To Teachers: Useful Links

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
www.ipcc.ch/index.html

If you follow the link to graphics, you hit the motherlode. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an international agency charged by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with assessing the global impact of climate change and making recommendations for action. Materials are peer-reviewed by scientists and accessible to our students.


Union of Concerned Scientists
www.climatemap.org

I've used this site from the Union of Concerned Scientists to expose my middle school students to the palpable signs of global warming. Be prepared for stunned silence and to allow students to express their sadness and worry. I find it helpful to ask students to express what concerns them most about what they have learned for exploring the map.


Teaching About Global Warming in Truck Country
www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/20_01/truc201.shtml

This is a link to an article I wrote called "Teaching about Global Warming in Truck Country." Follow the story of some western Washington public middle school students as they learn about global warming and do something about it. It appeared in the Fall 2005 issue of Rethinking Schools.


Earthwatch Institute
www.earthwatch.org

I am travelling to the arctic thanks to a fellowship from Earthwatch Institute made possible by a grant to Earthwatch from the National Geographic Education Foundation. Log on to learn more. My February 2007 expedition is called Climate Change at the Arctic's Edge.


Climate Change at the Arctic’s Edge
http://www.earthwatch.org/expeditions/kershaw.html

This PDF provides a good introduction to what I’ll be doing, besides staying warm, while I’m at the edge of the arctic. Follow the link and lick on “Classroom Earth Case Study”. 


An Inconvenient Truth Educator’s Resource
http://participate.net/educators/node/410

This site features three well-designed, detailed lesson plans that use the film An Inconvenient Truth as a resource. They recommend sections of An Inconvenient Truth for student viewing. The Tier 1 lesson emphazises personal choice and provides guidance for having students calculate their own atmospheric carbon contribution. Tier 2 looks at public policy and the Kyoto Protocol. Tier 3 is the most comprehensive and features a chemistry lesson for the carbon cycle and a framework for student action on global warming. All three downloads have a lot of material in them: more than could be used without an exclusive focus on global warming. They are designed however so that they can be used flexibly. NOTE: You have to create an account and log-in. Logging in seems to be quirky, so once you’re there, I’d suggest spending the time to get what you need.


Carbon Calculator
http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/

This site calculates individual carbon contributions to the atmosphere due to household energy use and transportation. Having students do it would be a way to stimulate conversations at home, as much of the information needed is not the kind of thing students know about already.