Supporting Teachers
We give science teachers the tools and skills they need to help their students overcome misconceptions and misinformation about climate change and evolution.
Back to Classroom Resources
Past vs. Present Climate Change
These lessons are being expanded. Stay tuned for more.
"Climate has always changed. Why is today any different?" With Milankovitch cycles (what?!), ice cores and other paleoclimate data, students explore the logical fallacy behind this misconception.
Age Level
Grades 5-12
Duration
One 60-minute period
Disciplinary Core Ideas
- HS-ESS1.B2: Cyclical changes in the shape of Earth’s orbit around the sun, together with changes in the tilt of the planet’s axis of rotation, both occurring over hundreds of thousands of years, have altered the intensity and distribution of sunlight falling on the earth. These phenomena cause a cycle of ice ages and other gradual climate changes.
- HS-ESS2.A3: The geological record shows that changes to global and regional climate can be caused by interactions among changes in the sun’s energy output or Earth’s orbit, tectonic events, ocean circulation, volcanic activity, glaciers, vegetation, and human activities. These changes can occur on a variety of time scales from sudden (e.g., volcanic ash clouds) to intermediate (ice ages) to very long-term tectonic cycles.
- HS-ESS2.D3: Changes in the atmosphere due to human activity have increased carbon dioxide concentrations and thus affect climate.
- HS-ESS3.D1: Though the magnitudes of human impacts are greater than they have ever been, so too are human abilities to model, predict, and manage current and future impacts.
Performance Expectations
- 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 systems.
- HS-ESS3-6: Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are