Teaching Tips: The Warming Trend and the Greenhouse Effect

Here are suggested ways to engage students with this video and with activities related to this topic.

• Viewing the video: Use the following suggestions to guide students’ viewing of the video.
  • Before: Ask students: What is a trend? Where have you heard the word used? Then have students suggest one trend and discuss how to illustrate that trend graphically.
  • During: What are four of the primary greenhouse gases? (water, CO₂, nitrous oxide, and methane)
  • After: How does global warming differ from the greenhouse effect?
• Doing research projects—individual: Have students determine their carbon footprint by using an online Carbon Footprint Calculator. Using those results, they can research ways to reduce their carbon footprint, both at home and at school.
• Connecting to social studies: As a class, analyze the trends in Carbon Dioxide output versus temperature change. Correlate the trends in the graphs with the development of human civilization/progression/technology. Can changes in trends be related to specific events in human history? (Example: Industrial revolution, invention of cars, etc.)