In this math activity, students will solve equations that correspond with a greenhouse gas source and then rank the sources from least emissions to most emissions.
Students will use multiplication, division, subtraction, and addition skills to determine the ranking for each greenhouse gas source.
Teaching Tips
Positives
Young students will get a sense of which greenhouse gas sources contribute most to climate change.
The teacher's guide and student handout can be downloaded and used offline or printed.
The lesson plan includes an answer key.
Additional Prerequisites
This activity assumes that the students know how to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers.
The teacher's guide features British terms, like lorry (truck) and rubbish (trash or garbage) that some students may not be familiar with.
The term "greenhouse gas" is not used in the student handout. This activity uses the term "nasty gases."
Differentiation
Students can solve the equations in groups. Once the equations are solved, they can order the activities together.
Teachers could use this worksheet for early finishers or as independent morning work.
Other resources on this topic include this activity that introduces students to the greenhouse gases, this video on the greenhouse effect, and this video on the causes and effects of climate change.
Scientist Notes
This resource introduces students to the idea that different human activities create different amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and that we need to reduce some of these activities to help the planet. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Mathematics
Numeric Reasoning: Base Ten Arithmetic (K-5)
2.NBT.B.5 Fluently add and subtract within 100 using accurate, efficient, and flexible strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.
4.NBT.B.4 Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using accurate, efficient, and flexible strategies and algorithms based on place value and properties of operations.
4.NBT.B.5 Use representations and strategies to multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit number, and a two-digit number by a two-digit number using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations.
4.NBT.B.6 Use representations and strategies to find whole-number quotients and remainders with up to four-digit dividends and one-digit divisors using strategies based on place value, the properties of operations, and/or the relationship between multiplication and division.
Science
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
4.ESS3.1 Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and that their uses affect the environment.
5.ESS3.1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
