
source during the winter. In summary, the fact that one species is effectively absent
during the winter may result in the absence of another species that relies on the first.
Flow of the activity
This is a small-group activity moving into whole-class discussion. Questions for the
small-group portion will be on student sheets.
Have your students divide into groups and assign each group a local plant or an animal.
Preferably, the groups will cover a fairly diverse spectrum of local wildlife. If they don't,
you can suggest common species to "fill in" so that major taxonomic groups are
included.
Using the charts in the student materials, each group should fill out a month-by-month
calendar of events for their species. This should cover the following questions.
§
Is your species active or visible in this month? If not, why not? (Possible answers
- hibernation, for some mammals, amphibians, and reptiles; migration for
some birds; annual die-back for some perennial plants; dead/in seed form for
some annual plants)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
§
If active, what behavior is your species exhibiting? (Example answers - seeking a
mate, mating, flowering, fruiting, rearing young, migrating, growing,
gathering resources for mating or for winter)
§
What would happen if less water was available than your species is used to at this
time? (Reproduction might be reduced or delayed due to scarce food or water)
§
What would happen if temperature increased and precipitation did not? (The
amount of available water would decrease)
§
What would happen if precipitation increased? (There might be an increase in
reproduction/growth, but some species might suffer, if it was too much water)
After about 5-10 minutes (depending on how long it takes for them to fill out their
charts), have each group give a brief summary of what their species is, and what it’s
doing throughout the year.
Then, ask them to consider as a whole class what similarities or patterns they notice.
Questions for this discussion might include:
§
What sorts of activity do we see in the winter? (All warm-blooded animals, on
land)
§
What sorts of things are missing in the winter? (Cold blooded animals, most
plants, some birds, some mammals)
§
Is there any connection between which species are present and which are
missing?
§
How is this similar to or different from the difference between wildlife around
here and wildlife in the tropics?
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
Acivity 3: Manomet Bird Data [10 minutes]
Context for the teacher
This is a group discussion activity that reviews the readings the students were
assigned overnight, and explores how the ways in which different species respond to
climate change may be used to indicate changes independent of temperature records.
Flow of the activity
This is a whole-class discussion.
Have the students look at the reading materials from the night before, and briefly review
the first two questions as a class:
§
Which species is most vulnerable to ecological mismatch, and why? (Red-Eyed
vireo, because its migration timing isn’t tied to weather)
§
Which species is least vulnerable to ecological mismatch, and why? (Eastern
towhee, because its migration timing is more tied to weather)
Then discuss how changes in seasonal behavior could be used to tell us about changes in
climate.
§
How could we use bird data or other wildlife data as “bio-indicators” of what’s
happening to Earth’s climate? (Changes in their behavior and population size
can indicate changes in climate conditions)
Some points to revisit in this discussion:
§
Signal vs Noise — what kind of data, and what amount of data might be enough
to get a clear signal? (population size, seasonal behavior changes, changes to
food sources; multi-year to multi-decade datasets)
For this, look at the graphs — it’s pretty clear from them that any one or two years
would be insufficient to get the clear picture provided by the 30-year dataset.
§
What other species might be good bio-indicators? (Frogs, most plant species,
other species with clearly defined weather-dependent seasonal behaviors)
§
What makes them good indicators? (They will change their behavior patterns or
population sizes/locations over time in responses to changes in climate
conditions)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
§
What sort of questions might you ask to discover what changes may be occurring
and why? (E.g., When do frogs start calling every year? When do they stop?
When do leaves come out every year? How fast are leaves growing every year?)
§
What data would you need to gather to answer those questions? (E.g., Frog call
observations, leaf-out observations, leaf measurements)
§
For the changes we discussed, what other factors might cause them? (For
example later/less frog calling might be due to a drought, not cooler
temperatures; changes in bird migration patterns could be due to increased use
of bird feeders; or for changes in feeding habits, an increase in temperature
could simply mean certain foods are more abundant than they used to be)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
Figure 1 – Hint: look at the center of the picture
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
Figure 2 – Hint: look for eyes near the center of the picture
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
Names of students in group:
Date:_________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
Species name: _______________________________
Using this chart, write down the main things your species will be doing, month by
month. As you go, think back to the activity on weather and climate, and note any ways
that temperature and precipitation may influence what your species is doing.
January - Winter
February - Winter
March - Spring
April - Spring
May - Spring
June - Summer
July - Summer
August - Summer
September - Autumn
October – Autumn
November - Autumn
December - Winter
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
Homework: A brief history of climate science [30 minutes]
Have students read “A brief history of climate science” (provided in student materials)
in preparation for Lesson 3.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 2
Lesson 2 Review and Vocabulary
Context for the teacher
These are questions and terms you may find useful either for homework, for reviewing
the lesson, or as part of a review of the whole unit for students. Use them or not as you
see fit.
Review Questions
§
How much of our local ecosystem, and the lives of the species living in it, is
influenced by climate? (pretty much all of it)
§
What is ecological mismatch, and what sort of species does it affect?
§
What can “bio-indicator” species tell us about the changes in our climate?
Vocabulary
Bioindicator: A bioindicator is a species whose behavior can give us insight into changes
occurring in an ecosystem, and into what effects those changes are having. Some
examples would be – migratory species that change when they migrate in response to
temperature change; plants that shift their ranges in response to change in water
availability.
Ecological mismatch: Ecological mismatch is what occurs when a species changes its
behavior, but the other species that interact with it do not. Some examples would be –
insects emerging earlier in the year in response to warmer temperatures, while birds
migrating from far away come at the same time as usual. The result is that the birds miss
out on an important food source, because they arrived too late.
