This video explains that even though the Earth's climate has changed throughout history, burning fossil fuels has caused an unprecedented rise in global temperatures.
Students will learn about the techniques that scientists use to study the Earth's climate history and how changing the amount of carbon in the carbon cycle contributes to global warming.
Teaching Tips
Positives
Colorful animations keep this video interesting.
A full transcript of the video is available with a tracking feature, so students can easily follow along.
Additional Prerequisites
The interactive quiz can be recorded in Google Classroom if you sign in.
Differentiation
Students in science classes could draw pictures or diagrams to show how humans have interrupted the natural climate cycle by burning fossil fuels.
History and science classes could discuss what they think would have happened to society and the planet if we had not discovered fossil fuels.
Cross-curricular connections could be made with civics or government classes by having students draft a global policy to end climate change using the information in the video and additional research.
Other resources on this topic include this interactive presentation on how scientists use ice cores to learn about the past, this lesson on climate change in Earth history, and this interactive resource that shows changes in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Scientist Notes
This short video (<4min) offers a brief overview of the climate, factors that change naturally, and how human activity is changing the atmosphere rapidly. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Science
ESS1: Earth's Place in the Universe
HS.ESS1.6 Apply scientific reasoning and evidence from ancient Earth materials, meteorites, and other planetary surfaces to construct an account of Earth’s formation and early history.
ESS2: Earth's Systems
6.ESS2.6 Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
HS.ESS2.2 Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
6.ESS3.5 Ask clarifying questions based on evidence about the factors that have caused climate change over the past century.
HS.ESS3.5 Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth’s systems.
Social Sciences
Historical Thinking (K-12)
6.23 Explain and analyze the historical context of key people, cultures, products, events, and ideas over time including the examination of different perspectives from Indigenous people, ethnic and religious groups, and other traditionally marginalized groups throughout the Western Hemisphere.
