Causes and Effects of Climate Change

Duration: 125 minutes

Grade Levels: 6-12

This session focuses on the causes and effects of climate change, starting with opportunities for students to access and connect to their prior knowledge through developing cause and effect flow charts. Students engage in an activity to reinforce that a good scientific explanation is supported by strong and reliable evidence, the evidence is based on carefully collected data and information, and the evidence is from a reliable source.
Resources

Lesson Plan

Partner

Grade Levels: 6-12

Duration: 125 minutes

Concepts/Skills:Disciplinary Core Ideas: MS.ESS3.C: Human impacts on Earth’s Systems, MS.ESS3.D: Global Climate Change, HS. ESS2.D: Weather and Climate, HS.ESS3.D: Global Climate Change. Science and Engineering Practice: Constructing explanations and designing solutions, Developing and Using Models Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect

Objectives:

  • Build a model (cause and effect flow chart) of global causes and effects of climate change
  • Recognize and gather evidence from reliable sources to support explanations of climate change
  • Determine how global impacts of climate change manifest their effects on local economies, cultures, and communities.

Climate Standards Connections

Next Generation Science Standards
Grade Performance Expectation Description
9-12 HS-ESS2-4 Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems result in changes in climate.
Climate Change Connections changes in climate
Clarification Statement & Assessment Boundary Examples of the causes of climate change differ by timescale, over 1-10 years: large volcanic eruption, ocean circulation; 10-100s of years: changes in human activity, ocean circulation, solar output; 10-100s of thousands of years: changes to Earth's orbit and the orientation of its axis; and 10-100s of millions of years: long-term changes in atmospheric composition. Assessment of the results of changes in climate is limited to changes in surface temperatures, precipitation patterns, glacial ice volumes, sea levels, and biosphere distribution.