Phenology: Phenology refers to the recurring plant and animal life cycle stages,
flowering, in plants, or hibernation, in some mammals, or migration, in birds.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Lesson 3: Overview
This lesson covers the basics of man-made climate change, and what the global effects of
it have been and will continue to be.
Key Ideas
•
Activity 1: Signal vs Noise #3
This activity covers the concept of trends in data, and the importance of marking
what units of measurement you’re using. It also lets students compare the global
temperature trend with the Massachusetts temperature trend. Students should
notice that while the trends don’t match perfectly, they both show warming.
•
Activity 2: What’s causing the change?
This activity, which is primarily a lecture, reviews the reading on the history of
climate science, and has students discuss the reading and its implications. By the
end of this activity, students should have a basic familiarity with the history of
climate science, what the greenhouse effect is, and how we know that humans are
behind the current increase in global temperature.
•
Activity 3: Sea level and melting ice
This is a lecture-based activity that covers how the increase in global temperature
has led to rising seas and melting ice, touches on how the global energy increase
can be masked by heat transfer to the oceans, and introduces the concept of an
“ecological time frame” as something between the human time frame and the
geological time frame. This “ecological time frame” is important, because it
provides a good idea of the speed at which the rise in greenhouse gasses is
making the planet change.
Materials
§
Student sheets
§
Projector
Students should be prepared to take notes, either in a paper journal or on the computer.
Teaching Suggestions
This lesson includes a larger “lecture” component than the other lessons, in part because
it is covering a fair amount of important history. These activities include individual
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
work, small-ground work, and whole-class discussion. For convenience, you can divide
your class into groups of 3-5 students.at the start. Distribute the student sheets at the
beginning of the class.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Activity 1: Temperature Change [5-10 minutes?]
Context for the teacher
The goal of this activity is to cover what’s happening to the climate, both at a local and at
a global level. In addition to comparing two graphs (local and global temperature
change), students will also be required to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, in order to get
an accurate comparison. If you need to cut back on time, you could also do the
conversion for them and skip that portion of the activity.
Flow of the activity
This is a small group activity. Questions are on student sheets.
Look at Figure 1 — the graph of global average temperature since 1950.
§
What is the overall trend?
Now compare it to Figure 2 — the Massachusetts graph.
§
First, what’s different about the axes? Are the units of measurement the same?
(No)
So, in order to compare the two graphs, we need to have them both using the same
measurement. Scientists use Celsius instead of Fahrenheit because it’s a scale centered
on the physical properties of water – 0˚ Celsius is freezing, 100˚ Celsius is boiling.
Convert the numbers on the Massachusetts graph to Celsius. (The formula is 5(N-32) / 9
where N=degrees Fahrenheit)
§
Now, what are the differences between the two graphs? (Massachusetts is colder
than the planetary average; local temperatures and global temperatures are
not always going to do the same thing)
§
What are the similarities? (The overall trend, since 1970, has been one of
warming)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Activity 2: What’s causing the change? [15-20 minutes?]
Context for the teacher
This activity is meant to review the reading on the history of climate science, and to
cover the basics of the greenhouse effect, and how we know human carbon emissions
are causing the temperature to rise.
Flow of the activity
This is a whole-class activity. Questions are on the student sheet.
This activity has two parts. The first is a brief review of your reading assignment from
the last night, covering the history of climate science. You can think of this as an openbook quiz, that students are allowed to help each other on.
The second, which is lecture-based, is to work through the implications of the
discoveries made by Fourier, Tyndall, and Arrhenius (along with others). As you go
through this activity, it may be useful to have the reading assignment on hand to refer
to. There are some suggested questions for students built into the lecture content, if you
feel they would be useful and have time to use them.
Note: This is a lot of information to take in, so we’ve included the lecture material in the
student packet in case you want to provide it for them for review.
Part 1: Reading review
Fourier discovered that the amount of solar energy that hits the earth isn’t enough to
keep the planet above freezing by itself. What hypothesis did he form to explain Earth’s
temperature? (Two possible answers – Radiation from other stars [did not turn out to
be true] and some insulating capacity in the atmosphere)
§
Who discovered the evidence to support Fourier’s hypothesis, and what was that
discovery? (John Tyndall, greenhouse gasses)
§
Who calculated how much we would warm if CO2 levels doubled, and how much
was that? (Svante Arrhenius, 5-6˚C)
§
What is Charles David Keeling known for? (The “Keeling Curve” – graph of CO2
levels over time)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Part 2: Finding the human fingerprint on global warming.
Saying that the warming we are seeing could be caused by human CO2 emissions isn’t
enough. We also have to look for confirmation that the warming really is consistent with
the greenhouse gas theory. For this section, you should read the material and questions
as a group, and discuss each question with your group as you read them. Always keep in
mind – “I don’t know” is the best answer, when you don’t know something, because it
means that you can then go and try to find out.
The first question that’s worth answering is: Are humans really responsible for the rise
in CO2 levels? After all, there are lots of natural sources, too. Is that CO2 coming from
us?
Well, one thing that’s unique about the CO2 we’re emitting, is that it’s emitted by
burning coal, gasoline, and other fossil fuels, which are mostly made of carbon and
hydrogen. When we burn them, the carbon in the fossil fuels combines with oxygen to
form CO2 molecules.
