Global Climate Change: An Introduction to Data Analysis and Interpretation

Reasonable analysis of quantitative data often seems best learned through repeated experiences with data in various forms whether tables, charts, graphs, or georeferenced digital images. Developing students' habits of thinking about numbers through multiple and varied experiences is an ongoing goal for teachers. This lesson guides learners to their own interpretation of atmospheric CO₂ concentration and surface temperature data through definition and practice in data collection, graphing, and analysis. The lesson makes a great introduction to the no-cost, online tools for acquisition, visualization, and interpretation of remote sensing environmental data in a series of lessons offered in More Lessons from the Sky.

This 'Global Climate Change' lesson was taken from the first of a five-lesson set created by Stephanie Coffey, a high school Biology teacher and member of the Los Angeles Urban Teacher Residency program at California State University, Los Angeles. The lesson set is designed to guide learners in developing skills of analysis and interpretation related specifically to climate change. This is an easy to implement lesson and easily adaptable to grades 6-8 or lower. It is expected to pique interest as learners consider first why data are important and how best to organize them, then consider what story the data are telling before extrapolating likely future outcomes.

Next Generation Science Standards addressed in this lesson:
    MS-ESS3-5     HS-ESS3-5