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Educator GuideAugust 13, 2021

Sea Level Rise Climate Change Demo Educator Guide

TIL about sea level rise: guide for educators
Photo Credit
Willian Justen de Vasconcellos via Unsplash

This Guide for Educators was developed by the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative as an extension of our TILclimate (Today I Learned: Climate) podcast, to make it easier for you to teach climate change, earth science, and energy topics in the classroom. It is an extension of the TILclimate episode "TIL about sea level rise, part 1."

Browse all TILclimate guides for educators.

Description

Through a hands-on demonstration, students will gain a clear understanding of the two major factors influencing sea level rise: land ice melt and thermal expansion. Additional solutions-oriented background information expands real-world connections.

Today I Learned About Sea Level Rise, Part 2 includes Dive Deeper assignments that lead students to explore data related to the human impacts of thermal expansion, land ice melt, storm surge, and high-tide flooding.

SWBAT:
  • Understand that the burning of fossil fuels is causing a buildup of heat-trapping gases, which is warming the atmosphere and ocean.

  • Explain that melting land ice adds to rising seas, while melting sea ice does not.

  • Observe and explain that warm water molecules expand, taking up more space.

  • List and consider some real-world solutions for sea level rise.

Skills:
  • Modeling
  • Reading graphs
  • Critical thinking
Standards:
  • HS-ESS2-4: Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth’s systems result in changes.

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI Informational Texts

Disciplinary core ideas:
  • ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes

  • ESS2.D: Weather and Climate

  • ESS3.B: Natural Hazards

  • ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems

  • ESS3.D: Global Climate Change

What is included in this Educator Guide
  1. How to use TILclimate Educator Guides (Download)
     
  2. Full Educator Guide (Download)
    • Includes both Teacher and Student pages
       
  3. Teacher pages (Download)

    • Includes materials, discussion questions, background resources, and adaptation suggestions for science, social science, and ELA teachers
       
  4. Student pages (Download)
    • Hands-On: Sea ice vs land ice model
    • Hands-On: Thermal expansion model
    • Reading: Sea Level Rise
    • Solutions Guide
       
Listen to the episode

 

Browse all TILclimate guides for educators
by TILclimate Podcast
Topics
Cities & Planning
Climate Modeling
Oceans
Sea Level Rise
Weather & Natural Disasters
Flooding
Student Skills
Communication
Data Analysis & Graphing
Read & Discuss
Map Reading
Modeling
Hands-On

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