Question for students: Where does that oxygen come from? (answer – the
atmosphere)
If the increase in CO2 levels is caused by burning fossil fuels, then what other changes
would we expect to see in the chemistry of the atmosphere?
Figure 3 shows us what changes have been measured:
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Figure 3: CO2 concentrations from Mauna Loa, Hawaii (black) and and Baring Head, New
Zealand (blue). In bottom right corner is atmospheric oxygen (O2) measurements from Alert,
Canada (pink) and Cape Grim, Australia (cyan) (IPCC AR4 2.3.1 adapted from Manning 2006).
Question for students: Does the information in this graph help us understand what’s
causing CO2 levels to rise? (answer – yes, it indicates that the additional CO2 is from
burning something – fossil fuels)
The second question is: Is the warming that we have seen so far being caused by the rise
in CO2 levels?
We know from the reading that CO2 acts as insulation, trapping heat like a jacket around
the planet. There are a couple ways to check whether that is how we’re being warmed,
that rely on that similarity.
Note for teachers: If you have time, this next bit can be framed as a discussion.
Imagine that you put on a jacket before going outside in the winter, but it’s colder than
you expected it to be, so your jacket isn’t thick enough.
§
Would you get really cold right away? (no)
§
Would you get cold faster or slower than if you had no jacket at all? (slower)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
§
And when you go inside, after getting really cold, do you warm up right away, or
does it take time for you to get hot enough that you need to take off your jacket?
(takes time)
§
Does you jacket keep the heat indoors from reaching you as fast as it would if you
didn’t have a jacket on? (yes)
§
Moving to how Earth deals with temperatures, what time of day is usually the
coldest, and why? (night, Earth blocks the sun from heating our area)
§
So if Earth has a thicker “jacket” of CO2, what change would we expect to see in
night-time temperatures? (they would get warmer – hold on to the day’s heat
better)
Take a look at Figure 4, showing the change in night time and daytime temperatures
over time:
Figure 4
§
Which is warming faster – nights or days? (nights)
§
Does this support the CO2 “jacket” hypothesis? (yes)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Now for the last check. The sun is Earth’s major heat source, and so if there’s a rise in
temperature, it’s natural to want to see if it’s caused by the sun. Fortunately, there’s an
easy way to tell whether an increase in temperature is coming from an increase in
insulation (the CO2 jacket), or from an external source of heat like the sun.
Imagine you’re wearing a jacket, and you’re still feeling a bit cold, and someone lights a
great big bonfire right next to you.
§
Which part of your jacket would warm up first? (outside)
§
Now imagine that instead of lighting a bonfire, you magically added a layer of
long underwear underneath the jacket you’re already wearing. That would trap
more heat inside the jacket with you, warming you up, but what would happen to
the outer-most layer of the jacket? Would it stay the same temperature? Would it
warm up? Would it cool down? (it would cool down because the long underwear
doesn’t let as much heat reach it)
§
So if CO2 was responsible for the warming, by acting like an extra layer to the
“jacket” of Earth’s atmosphere, what changes would we expect in the outermost
layer of Earth’s atmosphere?
Figure 5 shows the results of measurements taken between 1980 and 1995 at different
elevations in Earth’s outer atmosphere, from 50km (farthest out) on the upper left, to
22km (closer, but still upper atmosphere) at the lower right.
Figure 5– Stratospheric Temperatures over time at different elevations
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
§
Do the data represented here support the hypothesis that CO2 is warming the
Earth by insulating it, and trapping more heat? (yes)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Activity 3: Sea level and melting ice [10-15 minutes?]
Context for the teacher
This activity is designed to look at how the increase in global temperature has led to
rising seas and melting ice, and it touches on how the global energy increase can be
masked by heat transfer to the oceans. It also introduces the concept of an “ecological
time frame” - shorter than the large-scale geological time frame, but longer than the
day-to-day or year-to-year of our daily lives.
The student materials have a copy of this text, along with the figures, and instructions to
take notes on their handout, and write down answers.
Flow of the activity
This is a lecture-based, whole class activity. Questions can be used to add a discussion
element, and the content is included in the student materials in case it’s needed for
review. The answers to questions for students are NOT included in their version.
So the planet is warming, and from multiple lines of evidence, we know that it’s because
humans have increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
Question for students: What are the results going to be? What happens to water
when temperatures rise?
It evaporates, but there’s more than that. When temperatures rise, liquid water expands.
Not a lot, but it does expand a little when it’s warmed, and that little bit adds up to a lot
when you’re dealing with a body of water the size of the planet’s ocean system. In an
ocean that’s thousands of feet deep (on average) even a rise of 100 feet would be a tiny,
tiny amount.
Most of the current sea level rise — which has been about 8 inches in the last 50 years —
has been driven by the oceans absorbing heat and expanding a little. Recently, however,
another consequence of warmth has started to contribute to sea levels at an increasing
rate. The island of Greenland has an ice sheet on it that’s over a mile thick, on average,
and covers an area of land three times the size of Texas. By drilling into multi-year ice,
and cutting out long, cylindrical segments, we can use the layers formed every year to
count back and get an idea of how long ice has been there. The Greenland ice sheet has
been there for at least 400,000 years. That means that that ice sheet is twice as old as
the human species!
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Now that ice is melting faster and faster as time goes by, and is becoming a significant
part of sea level rise.
Let’s go back to the global temperature graph. As has always been predicted, the rise in
temperature is not even. If you haven’t already, you will likely hear some people saying
things like “we’re in a cooling period right now” or “there’s been no warming since 1998”
or some other year. These assertions are especially sneaky because if you look only at air
temperatures, they seem to have a point.
