In this lesson, students will investigate the drivers of climate change, including adding carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, sea level rise, and the effect of decreasing sea ice on temperatures.

Help learners envision themselves as explorers, scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians as they venture into the summer months.  Download the PDF of the two sided document on cardstock and have students imagine and illustrate themselves! 

This mini-lesson guides students' observations of soil moisture anomalies (how much the moisture content was above or below the norm) for the continental US in May 2018.

Students will watch a video on the Greenland Ice Sheet and answer questions.

Students examine the two time series images to determine the differences between seasonal ice melt over water versus land.

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

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

 Air, Water, Land, & Life: A Global Perspective

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

Students use albedo values of common surfaces along with photographic images of Earth taken from the International Space Station to make an argument about specific anthropogenic activities that impact Earth’s albedo.