Climate Models and Uncertainty Educator Guide

Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

• Teaching Tips
  Teachers may want to consider using parts of this lesson and incorporate those into other climate-focused lessons. The game is fun so teachers may want to consider using that separately from the other activities. It is a stand-alone activity which has been reviewed by CLEAN [link https://cleanet.org/resources/56001.html] If the teacher wanted to make the lesson more engaging they would need to include discussion (small group and classroom) in addition to the reading and the worksheets. The resource provides discussion-based questions for students. Educators may need to find answers to the questions prior to the activities. This indicates that the prep time for educators will vary on their familiarity with the subject.
• About the Science
  Students will learn about climate adaptation measures for coastal cities, read about Representative Concentration Pathways from the IPCC, and investigate the language used to determine uncertainty in climate models. Lots of graphing included. IPCC AR5, NOAA and MIT resources are included. Comments from expert scientist: This resource was fantastic. It was sourced by MIT and provided scientific information mainly from the IPCC report. The podcast featured a MIT professor, which provided up to date, accurate information in a simplistic way for the audience. All citations were provided where necessary. I do not have any scientific concerns with this source.
• About the Pedagogy
  The lesson starts off with a podcast, then a game, then reading, and worksheets. Activities may be used as separate stand-alone activities or in sequence. This is a well-organized activity with a comprehensive teacher's guide. The lesson plan includes NGSS alignment. The packet includes both teacher and student materials. A classroom implementation guide is included.
• Technical Details/Ease of Use
  There is teacher prep work required. There is a lot of information to go through, including the setup of a game. The game portion of this activity may require materials not already found in a classroom.