Have students look at the “down the up escalator” graph. (Figure 6 or
http://www.skepticalscience.com/graphics.php?g=47 for an animated version)
Question for students: What do the blue lines represent? (Periods when the
temperature was level or dropping for multiple years. In other words, Noise)
Question for Students: What does the red line represent? (The long-term
temperature trend - the signal)
Over the last fifty years, there have been numerous short periods in which air
temperatures didn’t rise much, but over time, the trend has been towards higher
temperatures. This graph was made because there are a number of people who have
claimed that the periods marked with blue lines proved that the planet wasn’t warming.
These people tend to call themselves “skeptics” but their tendency to reject the evidence
of things like the rise in temperature means that they are misusing that term.
Question for students: So, CO2 levels are still rising; how do we know that the
warming will continue? (Answer: It would be physically impossible for Earth to not
trap more heat as CO2 levels rise.)
So, what happens during these “cool periods”?
Where does that heat go?
To answer, maybe we should ask another question — what does heat do? (Melting ice —
glaciers and ice sheets. Warming water — sea level rise. Evaporation — storms and
droughts)
In addition to glaciers and ice sheets, sea ice has also been melting in the Arctic.
Predictably, the same people who say that short-term pauses in warming mean there’s
nothing to worry about also tend to say that year-to-year increases in sea ice cover mean
that the sea ice is recovering. (Students can look at the graph of September sea ice extent
over the last 30-odd years. There are also many videos showing the decline, like this
one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGYEZ9H63zA)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
We’ve now seen two different datasets that have a clear trend when looked at over a long
period of time, while having “noise” that obscures that trend if you look at too short a
period of time.
When Arrhenius originally predicted warming from human fossil fuel use, he expected it
to take place over thousands of years - something approaching a geological time frame.
What is happening now is more of an “ecological time frame” - it spans many
generations of species, but in terms of how long geological processes take, and how long
past warming events have taken, it’s happening incredibly fast.
Because it’s happening over time, we need more than just a lot of data - we need a lot of
data over the course of a long time. Multi-year and multi-decade research is what lets us
see clear trends in ecology. That lesson – the need for large data sets – is one that
applies to all of science. The more information you have, the more accurate the answers
you get from it. It’s one of the most reliable “rules” we’ve uncovered over the many years
of studying reality, and it’s why we can be so certain that the planet’s climate is
warming, and that human activity is responsible for it – after studying it for almost 200
years, we’ve got a lot of data.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Figure 1 – Global Average Temperatures
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Figure 2 – Massachusetts Average Temperatures
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Figure 3: CO2 concentrations from Mauna Loa, Hawaii (black) and and Baring
Head, New Zealand (blue). In bottom right corner is atmospheric oxygen (O2)
measurements from Alert, Canada (pink) and Cape Grim, Australia (cyan) (IPCC
AR4 2.3.1 adapted from Manning 2006).
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Figure 4
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Figure 5 – Stratospheric Temperatures
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Figure 3
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Figure 4
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 3
Lesson 3 Review and Vocabulary
Context for the teacher
These are questions and terms you may find useful either for homework, for reviewing
the lesson, or as part of a review of the whole unit for the students. Use them or not as
you see fit.
Review Questions
§
What is the problem with looking at small segments of time (ten years or so),
when trying to determine long-term temperature trends?
§
What did Joseph Fourier discover about Earth’s climate?
§
What did John Tyndall discover about Earth’s atmosphere?
§
What did Svante Arrhenius discover about how changes in “greenhouse gasses”
could affect Earth’s temperature?
§
What are three “fingerprints” that show us human activity is responsible for the
rise in CO2, and for the rise in temperature?
§
Name two places the heat that’s being trapped in Earth’s atmosphere going, aside
from the atmosphere?
Vocabulary:
Greenhouse Gas: An atmospheric gas that absorbs heat, and then releases that heat in
all directions, acting as insulation for the planet.
Hypothesis: A proposed explanation for something, made on the basis of available
evidence, that can be used as the starting point for further investigation.
Multi-year ice: Ice that has existed in a particular location for multiple years without
melting. This ice is most commonly found in glaciers, both in mountains and near
Earth’s poles, and in the oceans near Earth’s poles. Because the ice is built up year after
year, it has visible layers – like tree rings – that show how many years it has been there.
Bubbles trapped in these layers can also provide scientists with all kinds of information
about the chemistry of the atmosphere during the year each layer was formed.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Lesson 4: Overview
This lesson explores some of the ecological changes that have occurred as a result of
global warming, and how changes in plant and animal behavior can be used as “bioindicators” of global climate change.
Key Ideas
§
Activity 1: Signal vs. noise; What’s really going on?
§
This activity is designed to reinforce the Signal vs. Noise theme. It provides and
example of a case in which the intuitive explanation of something was wrong,
because it left out an important factor. This activity should help students
remember to question assumptions, and look for other factors at work.
§
Activity 2: Changes New England
This activity focuses on the apparent range shift of two butterfly species in
Massachusetts. It touches on the concept of local/regional extinction, and
provides a concrete example of changes happening right now due to a warming
climate. It also briefly covers the idea that changes to one species almost always
cause changes to another species.
§
Activity 3: Regional Climates
This activity looks at the intersection of climate and biology. It introduces the
Whittaker Diagram, which is a very useful model describing the basic
relationship between temperature, precipitation, and ecosystem type. This is also
an exercise in abstract representations of real-world information.
