Climate Change Education Across the Curricula, Across the Globe
Climate Change Education Across the Curricula
A micro-lecture that describes the vibrational modes of polyatomic molecules, how these modes determine whether the molecules are IR inactive or IR active and explains why most IR active polyatomic gas molecules are greenhouse gases.
Read More “Video Micro-lecture: Modes of Vibration in Greenhouse Gas Molecules”
A quiz to understand atmospheric aerosols, their basic characteristics and impact on climate.
Read More “Classroom/Laboratory Activity: What are Aerosols?”
A video micro-lecture that describes the phase diagrams of water on Earth, Mars, and Venus. It also describes the water vapor feedback mechanism in the atmospheres of these planets that influences the greenhouse effect.
Read More “Video micro-lecture: Phase Diagrams and Earth’s Climate”
A visualization and associated activity to explain how Planck’s Law can be used to plot blackbody curves of objects with different temperatures, the relationship between temperature and peak wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, and the greenhouse effect of Earth’s atmosphere.
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.
A visualization to observe, understand, explore, and analyze the molecular structure of carbon compounds (CO2, CH4), the effect of electromagnetic radiation on these molecules, and the role of greenhouse gases in climate change.
A model/simulator to learn about vertical energy (heat) transfer in the Earth’s system and planetary energy balance.
Read More “Model/Simulator: Modeling Planetary Energy Balance”
A visualization to learn about the infrared (IR) spectra of different greenhouse gases and the effect of greenhouse gases on the Earth’s climate.
Read More “Visualization: Infrared Spectra of Greenhouse Gases”
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.
Read More “Classroom/Laboratory Activity: Permafrost and Climate Change”
CAIT Climate Data Explorer by World Resources Institute (WRI) showcases the world’s top greenhouse gas-emitting countries with the latest global data available till the year 2013. This interactive chart can be used to explore it by country and by economic sector, showing how the top emitters have changed in recent years.
| Tool Name | World’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
| Discipline | Environmental Sciences |
| Topic(s) in Discipline | Greenhouse gas emissions |
| Climate Topic | Climate variability record, The Greenhouse Effect |
| Type of Tool | Data Visualization |
| Grade Level | High school, Undergraduate |
| Location | Global |
| Language | English |
| Translation | |
| Developed by | Graphic by Johannes Friedrich based on work by Duncan Clark, Kiln, Mike Bostock and Jason Davies, Jamie Cotta. Data by the World Resources Institute (WRI) |
| Hosted at | CAIT Climate Data Explorer |
| Link | https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/04/interactive-chart-explains-worlds-top-10-emitters-and-how-theyve-changed |
| Access | Online |
| Computer Skills | Basic |
A classroom activity that teaches students about the different atmospheric aerosols and gases released during volcanic eruptions and how they can affect climate.
Read More “Classroom/Laboratory Activity: Volcanoes and Climate”
A reading that discusses how chemical bonds in molecules respond to incident IR light and absorb IR energy during certain modes of vibration. The reading includes discussions on the vibrational modes of water vapor and carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules and explains why these gases act as greenhouse gases.
Read More “Reading: Molecular Vibration Modes and the Greenhouse Effect”
A reading to learn about the energy balance of planet Earth and to understand atmospheric warming by using a single-layer atmosphere model.
Read More “Reading: A Single-layer Atmosphere Model to Explain Atmospheric Warming”
A model/simulator to understand the effect of greenhouse gases on outgoing energy flux, and to compare the absorption of infrared radiation by various greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and water vapor.
Read More “Model/Simulator: Greenhouse Gases and Infrared Radiation”
