Paleoclimate: A History of Change
Videos
Grades9, 10, 11, 12Chemistry, Biology, Earth and Space Sciences
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by BioInteractive
What it is
- This comprehensive resource about global warming, Earth's climate history, and the factors affecting Earth's climate includes student worksheets in English and Spanish, a "Click and Learn" presentation, animated graphs, instructional videos, and a question and answer session.
- The interactive presentation discusses oxygen isotopes, ocean sediment cores, glacial and interglacial periods, Milankovich cycles, solar activity, greenhouse gases, and the effects of climate change on water supplies and agriculture.
Teaching tips
Positives
- The content is updated and the many graphs of carbon dioxide and temperature over different time scales are very illuminating.
- Student learning targets and curriculum connections are provided.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students should be familiar with reading and analyzing graphs and data.
- Students should be familiar with keywords such as climate, carbon dioxide, extinction, global warming, and ice age.
Differentiation
- Science classes could use this resource as a homework assignment before covering the material in class.
- There are many connections that can be made to biology, chemistry, and Earth science classes because it covers so many topics, such as isotopes, feedback loops, the greenhouse effect, Earth's orbit, energy balance, and global cycles.
- Students can be divided into groups and given a different topic to "jigsaw," where students research, analyze, and then teach their peers what they learned.
- Other resources on this topic include this digital text about climate change and Earth's history and this video about climate science.
From the scientist review
This resource critically explores evidence of a changing climate from hindcasting geologic time scales and other physical parameters. It provides a deeper understanding of the interactions of the greenhouse effect, the oceans, and solar radiation influencing the Earth's climate system. Human activities have accelerated climate change faster than during the industrial revolution and limiting CO2 concentrations to cut down average global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius will be beyond reach by 2100. This resource is recommended.
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