§
Activity 4: Bioindicators
This is an optional activity or homework assignment discussing the idea of
bioindicators. It is a follow-up for Activity 1 of this lesson, and it is designed to
allow students to have more time to think about the concept of bioindicators and
the relationship between temperature, water, and wildlife. This activity is
designed to help lay the groundwork for Lesson 5, and for the field work ahead.
Materials
§
Student sheets
§
Blackboard/whiteboard
Students should be prepared to take notes, either in a paper journal or on the computer.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Teaching suggestions
These activities include small group work and whole-class discussion. For convenience,
you can divide your class into groups of 3-5 students at the start.
Distribute the student sheets at the beginning of the class.
Depending on your students, Activity 1 could require a re-assessment of a hypothesis. If
students focus on precipitation rather than temperature, as an explanation for changes
in plant range, the activity will probably take less time. Adjust as you see fit.
If you’re doing Activity 4, make sure students take notes during Activity 1, as they will
need to refer to them for Activity 4, whether it’s in-class or as homework.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Activity 1: Signal vs. Noise; What’s really going on? [10-15 minutes]
Context for the teacher
This activity is designed to reinforce the Signal vs. Noise theme, and help students
remember to question assumptions, and look for other factors at work. It describes a
study showing that, contrary to general predictions for ecological change, between 1930
and 2000 a number of plant species moved downhill despite climatic warming. It allows
students to practice thinking about how to form proposed explanations, and then
examine them critically. This activity also continues the examination of the connection
between rising temperatures and water availability, which relates, in turn, to the plant
data students are collecting in the field.
Flow of the activity
This is a small group activity. Questions, background, and student instructions are on
the student sheets.
Background
Given that the range of many species is limited by temperature, one of the expected
responses to global warming is a shift towards areas with lower temperatures. Plants
and animals moving north on land, or towards deeper water in the ocean. These changes
have been observed in ecosystems all over the world, more or less as expected.
In California, however, 64 plant species have moved downhill by an average of 260 feet
between 1930 and 2000.
Student Questions
§
In your small groups, discuss, and then agree on a possible explanation for why
those species are moving downhill. You don’t have much information, so just
come up with the best idea you can, as a group, based on what you know.
§
Once you have your idea, think about how you might go about investigating
further. What sort of information would give you a clearer signal about what’s
going on?
§
What sort of information would disprove your idea?
Now, look at this graph of temperature in California over the last 50 years, and think
about it as you move into a full-class discussion.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Whole-class discussion (have each group give a brief summary for each question,
questions not in student material):
§
What was your reasoning in forming your explanation? What factors did you
consider that might explain why plant species were moving downhill?(For
example, temperature as a factor – plants like warmer weather, in general, and it
gets warmer as you move downhill)
§
How were you planning to investigate to see whether your explanation is correct?
§
How do the data presented in this graph affect your conclusions?
§
Do you have a different idea of what might be happening, in light of these new
data?
Note to teacher: Once students have gone through the discussion, you can give them
the actual findings:
Researchers found that as temperatures rose, evaporation increased, and water
availability decreased. The plants moved downhill after water.
The optional Activity 4 is designed, in part, as a follow-up to this
activity.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Activity 2: Trends around New England [10 minutes]
Context for the teacher
This activity follows on from Lesson 2, looking at climate change in New England in
greater depth. In addition to providing examples of documented species responses to
climate change, it also covers the concepts of local vs. regional changes, and local
extinction.
This is a small group activity. Questions are on student sheets. Provide answers if it’s
clear they’re not coming up with them on their own.
Introduction
In 1992, the Atlantis Fritillary butterfly was a common sight in western Massachusetts.
Between 1992 and 2010, its population declined by 90%, leaving it in very real danger of
vanishing altogether.
At the same time, the Frosted Elfin butterfly, a rare sight in 1992, has seen a 1000%
population increase in Massachusetts.
§
Do you think the Atlantis Fritillary is going extinct? [Correct answer: Not
enough data to tell]
§
How do you think we could find out? [Get data from outside Massachusetts]
§
Looking at the whole country, we know that Massachusetts is at the southern end
of the Fritillary’s range. Does that change our idea about what’s going on?
[Leading them towards the notion of range shift – the Atlantis Fritillary’s
southern range is contracting, moving its effective range north]
§
The Frosted Elfin is at the northern edge of its range in Massachusetts. What do
you think is a likely cause of its dramatic population increase? [Range shift
again. We don’t know what’s happening at the southern end of its range, but it’s
expanding northward]
§
Might the same thing be happening to the Atlantis Fritillary farther north?
[Maybe]
§
Final question: What effect do you think these changes in butterfly populations
might have on other species? [For a few minutes of discussion – if they don’t get
there on their own, direct them to predator species, and plants that the
butterflies might pollinate]
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Activity 3: Regional Climates [15 minutes?]
Context for the teacher
This activity looks at the intersection of climate and biology. The goal here is twofold - to
re-emphasize the role of precipitation (in addition to temperature) in determining
regional climates, and to have students think about how climate influences their lives.
Some of the content of this lesson should be familiar to students by now, since they have
already discussed ecosystem responses to climate change, and the ecological importance
of the relationship between temperature and water availability.
This activity introduces the Whittaker Diagram, which is a very useful model describing
the basic relationship between temperature, precipitation, and ecosystem type. This is
also an exercise in abstract representations of real-world information.
Understanding Goals
By the end of this activity, students should be able to place a given ecosystem on the
Whittaker diagram, and explain why it belongs there.
