This lesson contains a card sort activity that challenges students to predict relative albedo values of common surfaces. 

Students connect day/night and seasonal cycles with albedo in the Arctic region. 

Students explore albedo, sea ice, and the relationship between changing albedo and changing sea ice using data visualizations. 

Students develop and test a hypothesis about how albedo affects temperature.

Students watch a video explaining albedo and its impact on Earth. The video shows visualizations of albedo across Earth and how it can change. Students will interpret the images in the video and answer questions about albedo.

Students collect and analyze temperature data to explore what governs how much energy is reflected. 

Students explore positive feedback effects of changing albedo from melting Arctic sea ice.

Students review a video showing a global view of the top-of-atmosphere shortwave radiation from January 26 and 27, 2012 and answer the questions that follow.

Students observe the map image, individually, looking for changes in surface air temperatures (using data displayed, unit of measure, range of values, etc.) and noticeable patterns.

In this activity, you will use an inexpensive spectrophotometer* to test how light at different visible wavelengths (blue, green, red) is transmitted, or absorbed, through four different colored water samples.