http://www.hurricanescience.org/resources/webinar2012/

Changes in the ocean

• Scientists worry about ocean species success due to Increased levels of CO2 impacting living organisms such as shells of muscles. Scientists were able to predict these potential issues because There are muscles living near underwater volcano current and natural high levels of   CO2 these changes may be happening too fast for evolution and natural selection

• ocean currently serving as a buffer for temperature change

• coral reefs no longer forming

• Melting of sea ice could lead to a tipping point and increasing ocean temperatures

• Scientist suggests an experiment that student could easily do. Beaker containing water and ice and thermometer of temperature probe, apply heat and record heat over time.

Impacts of Climate Change
“As governments respond to the aftermath of severe weather events, water and air quality issues, and changes in the way energy is produced, the economic costs to society will be large.” I do not need to look hard, in either location or timing. I have alreading in some of my posts for this course referred to multiple aspects of what might once of been unusual or rare weather events. All of this is written with the complete understanding that what I am writing about is weather; and that decisions about climate require a bigger view.
1. Major flooding in New England multiple times in the past few years.
2. Lack of snow or even cold temperatures in New England this past winter
3. Major storms and tornadoes throughout the U.S. this spring

What are the greenhouse gases?

• water vapor
• carbon dioxide
• methane
• nitrous oxide

Impacts of the greenhouse gases?

1. An important and often overlooked fact about greenhouse gases and the “greenhouse effect” is that without these gases and their impact on the earth lfe as we know it would not be possible.

2. These gases serve as a blanket absorbing and trapping heat and maintaining an average temperature of 59 0 F.

3. Recent concerns stem from increasing amounts of theses greenhouses gases   especially those caused by the ever increasing release of carbon dioxide caused by humans burning of fossil fuels.

Bad news for Ski Areas

As an ardent skier and lover of winter this graphic is heart breaking. It also may be a great attention getter for high school students who have trouble seeing how things might impact them.

Overview of Greenhouse Effect/Definitions and Causes

•  specific human activities responsible for the increase in four greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons 
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•  Of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide is the one that humans have had the most effect upon. The burning of fossil fuels, which really took off once the industrial revolution is what has lead to an increase in the amounts of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere and thus to an increase in the amount of heat energy that is trapped into the Earth. 
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•  IPCC has made the claim that climate change is occurring on Earth.
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•   One important piece of information that kids may have trouble with, it that the proper amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are essential, with out any the earth would no longer be habitable (with and average temperature of 0 degrees vs. the 59 degrees we have today. 
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•  Most climate scientists agree the main cause of the current global warming trend is human expansion of the "greenhouse effect"1 -- warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space. 
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•   Think of how you and your classmates may play a role in their increase.
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•   Certainly student as well as teachers have a big impact simply by looking at car travel and burning of fossil fuels in the production of electricity
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•   How does evidence shows that current global warming cannot be explained by changes in the sun's energy
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•   - what is this evidence?
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•   One of the arguments given by the nay sayers was that the increase in temperature could be caused by increased solar action …unfortunately there is no truth here because the past ten years have been very hot and the past ten years has had low amounts of solar action.
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•  The series of videos from the NPR site are very good ---I have used these with students in the past and they are very good.
•  1st All about Carbon … as a biology teacher I have always had an affinity toward carbon 
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• 2nd Making Carbon Bonds…. discussion of the bonds in the carbon of the living things that once buried and fossilized 
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• 3rd Breaking Carbon Bonds … Energy released once carbon bonds are broken and released to form new bonds at lower energy levels and release energy
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•  4th Carbon in Love – carbon a social atom and the molecule is happiest with is oxygen. Some of the carbon dioxide are used by plants and some are deposited in the oceans but increasing amounts are released into the atmosphere 
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• 5th What do we do? – possible solutions carbon sequent ion or we can learn to release carbon

So have my high school seniors already made up their minds about climate change?

So have my high school seniors already made up their minds about climate change?

In Chris Mooney’s article “The Science of Why We Don’tBelieve Science” he discuss multiple examples of science that is backed up by the preponderance of evidence but still has its distractors.  I think I got the point after the first page, actually I did find it interesting that he thought more pieces of evidence he gave the better would be his argument, when his point is that even with all the evidence people still believe what they want to believe. Don’t confuse me with the facts I have already made up my mind. Today I surveyed my students today and it certainly looks like many of them already have some strong feelings as well as some significant misconceptions. The research I have done on misconceptions tells me that kids need to acknowledge and work with their misconceptions before any movement is possible. They have to be given significant reasons to give up those misconceptions and replace these ideas with correct knowledge.