Flow of the activity
This is a whole-class activity. Suggested questions/discussion guidance below, not in
student material
Write out the months of the year in a single row on a blackboard.
§
Have students think back to the activity where they filled out a calendar for
different species. What are the temperature patterns throughout the year?
Have the students guide you in marking temperature for each month, centered
around 32˚F/0˚C, so that you can connect the dots in a trend line showing the
change in temperature over the course of the year.
§
And what about precipitation? When do we get more? When less? In what
forms?
Under the temperatures, have the students guide you through marking rain/snow
levels in very approximate terms – “no rain” for July, “lots of rain” for October or
April.
§
Could a palm tree live in the wild here? Why or why not? (Too cold in the winter)
§
How about a cactus from the desert in Texas? (Too much water)
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
§
So, what we’ve drawn on the board here is a representation of the climate that
creates the kind of ecosystem we live in here in Massachusetts.
Have the students look at Figure 3 - the Whittaker Diagram.
§
What are we looking at here?
§
What is the X axis a scale of? (Temperature – the same thing as the wavy line
the students helped create)
§
And the Y axis? (Precipitation – again, like the board)
§
If I gave you the average temperature and precipitation of Massachusetts, could
you find where we are on this diagram? (if they don’t say “yes”, go to “well, let’s
try anyway”)
§
New England's average temperature is around 48ºF, which translates to about
8.9ºC. Where does that place us on the diagram? (have the students direct you to
the appropriate column on the diagram)
§
Average annual precipitation is about 120cm. Combined with temperature, where
does that place us? (have the students direct you to the appropriate row on the
diagram, within the column already selected – this should point you to
Temperate Deciduous Forest).
This diagram is a model that shows us how different ecosystem types around the world
are dependent upon on temperature and precipitation. Students may be interested to
use Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperate_deciduous_forest) or
blueplanetbiomes.org (http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/deciduous_forest.htm) to see
where other temperate deciduous forest biomes are found.
Let’s explore what a “temperate climate” means for us. What are some ways that climate
affects human culture and life?
§
How do you dress in the winter? How about the summer?
§
What about the way your house is built?
§
What activities do you do that depend on the climate? (Fishing for things like
sledding, ice skating, swimming)
§
What about food? What kinds of food are grown around here?
§
What seasons?
§
What kinds of food can’t be grown in this climate?
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
These days we can get food from any part of the world, but where it’s grown still
depends a lot on climate. Fruits like bananas and oranges don’t grow well in places with
cold winters. Other foods, such as maple syrup, depend on cold winters.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Activity 4: Bioindicators (optional)[10-15 minutes]
Context for the teacher
This follows on from Activity 1. In that case, the plant range shifts were an indicator of
changes in the regional climate, but the strongest signal coming through was the decline
in available water. It then goes on to look at the concept of bio-indicators, and how it
connects to the field work the students will be doing next week. This curriculum unit is
fairly dense, both in terms of the amount of information presented to the students, and
in terms of the introduction of new concepts. This activity is designed to allow students
to spend more time thinking about the concept of bioindicators of climate change, the
relationship between water, temperature, and wildlife, and to help lay more groundwork
for lesson 5, and for the field work ahead.
Flow of the activity
Small Group Discussion, questions and reading material in student sheets.
This is designed as a small group activity, but it will function as a short homework
assignment as well. The student materials are designed to act as a worksheet with
instructions and context in case you do send them home with it. Some answers are not
included in the student material, and are marked accordingly. If you use this as
homework you could add them to the student material, or have a brief
discussion/breakdown of the homework before launching into Lesson 5.
Student Questions
Refer back to Activity 1, with the plant range shifts in California.
§
Do you think those changes were an indicator of something happening in the
climate?
§
What might that be?
§
Average rainfall in California hadn’t really changed in the 50 years leading up to
the period in which the plant ranges shifted. Could plant “behavior” be used as an
indirect measurement for water availability and distribution?
§
What do you think the limitations of that might be? [They don’t give an actual
number on water availability, just an indication of change]
Things like a change in plant locations, or like the changes in butterfly species
distribution or lobster behavior can act like a flag, marking something that needs more
research.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
If you think back to the Manomet bird data from Lesson 2, we know that the birds are
changing migration patterns, and we know that for some of them, those patterns are
changing because of factors other than the weather (remember, birds in South America
don’t know what’s happening in New England).
§
So what do you think might be causing the change in migration times for those
birds?
Answer, not in student materials: It may be a matter of evolution, that is, the
processes of selection and adaptation - individuals of a particular species that tend
toarrive earlier are lucky enough to get more food because they will be in synch with the
earlier spring leaf-out and insect-out. That lets them breed sooner than others of their
species, and gives them more resources with which to nourish themselves and their
young. It might even give them enough time to produce more than one clutch of eggs.
Their offspring would then arrive earlier, just like their parents did, and over time, the
average arrival time would move earlier in the season.
§
How do you think we could test that?
Answer, not in student materials: There are a number of ways, but one of them is
monitoring plant growth. Most songbirds rely on insects in the spring, and a mixture of
insects and seeds later on in the summer and into the fall. Changes in plant growth
patterns could be facilitating that, but in order to verify, we’d have to measure plant
growth over time, and see if there are any significant changes occurring. That’s where
you come in, and that’s what we’ll be talking about next lesson.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Figure 1 - California Temperatures over time
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Figure 2 — Atlantis Fritillary
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Figure 3 — Frosted Elfin
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Figure 4
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The Climate Lab Curriculum—Lesson 4
Lesson 4 Review and Vocabulary
Context for the teacher
These are questions and terms you may find useful either for homework, for reviewing
the lesson, or as part of a review of the whole unit for the students. Use them or not as
you see fit.
