Climate Change Education Across the Curricula, Across the Globe

Climate Change Education Across the Curricula

Tag: Climate and the Cryosphere

Classroom/Laboratory Activity: Reconstruction of Paleoclimate by Using Isotopic Composition Data

Posted by on in Chemistry, Earth Sciences

A classroom/laboratory activity to learn about the isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen, analyze the isotopic composition of ice, and understand how isotopic compositions can be used to recreate past temperatures and climate.

Students will plot graphs to analyze data from the Vostok ice core in Antarctica, learn about the ice age and the gas age, calculate past temperatures using hydrogen isotope data, and discuss the possible impacts of changes in carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) concentrations on climate.

Use this tool to help your students find answers to:

  1. How can you use hydrogen isotope data in an ice core to determine temperature?
  2. How can the isotopic composition of air bubbles in ice cores be used to recreate past climate?

About the Tool

Tool Name Lab: Vostok Ice Core
Discipline Chemistry, Earth Sciences
Topic(s) in Discipline Isotopes, Isotopic Ratios, Isotopic Composition in paleoclimate reconstructions, Atomic Number, Atomic Mass
Climate Topic Climate and the Cryosphere, Climate Variability Record
Type of Tool Laboratory Activity
Grade Level Undergraduate
Location Antarctica
Vostok Station
Language English
Translation
Developed by  Stephanie Pfirman, Barnard College
Hosted at Columbia University: The Climate System course taught by Peter Schlosser, Stephanie Pfirman, Mingfang Ting, Jason Smerdon
Link Link
Access Online, Offline
Computer Skills Intermediate

Video: Permafrost and Climate Change

Posted by on in Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geography

A video that introduces permafrost and its distribution on Earth. The video also describes the changing nature of permafrost across several regions due to higher surface temperatures and the possible impact of permafrost thawing on Earth’s climate.

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Reading: The climate in our hands – Ocean and Cryosphere

Posted by on in Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, General, Geography, Humanities

The Office for Climate Education (OCE) presents a Teacher’s Guidebook that aims to support teachers in carrying out various activities on climate change and the ocean and cryosphere in their classrooms, and targets students of ages 9 to 15. 

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Teaching Module: Analyzing Climate Science Data through Simple Statistical Techniques

Posted by on in Mathematics and Statistics

A teaching module that demonstrates the use of linear and quadratic regression to analyze Arctic sea ice extent data and the use of graphs, sample correlations, and multiple regression to analyze atmospheric CO2 level data, solar irradiance data, and average global temperature data.

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Classroom/Laboratory Activity: Climate Change, the Cryosphere, and Rising Sea Levels

Posted by on in Earth Sciences, Geography

A classroom/laboratory activity that introduces the relationship between climate and the cryosphere, explains how sea-level rise can be predicted (based on average global temperature change), and triggers a discussion on the potential impacts of sea-level rise.

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How Yukon glaciers are responding to climate change

Posted by on in Environmental Sciences, Geography
This audio podcast discusses how glaciers in the Yukon are responding to climate change. It focuses on changes in the physical characteristics of these glaciers and several methods used by glaciologists to track changes due to climate and weather.

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Classroom/Laboratory Activity: Permafrost and Climate Change

Posted by on in Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geography

A set of hands-on classroom and computer-based activities for students to learn about permafrost and to explore various web-based scientific data portals to investigate permafrost distribution, characteristics of permafrost, and the effects of thawing permafrost on the atmosphere and the environment.

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