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Science lesson plan · 12th grade (Year 13 in England) · 60 minutes

Climate feedbacks and natural climate cycles

Weather and climate

CCSS NGSS.HS-ESS2-2CCSS NGSS.HS-ESS2-4England: A level Geography: The carbon and water cycles (extension)England: GCSE Combined Science: Chemistry of the atmosphere

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Climate feedbacks and natural climate cycles.

  • 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: Analyse climate data: COâ‚‚ records and temperature trends

Leads to: the next skill in this area.

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

Warm-up · 6 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Analyse climate data: COâ‚‚ 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 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. → 2.3Prompt: 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 / Northern Hemisphere plants absorb CO₂ in spring and summer and release it in autumn and winter / The instruments are faulty / Volcanoes erupt every 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? (Melting sea ice is the main cause of sea-level rise. / Arctic sea ice in summer has shrunk since satellite records began in 1979. / 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.) → Melting sea ice is the main cause of sea-level rise.Prompt: What is the difference between weather and climate?

Hook · 6 min

  • 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.

I do: model it · 12 min

  • 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 COâ‚‚ boosts plant growth, which takes up some COâ‚‚?
  • 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.

We do: guided practice · 12 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. Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: thawing permafrost releases methane? (positive feedback (amplifies warming) / negative feedback (reduces warming)) → positive feedback (amplifies warming)Prompt: Does the effect cause more warming or less?
  2. Desert sand has an albedo of 0.4 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 340 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²? → 204 W/m²Prompt: Absorbed fraction = 1 − albedo.

You do: independent practice · 17 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 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 7 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Sea ice has an albedo of 0.6 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 300 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²? → 120 W/m²Prompt: Absorbed fraction = 1 − albedo.
  2. Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: thawing permafrost releases methane? (positive feedback (amplifies warming) / negative feedback (reduces warming)) → positive feedback (amplifies warming)Prompt: Does the effect cause more warming or less?

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: Analyse climate data: COâ‚‚ records and temperature trends.
  • 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

  • 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-12.

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

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Climate feedbacks and natural climate cycles

Name

Date

Score/ 8

  1. Question 1

    Why do large volcanic eruptions sometimes cool the planet for a year or two?

    • A. Lava cools the oceans
    • B. Ash absorbs all the COâ‚‚
    • C. Volcanoes release huge amounts of ice
    • D. Sulfur gases form tiny droplets high in the atmosphere that reflect sunlight

  2. Question 2

    Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: thawing permafrost releases methane?

    • A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)
    • B. negative feedback (reduces warming)

  3. Question 3

    Open ocean has an albedo of 0.06 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 400 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²?

    AnswerW/m²

  4. Question 4

    Why can Milankovitch cycles not explain today's warming?

    • A. They only affect Mars
    • B. They act over thousands of years, but today's warming has happened in about 150 years
    • C. They stopped working in 1900
    • D. They cause cooling only

  5. Question 5

    Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: melting ice exposes darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight?

    • A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)
    • B. negative feedback (reduces warming)

  6. Question 6

    Fresh snow has an albedo of 0.85 (it reflects that fraction of sunlight). If 300 W/m² of sunlight arrives, how much is absorbed, in W/m²?

    AnswerW/m²

  7. Question 7

    Why might a "tipping point" in the climate system be especially worrying?

    • A. It makes the climate change back instantly
    • B. It only affects weather for one day
    • C. It reduces sea level
    • D. Past a threshold, change can become self-sustaining and hard to reverse

  8. Question 8

    Is this a positive or negative climate feedback: warmer air holds more water vapour, a greenhouse gas?

    • A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)
    • B. negative feedback (reduces warming)

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Answer key: Climate feedbacks and natural climate cycles

  1. 1. D. Sulfur gases form tiny droplets high in the atmosphere that reflect sunlight

  2. 2. A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)

  3. 3. 376 W/m²

  4. 4. B. They act over thousands of years, but today's warming has happened in about 150 years

  5. 5. A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)

  6. 6. 45 W/m²

  7. 7. D. Past a threshold, change can become self-sustaining and hard to reverse

  8. 8. A. positive feedback (amplifies warming)