Review Questions
§
Aside from temperature, what is another part of the climate that can change,
cause species to change behavior or location as a result?
§
How could you investigate whether a species is going extinct, or simply moving to
a new territory?
§
How can ecological mismatch lead to an evolutionary response to climate
change?
Vocabulary
Indirect measurement (sometimes referred to as a “proxy measurement”): Indirect, or
proxy measurements are a way to get information about things that are difficult to
measure, by measuring how they affect something else. One example would be
measuring the amount of water that’s typically available in an area by looking at the
plant species living there. If you know which plant species need how much water, then
you can get a good idea of water availability from the local ecosystem. Cattails would
mean lots of water, cactus would mean very, very little water.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum-Lesson 5
Lesson 5: Overview
This lesson focuses on the Climate Lab research. It touches on how research can help
solve the problems presented by climate change, and it also introduces the
measurements and techniques students will be using when they collect data in the field.
With the previous 4 lessons, students should start to have a good idea about how the
Climate Lab project fits into the big picture of climate science. This lesson connects all
that to the specific measurement techniques that the students will be using.
Key Ideas
§
Activity 1: Signal vs. Noise; Where’s Waldo likely to be?
This is the conclusion of the Signal vs. Noise series, and the second half of the
Where’s Waldo two-part lesson. In this activity, students will get an idea of how
science practices can be applied to everyday questions and endeavors, like solving
a Where’s Waldo puzzle.
§
Activity 2: What are we exploring and why?
What are we exploring? This activity looks at the link between Manomet’s bird
data, and the plant measurements we’re taking. In particular, it touches on the
notion that something causing changes to one species is likely to cause changes to
others as well.
§
Activity 3: Techniques used
Training. This activity is a review of the measurement techniques the students
will be taking in the field.
Materials
•
•
•
•
•
•
Student sheets
Ocular tubes
Measuring tape
String
Calipers
Leaves from a plant of some variety
Students should be prepared to take notes, either in notebooks or on the computer.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum-Lesson 5
Activity 1: Signal vs. Noise; Where’s Waldo likely to be? [10 minutes]
Context for the Teacher
This activity wraps up the Signal vs. Noise series with an analysis of 68 Where’s Waldo
puzzles that gives us a better idea of where to expect Waldo to be. The goal of this
exercise is to once again drive home the point that the larger the data pool, the more
likely we are to find a clear pattern which can help us see what’s going on in the world
around us.
Flow of the lesson: Divide the class into small groups. Have each student look at the
answers they gave to the last two question of Activity 1, Lesson 1 - Based on the Where’s
Waldo puzzle you were looking at, would you be able to predict Waldo’s location in other
puzzles? What would you need to make that prediction?
Flow of the activity
This is a small group activity.
a. Have the groups discuss their answers
Based on what you’ve learned this week, is there anything you would change
about your answers? If so, write down those changes, and why they are good
changes to make.
b. Now, have them look at Figure 1. A writer at Slate.com did an analysis of 68
Where’s Waldo puzzles, marking each location in an empty space with the same
dimensions as the puzzles. Have them discuss:
Looking at this plot, do you see any patterns that might help you predict future
Waldo locations?
Note to teacher: You can either use a projector to display Figure 2, or print off one
copy per group to hand out at this point. Look at Figure 2. The author’s analysis shows
that 53% of Waldos counted could be found in the two 1.5” red strips, one 3” from the
bottom, and one 7” from the bottom.
Continuing small group discussion
§
These data clearly won’t give us Waldo’s location 100% of the time, but do we
have a better idea of where Waldo is likely to be?
§
How would having this knowledge be useful if presented with future Where’s
Waldo puzzles?
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The Climate Lab Curriculum-Lesson 5
Whole group/conclusion
In this case, a thorough analysis didn’t give us results that can predict an outcome 100%
of the time. What it DID do, however, is make it much easier to find the signal, both by
showing us where it’s likely to be in slightly over half the cases, and by allowing us to
quickly eliminate the more likely locations in a systematic manner.
Even without 100% accuracy, using a large dataset to analyze what’s going on can make
a huge difference.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum-Lesson 5
Activity 2: What are we exploring and why? [5-10 minutes]
Context for the Teacher
This lecture component moves from looking at observed changes, and likely causes for
them, to thinking about what the changes we know about might mean for species that
haven’t been studied as thoroughly as birds (for example). The goal here is to make clear
why students will be measuring plants in the field.
Flow of the activity
This is a whole class, lecture-based activity.
Introduction
As we’ve seen throughout this week, it’s always good to have as much data as possible,
over as long a time period as possible. We’ve got decades of data on numerous bird
species, thanks to Manomet, so we have a pretty clear idea what’s going on with the
birds.
Science, at its core, is about people working together, and building off of each other’s
knowledge in order to increase our understanding of the world. Not only are we working
with the scientists at Manomet, we’re also working with students one, five, ten, twenty,
and maybe many more years in the future, who will continue to build the dataset that
we’re helping create.
Science is also about answering questions. In order to do that, we need to be able to
form the right questions. The most common form of that is using the data we have to
form a hypothesis, as we’ve done in previous lessons. From those hypotheses, we make
predictions, and then gather data to test those prediction.
