Classroom Activities

These are activities you can do in one or two class periods to investigate a particular concept or problem. The activities contain background information and links to related sections of this site. Each activity is print-ready and references the primary national (U.S.) academic standards it meets. More will be added over time, so check back regularly.

1. Global Warming? Detecting CO2

Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxides are the major greenhouse gases. These gases build up in the upper atmosphere and may lead to global climate change, sometimes called global warming. Students will learn a technique to detect the presence of CO2 in a sample gas. They will use this technique to compare concentrations of CO2 in human breath, room air, a chemical reaction, and car exhaust, and determine what activity gives off the most carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

2. Climate and Greenhouse Gases: A Graphing Exercise

• Instructions
  
• Data Table

Graphs:


• Local Temperature Change: Teaching Master
  
• Local Temperature Change: Student Worksheet
  
• Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels over Time: Teaching Master
  
• Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels over Time: Student Worksheet
  
• Atmospheric Methane Levels over Time: Teaching Master
  
• Atmospheric Methane Levels over Time: Student Worksheet

How do scientists determine whether or not the climate is changing? Students will compare temperature change over time with levels of different greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, discuss the relation between greenhouse gases and global temperature, and make predictions about future global temperature change based on current levels of greenhouse gases.

3. What Information Do Paleobotanists Use to Study Ancient Climates?

• Instructions
  
• Pollen Images
  
• Chart 1
  
• Table 1: Paper Dots and amounts to be used to make up each sediment sample
  
• Table 2: Pollen Key and Climatic Characteristics of the Vegetation
  
• Student Worksheet

To evaluate today's climate and recent fluctuations, scientists try to figure out historical patterns. In this activity, students will distinguish the structural differences that are used for pollen classification, analyze pollen sample analogs to replicate the way that scientists gather paleo-data, interpret pollen sample analogs to replicate how scientists determine past climates.

4. Average Vehicle Occupancy in Your Community

While it is true that cars are "cleaner" than in the past, the rapid rise in the number of vehicles on the highways still creates pollution. One way to get everyone where they're going with fewer vehicles is to use alternative means of travel such as buses, trains, bicycles, and carpools. The number of people traveling divided by the number of vehicles gives us an "Average Vehicle Occupancy" or AVO. Students will determine the Average Vehicle Occupancy in their community and discuss ways to improve this number.

5. Exploring Air Issues: A Community Survey

Is air pollution a problem in your community? How do students travel to school? What do your neighbors think of carpooling? What are they willing to do to reduce pollution? How does your community compare to others in the state? Students will develop, administer, and analyze a survey to determine attitudes toward transportation and air pollution.

6. Pounds of Pollution

Air pollution is a difficult concept to grasp. We often can't see it! You know that air has weight, but how much of a gas is a pound? Students will calculate the weight of various pollutants, and set up a display of 2-liter soda bottles to visualize the amount of air pollution emitted by a car each year.

7. Auto-Mania

• Instructions
  
• Student Worksheet 1 - Auto Test
  
• Student Worksheet 1 - Auto Test - Answer Key
  
• Student Worksheet 2 - Family Auto Inventory

Students will become familiar with the history, current use and the possible future of the automobile. They will investigate their community to determine the Average Vehicle Occupancy. The students will also determine how their family uses their own vehicles. They will conclude by suggesting ways to reduce auto air emissions and describing a future transit system or vehicle.

8. Milkweed Monitoring

This project uses milkweed plants, which grow in many places around the world, as bio-indicators of a type of air pollution called ground-level ozone. Ground-level ozone is a volatile chemical that reacts with things it comes into contact with - like plant tissue, lung tissue, and mucus membranes. Students will conduct a field biomonitoring study and relate their results to air pollution levels in their community.