You may have heard of a carbon footprint, but have you ever though about your water footprint? Learn more.
Carbon Cookies
If you attended the recent My Carbon Footprint High School Curriculum Launch you know that the Carbon Cookies lesson almost didn’t make it into the final curriculum. The reaction from students was so positive, however, that we just had to add it in. Students found the lesson to be a great reminder that despite the negative connotation in the context of climate change, carbon dioxide is an important part of our lives on Earth. Just like the ingredients in a cookie recipe, climate change has a lot to do with proper balance.
During the launch workshop, educators gave great suggestions for implementing the Carbon Cookies lesson. One teacher suggested bringing in a toaster oven if you’re not able to access a full size oven. Another educator said that the activity could be done with pancakes and a griddle instead of cookies and an oven.
The Carbon Cookies lesson and all of the other My Carbon Footprint lessons can be found under the Curriculum tab at the top of this page. However you decide to implement Carbon Cookies with your students, we’d love to hear about it—and we wouldn’t mind a sample of the cookies, either!
High School Curriculum Launch A Success
Thank you to all of the educators who attended Saturday’s My Carbon Footprint High School Curriculum launch. It was great to see how excited the participants were to receive new resources to support climate change education in their classrooms, and we can’t wait to hear how the curriculum is used with students.
During the workshop, educators not only participated in inquiry-based activities from the curriculum, they also had a chance to discuss and share potential modifications they plan to make when implementing the lessons with their students. Here are a few ideas to get you started, but we hope that there will be many more in the weeks to come.
Ideas for Carbon Cycle Jenga
- Instead of painting the game pieces, label them with words.
- Have students create their own game cards.
- Have students play the game at the start and end of a unit about the carbon cycle to see how their approach to the activity changes.
Ideas for Acids and Bases: Ocean Acidification
- Tie in images of changes in ocean pH with a discussion about currents.
- Add a graphing component to this lesson.
- Link this lesson with the lesson Scientific Modeling
Ideas for Hydroelectric Power
- Have students create both wind turbines and water turbines to compare and contrast which design works best in the different scenarios.
- Use small pieces of a plastic straw to anchor the dowel on the sink while still allowing it to spin
We hope that you find the My Carbon Footprint High School Curriculum a useful resource, and we also hope that you’ll share your experiences using the curriculum with other educators.
Thank you again to all of the dedicated teachers who are working so hard to educate the next generation about climate change.
The Science of Sandy
In the wake of Sandy, our thoughts are with those affected by the storm. As many students along the East Coast head back to school, we know that both students and adults have lots of questions about the storm as well as what to expect in the future.
Some of these questions include how Sandy may or may not be linked to climate change. To aid educators in answering these questions, we’ve been pouring through online resources. Some of the resources we’ve found as a starting point include the following.
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab- NOAA
Climate Nexus’ Communication Guide
Additionally, the My Carbon Footprint middle school curriculum and the upcoming high school curriculum both explore the science behind how a change in the climate may lead to more extreme weather, as well as how cities need to focus on climate adaptation in addition to climate mitigation. The professional development workshop on November 17 is now full, but if you have questions about how to teach this topic, or resources you’ve found useful, please share them.
At the end of the day, it is not accurate to state that climate change directly caused Sandy, but it is appropriate to use recent events to help students understand how climate change may contribute to more frequent and more intense storms.
Are you excited for the new My Carbon Footprint High School Curriculum? Watch this video to see how we used prototyping camps to make sure the curriculum is educational and engaging! The curriculum officially launches on November 17, and it will be available right here at mycarbonfootprint.nysci.org.
New Professional Development Opportunity
To celebrate the launch of the new My Carbon Footprint High School Curriculum, NYSCI is hosting a professional development workshop and we want YOU to register to be a part of it!
As part of this exciting professional development workshop, you will receive a $200 stipend, a copy of the My Carbon Footprint High School Curriculum, and a one-year educator membership to NYSCI. During the workshop, you will participate in activities from the curriculum, and have an opportunity to make connections between global climate change and topics you already teach. The workshop will be held at NYSCI on Saturday November 17 from 9am-12pm, and breakfast will be included. To register for this FREE workshop, please fill out a registration form at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/mycarbonfootprinths
This opportunity is open to NYC educators, and space if very limited.
We’ll be sharing sneak peeks of the curriculum as we move towards November 17, so stayed tuned!
Participants in NOAA’s Climate Stewards Program pose with their copies of the My Carbon Footprint curriculum.
Improving Cities, Inspiring Students
When we saw this infographic on National Geographic’s website, we had visions of students designing green roofs, completing cost/benefit analyses to practice math skills, and exploring the science behind electric vehicles. How does this data inspire YOU?
Source: Best Sociology ProgramsIn
Rising Seas
A recent study from the United States Geological Service indicates that the sea level along the U.S. East Coast is rising faster than levels in other parts of the world. The report, published in Nature Climate Change, warns that cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia could face more frequent flooding as a result. The melting Greenland Ice Sheet is affecting ocean currents, causing the sea level to rise unevenly in different parts of the world. Although the exact extent of how much the sea level will rise in the coming years is still uncertain, it is clear that East Coast cities need to prepare for changes.
The My Carbon Footprint lesson Adaptation and Mitigation: Sea Level Rise is a great way to help students make sense of the findings of the report and to explore what types of adaptations in infrastructure and policy need to occur to prepare for rising sea levels. All of the My Carbon Footprint lessons are rooted in current research and real world events, so as scientists learn more about our changing planet, My Carbon Footprint will be there to help your students learn too.
So Nice She Taught It Twice
On a recent field trip to NYSCI, Siobhan Armstead and her class of 6th grade students took part in a My Carbon Footprint workshop. During the workshop, NYSCI staff led the class through the Adaptation and Mitigation: Sea Level Rise lesson from the My Carbon Footprint Curriculum. Ms. Armstead mentioned that her students had already completed this lesson once in the classroom. When asked why she’d want the class to do the lesson again, she said that by doing the lesson a second time, students were able to think more deeply about the long-term effects of climate change. Even if the house they designed withstood an initial storm surge, students began to draw conclusions about what might happen if storm surges happened more frequently and more intensely. Additionally, using their prior knowledge from completing the activity in the classroom, students were able to test out different, more complex designs.
Although time may not permit you to complete a lesson twice, we wanted to share this great example of how an educator implemented the My Carbon Footprint Curriculum in a way that met her needs and the needs of her students. As the school year draws to a close, and My Carbon Footprint is used in more and more classrooms, we’re excited to hear about other modifications and extensions to the curriculum.