Example
The bird migration data, along with other data (such as frog
calling, changes in plant flowering times, and butterfly range
shifts), provide evidence that organisms in New England are
responding to climate change, especially warming.
Hypothesis: Other local species are also changing in measurable ways.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum-Lesson 5
Hypothesis: Individual species' climate responses will result in changes that are
important to humans, in part because not all species will respond in the same ways, or at
the same rate.
Predictions
a. Trees and shrubs in our area will respond by leafing out
earlier (bud-break and full-expansion).
b. Over time, trees and shrubs will grow at higher rates.
c. New species (plants and animals) will expand their range into
the area from the south and some of these species will appear
on the transects or at the field site. .
d. Some species (plant and animal) will become less numerous,
others will become more numerous.
e. Some predator-prey (or pollinator-plant) relationships will be
disrupted over time.
If the data don't support our hypotheses, then clearly other questions will need to be
asked. Because climate warming is happening in a zig-zag fashion (ups and downs, but
trending steadily upward), we probably need data taken over a number of years. That's
where projects like the Climate Lab come in.
Next week, we’re going to go to a transect on school property, and we’re going to take a
series of plant measurements to test the first two predictions. Last year, several classes
of students in this and other schools took the first round of measurements. This year,
we’re going to take the second round. Next year, other classes will do the same, and over
time we’ll be able to build up a clear picture of what’s happening to plant life around
here.
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The Climate Lab Curriculum-Lesson 5
Activity 3: Techniques used
Context for the Teacher
This lesson reviews the techniques that students will be using in the field to gather data.
The goal is for them to have some level of familiarity with what they’re going to be
doing, so that they can spend less time learning how to collect data, and more time
actually doing it. This is also a good time to impress upon them the importance of note
taking and record keeping. These activities do not have to be done in any particular
order, so if you have fewer tools than you have groups, you can have them rotate
activities and tools. Measuring tapes, or at least rulers, may be necessary for more than
one group at a time.
Flow of the activity
This is a small group activity. Instructions included in student sheets for reference.
A. Measuring diameter
This activity is to practice taking the diameter at breast height (dbh) of a tree — the
standard measurement for tree girth (often 1.5m is used as a standard for breast height).
Math: Students probably know, or should be reminded, that if we assume a tree-trunk is
circular in cross-section, then the diameter is computed from the circumference as c/π =
d.
Each group should have a piece of string, about two or three feet long, and a tape
measure.
Within each group, students should use the string and tape measure to measure the
circumference of each other's heads. To do this, wrap the string around the head in
question, and mark where the end of the string meets the rest of it. Then measure the
length from that end to the mark. That’s the circumference.
Then divide that circumference by pi (3.14) to get the approximate diameter of the
student’s head. Each group should make note of their head diameters.
B. Estimating tree height
This activity is to practice estimating tree height, using students as measuring sticks.
Next, each group should have one student stand against the wall as a measuring stick.
The rest of the students will then estimate the height, from floor to ceiling, of the room,
based on how many times they could stack the “measuring stick” students on top of
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The Climate Lab Curriculum-Lesson 5
themselves. Each group should agree on a number, based on all of their estimates. Each
group should write down their agreed-upon room height.
C.
Measuring leaf dimensions
This activity is to practice measuring leaf dimensions.
Each group should have a few leaves to measure. If they have calipers, they should use
them to measure length (from where the leaf-blade begins to the tip) and width at
widest point of several leaves. Each student should get a chance to try it. If they don’t
have calipers, they should use measuring tapes to do it.
If you have some calipers but not enough to go around, have one group start with leaf
measurements, and then pass it on to the next group, and so on.
D. Canopy cover and ground cover
This activity is to practice measuring canopy cover and ground cover.
Each group should have at least one ocular tube. Have the students cover the tube, look
directly up, and record whether the crosshairs of the tube are on a crack or line in the
ceiling (or some other such marker). If there’s a mark, they write “yes”. If there’s not,
they write “no”. Then, the same student should cover that eye, look straight down
toward their feet, and record whether the crosshairs of the tube are on a mark on the
floor. Again, “yes” for a mark, and “no” for no mark.
It is important to emphasize here that the ONLY thing of value in this activity is
accuracy. Students should be made aware that humans in general are likely to try to
make their crosshairs line up with something, because that can be more satisfying. This
is an urge to guard against, as the best answer is the most accurate one.
All students in each group should try using the tubes, and they should all write down the
results.
And that’s it! For homework, and this is important, all students should wear pants and
close-toed shoes, and raincoats if it’s going to be raining. You’ll be going out into the
woods, where there are thorns, and poison ivy, and all manner of other inconveniences,
and comfort is a good thing!
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The Climate Lab Curriculum-Lesson 5
Figure 1
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The Climate Lab Curriculum-Lesson 5
Figure 2
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The Climate Lab Curriculum-Lesson 5
Lesson 5 Review and Vocabulary
Context for the Teacher
These are questions and terms you may find useful either for homework, for reviewing
the lesson, or as part of a review of the whole unit for the students. Use them or not as
you see fit.
Review Questions
§
When you are testing a hypothesis, is it better to gather as much data as possible,
even though that data indicates that you might be wrong, or to only look for data
that would indicate you might be right?
§
What kind of clothing should you wear if you’re going to be conducting research
outside?
Vocabulary
DBH: Diameter at Breast Height – a standard measurement of how thick a tree trunk is.
Canopy Cover: An estimate of how much light is allowed through the canopy of a forest,
to reach the shrub and herb layers below.
Ground Cover: Herbaceous plants growing at or near ground level.
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