• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Analyse climate data: CO₂ records and temperature trends). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Annual mean CO₂ 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. → 1.6Prompt: rate = change in CO₂ ÷ change in time
2. The CO₂ record from Mauna Loa rises every year but also goes up and down within each year. Why the yearly wiggle? (People burn no fuel in summer / The instruments are faulty / Volcanoes erupt every winter / Northern Hemisphere plants absorb CO₂ in spring and summer and release it in autumn and winter) → Northern Hemisphere plants absorb CO₂ in spring and summer and release it in autumn and winterPrompt: Most land, and so most plants, is in the Northern Hemisphere.
3. Climate evidence: which statement is NOT true? (Global average surface temperature has risen by more than 1 °C since the late 1800s. / Burning fossil fuels is the main cause of the recent rise in atmospheric CO₂. / Most of the extra CO₂ comes from volcanoes. / Sea level is rising as oceans warm and land ice melts.) → Most of the extra CO₂ comes from volcanoes.Prompt: What is the difference between weather and climate?

• Show today's forecast and ask what it means for the class and how forecasters know.
• Share the objective: Climate feedbacks and natural climate cycles. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: more CO₂ boosts plant growth, which takes up some CO₂?
• Step 1: A negative feedback works against the initial change.
• Step 2: So the answer is: negative feedback (reduces warming)
• Answer: negative feedback (reduces warming)
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: more CO₂ boosts plant growth, which takes up some CO₂? (positive feedback (amplifies warming) / negative feedback (reduces warming)) → negative feedback (reduces warming)Prompt: Does the effect cause more warming or less?
2. Sea ice has an albedo of 0.6 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 340 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²? → 136 W/m²Prompt: Absorbed fraction = 1 − albedo.

• 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 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Forest has an albedo of 0.15 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 340 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²? → 289 W/m²Prompt: Absorbed fraction = 1 − albedo.
2. Why can Milankovitch cycles not explain today's warming? (They stopped working in 1900 / They only affect Mars / They act over thousands of years, but today's warming has happened in about 150 years / They cause cooling only) → They act over thousands of years, but today's warming has happened in about 150 yearsPrompt: Compare the time scales.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-12.