As an Undergraduate teacher of Earth Sciences or Physics or Math, you can teach how to build a mathematical model of the Earth’s climate system using Python. This lesson plan includes discussions, activities, and a detailed guide of how to create a computational model of Earth’s energy balance to understand its role in determining the surface temperature of the planet.
This lesson plan uses resources developed by Prof. David Archer from the University of Chicago. Specifically, it focuses on the “Time dependent Energy-Balance Model for the Earth” that includes fundamental thermodynamics concepts such as blackbody radiation and heat capacities. The model applies these concepts to study how the energy balance between the incident solar radiation and the outgoing terrestrial radiation governs the surface temperature of the planet, and consequently, how it evolves over time. The activity section of this lesson plan includes a detailed instruction manual that serves as a step-by-step guide to conceptualize David Archer’s model in numerical and algorithmic terms, eventually developing a computational model using Python programming.
Thus, the use of this lesson plan allows you to integrate the teaching of a climate science topic with a core topic in Math, Earth Sciences and Physics.
This lesson plan was developed by Tatsam Garg, Ashoka University, India.
The tools in this lesson plan will enable students to:
Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.
Video Lecture (45 min)
Teaching Module(45 min)
Classroom/ Laboratory Activity(60 min)
Use the link to the Python tutorial database to teach the basics of Python programming such as printing text, defining variables, simple arithmetic operations, import and use of the ‘numpy’ and ‘matplotlib’ libraries, defining arrays and lists, using indices with arrays and lists, and loops (specifically ‘for’ loops). These introductory skills will be required for the ensuing classroom/laboratory activity.
Begin by recalling the Time-Dependent Energy Balance Model described in the first resource. Inform your students that this classroom activity involves developing the climate model using Python. This exercise has been adopted from Prof David Archer’s course titled “Global Warming II: Create your own models in python”, available on Coursera here.
A detailed step-by-step guide for this activity is provided here for download.
Use this lesson plan to help your students find answers to:
| 1 | Video Lecture; “Our first Climate Model” | Presented by Prof David Archer, University of Chicago |
| 2 | Teaching Module; ‘Derivatives and the Shape of a Graph’ | Developed by Python.org |
| 3 | Teaching Module; ‘Tutorial- The Time Dependent Energy Balance Model for Earth’ | Developed by Tatsam Garg, Ashoka University |
| 4 | Additional Resources | Presented by Prof David Archer, University of Chicago for Coursera |
Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.
Video Lecture (45 min)
Teaching Module(45 min)
Classroom/ Laboratory Activity(60 min)
Use the link to the Python tutorial database to teach the basics of Python programming such as printing text, defining variables, simple arithmetic operations, import and use of the ‘numpy’ and ‘matplotlib’ libraries, defining arrays and lists, using indices with arrays and lists, and loops (specifically ‘for’ loops). These introductory skills will be required for the ensuing classroom/laboratory activity.
Suggested questions/assignments for learning evaluation
Use the link to the Python tutorial database to teach the basics of Python programming such as printing text, defining variables, simple arithmetic operations, import and use of the ‘numpy’ and ‘matplotlib’ libraries, defining arrays and lists, using indices with arrays and lists, and loops (specifically ‘for’ loops). These introductory skills will be required for the ensuing classroom/laboratory activity.
A detailed step-by-step guide for this activity is provided with this Lesson Plan.
Use this lesson plan to help your students find answers to:
| 1 | Video Lecture; “Our first Climate Model” | Presented by Prof David Archer, University of Chicago |
| 2 | Teaching Module; ‘Derivatives and the Shape of a Graph’ | Developed by Python.org |
| 3 | Teaching Module; ‘Tutorial- The Time Dependent Energy Balance Model for Earth’ | Developed by Tatsam Garg, Ashoka University |
| 4 | Additional Resources | Presented by Prof David Archer, University of Chicago for Coursera |
