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Science lesson plan · 11th grade (Year 12 in England) · 30 minutes

Analyse climate data: COâ‚‚ records and temperature trends

Weather and climate

CCSS NGSS.HS-ESS3-5CCSS NGSS.HS-ESS2-4CCSS NGSS.SEP 4England: GCSE Combined Science: Chemistry of the atmosphere (evaluating evidence for climate change)

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Analyse climate data: COâ‚‚ records and temperature trends.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: The greenhouse effect and climate change; Interpreting data from tables and graphs

Leads to: Climate feedbacks and natural climate cycles

Materials: Weather maps, Thermometers, Mini whiteboards, A diagram or short video clip of the idea, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (The greenhouse effect and climate change; Interpreting data from tables and graphs). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Which of these is a greenhouse gas? (nitrogen / oxygen / argon / methane) → methanePrompt: Cattle and rice paddies release it.
  2. Study: Light and pondweed. Distance from lamp (cm) → Bubbles per minute 10 → 43 20 → 37 30 → 31 40 → 25 50 → 19 Estimate the value at 45, assuming the pattern between neighbouring points is a straight line. → 22Prompt: 45 lies halfway between 40 and 50.
  3. Before 1800, carbon dioxide in the air was about 280 parts per million (ppm). Recently it was about 400 ppm. By what percentage has it increased? Give a whole number. → 43 %Prompt: First find the increase.

Hook · 3 min

  • Show today's forecast and ask what it means for the class and how forecasters know.
  • Share the objective: Analyse climate data: COâ‚‚ records and temperature trends. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Annual mean COâ‚‚ at the Mauna Loa observatory was about 317 ppm in 1960 and about 414 ppm in 2020. What was the mean rate of increase, in ppm per year? Give 1 decimal place.
  • Step 1: (414 − 317) ÷ (2020 − 1960) = 97 ÷ 60 = 1.62
  • Step 2: So the answer is: 1.6
  • Answer: 1.6
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Annual mean CO₂ at the Mauna Loa observatory was about 339 ppm in 1980 and about 414 ppm in 2020. What was the mean rate of increase, in ppm per year? Give 1 decimal place. → 1.9Prompt: rate = change in CO₂ ÷ change in time
  2. Pre-industrial CO₂ was about 280 ppm. In the 2020s it is above 420 ppm. Roughly what percentage increase is this? (about 150 % / about 5 % / about 50 % / about 15 %) → about 50 %Prompt: (420 − 280) ÷ 280 × 100

You do: independent practice · 7 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 3 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Annual mean CO₂ at the Mauna Loa observatory was about 326 ppm in 1970 and about 390 ppm in 2010. What was the mean rate of increase, in ppm per year? Give 1 decimal place. → 1.6Prompt: rate = change in CO₂ ÷ change in time
  2. Climate evidence: which statement is NOT true? (Global average surface temperature has risen by more than 1 °C since the late 1800s. / Sea level is rising as oceans warm and land ice melts. / Arctic sea ice in summer has shrunk since satellite records began in 1979. / Melting sea ice is the main cause of sea-level rise.) → Melting sea ice is the main cause of sea-level rise.Prompt: What is the difference between weather and climate?

Watch out for

  • Everyday meanings of words getting in the way of the science meaning: define key words explicitly.
  • Remembering facts without the reason: ask "why?" and "what is the evidence?"

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: The greenhouse effect and climate change.
  • Use concrete materials: weather maps.
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: Climate feedbacks and natural climate cycles.
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-11.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Analyse climate data: COâ‚‚ records and temperature trends

Name

Date

Score/ 6

  1. Question 1

    A website claims "the climate has always changed, so today's warming is natural". Which response is best supported by evidence?

    • A. There has been no warming since 1900
    • B. Past changes were mostly slower and had natural causes; today's rapid warming matches the rise in COâ‚‚ from human activity
    • C. The claim proves humans have no effect
    • D. Natural changes cannot happen

  2. Question 2

    Annual mean COâ‚‚ at the Mauna Loa observatory was about 369 ppm in 2000 and about 414 ppm in 2020. What was the mean rate of increase, in ppm per year? Give 1 decimal place.

    Answer

  3. Question 3

    Climate evidence: which statement is NOT true?

    • A. Burning fossil fuels is the main cause of the recent rise in atmospheric COâ‚‚.
    • B. Sea level is rising as oceans warm and land ice melts.
    • C. A cold winter in one city disproves global warming.
    • D. Global average surface temperature has risen by more than 1 °C since the late 1800s.

  4. Question 4

    The COâ‚‚ record from Mauna Loa rises every year but also goes up and down within each year. Why the yearly wiggle?

    • A. Northern Hemisphere plants absorb COâ‚‚ in spring and summer and release it in autumn and winter
    • B. The instruments are faulty
    • C. Volcanoes erupt every winter
    • D. People burn no fuel in summer

  5. Question 5

    How do scientists know COâ‚‚ levels from hundreds of thousands of years ago?

    • A. from satellite photos of the past
    • B. they guess
    • C. from air bubbles trapped in ice cores from Antarctica
    • D. from old newspapers

  6. Question 6

    Annual mean COâ‚‚ at the Mauna Loa observatory was about 369 ppm in 2000 and about 421 ppm in 2023. What was the mean rate of increase, in ppm per year? Give 1 decimal place.

    Answer

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Answer key: Analyse climate data: COâ‚‚ records and temperature trends

  1. 1. B. Past changes were mostly slower and had natural causes; today's rapid warming matches the rise in COâ‚‚ from human activity

  2. 2. 2.3

  3. 3. C. A cold winter in one city disproves global warming.

  4. 4. A. Northern Hemisphere plants absorb COâ‚‚ in spring and summer and release it in autumn and winter

  5. 5. C. from air bubbles trapped in ice cores from Antarctica

  6. 6. 2.3