Length of Lesson: Two to three 50-minute class periods.
Intended audience & Topic: Life Science, Biology or Environmental Science. Due to the reading
level in the primary research publications, this lesson is most appropriate to upper level High
School students. Using age-appropriate articles, this lesson could be adapted to any grade 4-12.
Appropriateness for High School Students: The topic of global climate change is one that is often fraught with debate. As we prepare our high school students to be productive members of society and informed decision makers, it is essential that they are given opportunities to read primary research documents and compare them to media offerings in order to draw their own conclusions about important societal issues. Students must be taught how to determine the validity of a source of information, looking for possible bias, and misinformation. To be savvy consumers of information, it is important that students understand the value of primary sources of information, and the distortions that often occur as this information is adapted for more general public consumption. Even among primary resources, it is our goal that students will investigate the authors of scientific studies to uncover any sources of bias built within the research itself. Only when students reach this level of scrutiny, will we feel that we are producing scientifically literate citizens.
Concepts: Although there is a strong correlation between human activities and recent global climate changes, there is a debate among the general public as to whether a clear cause and effect can be verified. Although we are aware that temperature and climate patterns vary widely over the course of Earth’s history, recent data collected by a variety of respected scientific studies have shown a close relationship among greenhouse gas emissions, temperature rise and increase in large scale climactic events such as droughts, storms and flooding. One way to approach such a broad and controversial topic is to present snapshots of specific data highlighting local issues of interest to students. By focusing specifically on the needs of sea turtles and how these species are being affected by some of the changes that are already occurring, students will be encouraged to draw their own conclusions on a smaller scale, which in turn will be a step towards a greater understanding of the larger issue of the relationship between anthropogenic activities and global environmental changes.
