Climate Change: Enquire
What causes climate change?
The purpose of this session is to support learners to understand the data and evidence that allows us to identify the link between human activity (in terms of carbon emissions and greenhouse gas emissions) and climate change.
This is recommended as session three in the KS3 Climate Change unit of learning, supporting learners to investigate the causes of climate change.
Preparation
Green Skills
- Data interpretation
- Communication
Step by step
Quick Starter Activity
Watch the following 6-minute video ‘Climate Change – How Fast is the World Warming?’ from the Met Office with your learners:
After watching the video, ask learners to discuss the different ways scientists measure climate change and its causes.
Learners can also be invited to respond to the video with three statements:
- One thing I already knew
- One thing I learned from the video
- One question I have now
Main Activity Suggestions
Suggestion 1 (Indoor)
Met Office: Exploring Climate Change Data. This activity supports learners to work out how climate change is measured, how to interpret data and climate change before and after the industrial revolution.
Suggestion 2 (Indoor)
Natural History Museum: What is the Anthropocene? This resource introduces the Anthropocene – the recent time in which humans have become the single most influential species on the planet, causing significant global warming and other changes to land, environment, water, organisms and the atmosphere.
Top Tips
This session may raise more questions about climate change and future scenarios. Ensure that learners have space to share their questions and responses to analysing the data on climate change, making links to future sessions and opportunities for making positive change.
Curriculum links
- Earth and atmosphere: The production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the impacts of climate change.
- To use secondary data sources to answer scientific questions.
- Physical processes: Understanding how sequences of events and activities in the physical and human worlds lead to change in places, landscapes, and societies.