When the Extremes Become the Means (Pilot)

After a quick read through …I have chosen “When Extremes become Means”.  Just in our local area of New England we have had numerous “100 year” weather events in the past few years. Melting glaciers and shifting weather patterns are important and significant to learn about; but experience has shown me close to home is a good way to start.  I think I might start with Scientific American article “StatesPonder Plans for a Climate Future in Which "Normal" Is Different”.  Then have the students research local New England events. EPA’s kids climate change site seems as though a good site to use to start to make connection between climate change/global warming and local weather events.

Webinar - Misconceptions about Climate Change 

Apr 25, 2012 12:00 pm US/Eastern

So What's Up with this Climate Change Stuff

NASA has been an import source of  research and  probing, investigating and asking questions about both  Earth and our relationship to other planetary objects,which has provided an abundance of evidence of climate change. NASA is responsible for the many satellites constantly traveling overhead recording both incoming and outgoing radiation, as well as measuring greenhouse gases. As stated in the short video, solar activities are an activity that can have changing impacts on the incoming radiation levels, but these are not the cause of this increase (we are currently in the hottest decade in recorded time) because it has been a decade of low solar activity. When I have taught lessons about climate change in the past I have found that students have a tough time conceptualizing albedo or the reflective quality of different surfaces. It is not a black and white issue. I think one of the scariest parts of this whole issue is the idea that when ice is lost and turns to water we go from a white very reflective substance to a dark absorbent substance.  And then there are clouds which are reflective, but are composed of water vapor (which is a major greenhouse gas).  So I guess I am not surprised that students have issues with these understandings. The vast amount of evidence continues to indicate that climate change is real and it has been caused by us.

Though I have seen this graph many times, I continue to be amazed that some can look at it and not see the connection to climate change. The way I have taught this issue with my students in the past is to lead with the evidence, the over whelming collection of evidence and then let the kids come up with their own conclusions. I feel very strongly that kids need to make their own meaning, the work needs to happen in their heads, if I do all the work then I will do the learning, if I want the kids to learn, then they need to do the thinking. Kids do not learn by us telling them.I am excited to see more of the evidence on the NASA site.

As we move into this new century, many of the things we have been hearing in education are coming together. The job of a teacher is certainly not getting easier, and many folks would argue it is getting harder.  Any teachers who have looked in the press for good news are met with report after report stating just how deficient our students are. So what can we do? The press is equally full of suggestions on how to fix things. The Partnership for the 21^st Century lists skills such, critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration. If you “Google” 21^st century skills and learning there are many sites, with lots of similar lists, all designed to demand more of today’s students. STEM education is the new hot term and movement in science teaching. This winter’s Science Teacher published two issues that discussed the new push to revamp and energize science teaching in the U.S. . In addition to that publication this site has lots of valuable information.

 

Problem Based Learning (PBL) and other similar project type learning projects are useful and connected to deep meaningful learning. The connection here is that the goals of PBL; are clearly more aligned with the skills listed above them are traditional, kids in rows and teachers in front of the class more traditional education models.

After a quick read through of the new standards, the biggest difference I see is the more obvious stress on technology and the inclusion of technological solutions as a major part of science. I think there was a time when science teachers thought they dealt in the realm of “pure science” and that the application the technology was below that. My sense is that the inclusion of technology and the doing of science will be well received by students. After reading the supplied information about NASA especially the line “"U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests through robust space exploration and aeronautics research programs", my brain goes back to the 60 minute episode I watched this week.

Sixty Minutes End of Shuttle Program Sixty Minutes End of Shuttle Program There has always been a connection between NASA and science education. My grade school years were all about out race with the Soviet Union to be ahead in manned space. Spending money in public & higher education programs was deemed important. Lets hope the promises make to NASA are kept. 

New Web 2.0 Tools

Which Web 2.0 tools did you explore and how might they be used in the classroom to promote communication and/or reflection?


I remembered a workshop I went to last month and a web site suggested there. This site 
a  site for finding web 2.0 tools. 

One of the most useful thing about this site is that one of the ways you can sort is to find free applications. In the past I have had issues with tools that were once free being changed to fee based applications.  

This is a great combination of Bloom's new taxonomy and a bunch of cool 2.0 tools that can used to work with kids. One of the concerns I sometimes sense and worry about is that the tool becomes the lesson, and not the means to the lesson.

Web 2.0 and the student. I find all this much more exciting when a bunch of teachers are in a room discussing all the wonderful things they can and will do. "This is great we will finally get our students to collaborate in deep meaningful ways!" I remember two years ago when I found out about social book marking sites, such as , I thought to myself, this is fantastic the kids will buy in. But no ...I have been very frustrated whenever I ask kids to use the web to do our work. Right now I have an Anatomy class that I have asked to use a wiki to present/share information about books individual students have read. I am amazed at the amount of complaining I have gotten. Overwhelming agreement that they would rather just do a paper book report.