March 18th, 2016

Timothy Lyons

Time

Lesson
Intro to lab experiment:
Students are brought to the back of the class where the experiment will take place.
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10 min.
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All students are given a worksheet (see appendix A).

The experiment is explained (i.e. students will record the rise in water
levels using two different graduated cylinders; one representing ice floe
melting [crushed ice in graduated cylinder] and another representing
glacial melting [ice cube in funnel over graduated cylinder]. The heat lamp
represents the Sun).
Students are reminded how to read volume from a graduated cylinder.
All students record the initial volumes of the graduated cylinders, and any
observations they may have.
It is explained to students that water levels will be recorded every 5
minutes by a different pair of students throughout the lesson.
o The measurements are communicated verbally by the team to the
teacher, which are recorded on the smart board (the other students
will copy the measurements onto their worksheet as well).

Reviewing the greenhouse effect:

10 min.

1. A brief review of the greenhouse effect is given to remind students of what

it is and how it works.
2. Questions are used to probe students understanding of the greenhouse
effect (e.g. What is a greenhouse gas that we mentioned last class?, is
the greenhouse effect good or bad?, etc.).
3. Scaffolding questions are used to help students in their explanations of how
the greenhouse effect does or works (e.g. What does a greenhouse for
plants do? Why can a greenhouse stay warm even in cold weather?).
Intro to the hydrosphere:

20 min.

1. Students copy notes from the smart board about the distribution of water
on the Earth.
a. The difference between salt and fresh water is discussed.
b. Where salt and fresh water is found is discussed.
c. Glaciers and ice floes are defined.
d. A brief video is shown about glacier melting (See appendix B)
2. Students copy notes from the smart board about the water cycle.
a. The terms: evaporation, evapotranspiration, condensation,
precipitation, and runoff are defined.
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March 18th, 2016

Timothy Lyons

b. The stages of the water cycle are discussed.

Discussion of the lab results

30 min.

1. Once all students have had a turn to read the volume measurements, the
results are discussed.
a. Students are asked if the results between the three trials seem to
agree with each other.
b. Students are asked what the results of the lab model might imply
for the real world (e.g. What would melted glaciers cause to our
planet?).
c. The connection between the increase in greenhouse gases and rising
sea levels is explored through student scaffolding (e.g. If the
planet gets warmer due to an increase in greenhouse gases, what
would happen to our glaciers? What would that cause?).
2. Once students grasp the implications of rising sea levels, the natural
disaster of flooding is discussed.
a. Flooding of small islands as well as coasts is discussed.
3. Students are given time to complete the questions on their worksheets.
4. A short video that summarizes the affect of climate change on the Earth is
shown to finish the class (see appendix B).