Media-Rich Lesson Template

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1 Media-Rich Lesson Template Melinda Crimmins LESSON TITLE A Climate Friendly Future Unit and the Stabilization Wedges Game GRADE LEVELS High School Language Arts, Social Studies, Science TIME ALLOTMENT One minute class period is needed for the introductory license plate activity and discussion and the Wedges Powerpoint Presentation. The next day as an over view show the video Co2 and the Grenhouse Effect ( (7 ways to Reduce Carbon). CMI (Carbon Mitigation Initiative) suggests using 2-3 standard (40-50 minute) class periods to prepare for and play the Stabilization Wedges game. In the first period, the Stabilization Triangle and the concept of wedges are discussed and the technologies introduced. Students can further research the technologies as homework. In the second period, students play the game and present their results. Depending on the number of groups in the class, an additional period may be needed for the presentation of results. Assessment and application questions are included and may be assigned as homework after the game has been played, or discussed as a group as part of an additional class period/assignment. OVERVIEW Students will be introduced to an overview of the carbon and climate situation. They will complete an introductory license plate activity, read article, collaborate with peer, research a variety of carbon cutting strategies, culminating in the playing of the Princeton University developed Stabilization Wedges Game. SUBJECT MATTER Carbon and Climate Problem & Solutions LEARNING OBJECTIVES The core purpose of this game is to convey the scale of effort needed to address the carbon and climate situation and the necessity of developing a portfolio of options. By the end of the exercise, students should understand the magnitude of human-sourced carbon emissions and feel comfortable comparing the effectiveness, benefits, and drawbacks of a variety of carboncutting strategies. The students should appreciate that there is no easy or right solution to the carbon and climate problem. STANDARDS National Standards Systems, Order and Organization Science as Inquiry Science in Personal and Social Perspectives Natural and Human Induced Hazards Environmental Quality

2 Minnesota: 9 th-12th Grade English/Language Arts: Reading (Common Core Reading Standards for Literature 6 12) [RL] The CCR anchor standards and high school grade-specific standards work in tandem to define college and career readiness expectations the former providing broad standards, the latter providing additional specificity. Grades 9 10 students: Grades students: Key Ideas and Details Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text Craft and Structure Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone Integration of Knowledge and Ideas Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden s Musée des Beaux Arts and Breughel s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus) By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature and other texts including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9 10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. a. Selfselect texts for personal enjoyment, interest, and academic tasks. b. Read widely to understand multiple perspectives and pluralistic viewpoints. D. Research Standard: The student will locate and use information in reference materials. The student will: 1. Use print, electronic databases and online resources to access information, organize ideas, and develop writing. 2. Identify key terms specific to research tools and processes. 3. Narrow the focus of a search by formulating a concise research question or thesis Use technology, including, but not limited to, the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products and multi-media texts, taking advantage of technology s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically. II. WRITING (Writing should be addressed across content areas and integrated into the curriculum.) Students will write clearly and coherently for a variety of audiences and purposes. A. Type of Writing Standard: The student will write in narrative, expository, descriptive, persuasive and critical modes. The student will: 1. Plan, organize and compose narrative, expository, descriptive, persuasive, critical and research writing to address a specific audience and purpose. North Dakota: Production and Distribution of Writing Code Standard W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. W.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1 3 up to and including grades 9 10.) W.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically. SL.2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively*, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source. Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas Code Standard SL.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, SL.5 Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. MEDIA COMPONENTS License plate activity

3 Wedges Powerpoint Presentation Videos Clip: Co2 and the Greenhouse Effect Youtube: 7 ways to reduce carbon Introduction to the Wedges (Flash) Wedges Presentation and Game, AAAS Annual Meeting 2007 More stabilization wedge resources, including background articles and slides, are available at MATERIALS Stabilization Wedges Articles & Videos Please note that the original "wedges" article published in 2004 showed seven (7) wedges in the stabilization triangle, but that, as emissions have continued to increase, the number of wedges needed to stabilize emissions has been raised to eight (8) in newer publications and graphics. Articles Climate Game Gives Real Options to Save World, NPR, 2007 Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies S. Pacala and R. Socolow, Science, Solving the Climate Problem: Technologies for Curbing CO2 emissions (PDF) R. Socolow, R. Hotinski, J. Greenblatt, S. Pacala, Environment, Can We Bury Global Warming? (PDF) R. Socolow, Scientific American, A Plan to Keep Carbon in Check (PDF) R. Socolow and S. Pacala, Scientific American, Materials (see Student Game Materials at end of lesson) 1 copy of Instructions and Wedge Table per student (print single-sided to allow use of gameboard pieces!)

4 1 Wedge Worksheet and 1 Gameboard with multi-colored wedge pieces per group, plus scissors for cutting out game pieces and glue sticks or tape to secure pieces to gameboard Optional - overhead transparencies, posters, or other materials for group presentations PREP FOR TEACHERS Make copies of blank License template. Make Wedge Game Pieces. Make copies of Wedge Worksheet. INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY: SETTING THE STAGE I Introductory (40-50 minutes) I. Distribute license templates. Instruct students to design a personalized license plate. Have student use a combination of seven numbers and/or letters in the center of the plate. Have student create a motto about an important place on the bottom of their plate. Instruct students to create a picture or symbol about something they consider important about activities they participate in their community. Have students choose a month in one corner and two numbers of importance to them in the other corner. Have audience make a license place by: Distributing TEMPLATES Have them fill in their template with: AN IMPORTANT PLACE AT THE TOP SEVEN NUMBERS OR LETTERS IN THE MIDDLE A SIGNIFICANT OR FAVORITE MONTH IN ONE CORNER IMPORTANT TWO NUMBERS IN ANOTHER CORNER A MOTTO ON THE BOTTOM ABOUT A FAVORITE ACTIVITY A SIGNIFICANT SYMBOL IN THE MIDDLE Distribute markers/ colored pencils. Allow time to finish. Then go around and tell why you picked those Why are they important. Are any linked to family traditions centered on nature, seasons, and climate? You choose the items you did because of your unique culture, family and places Would any of these significant items change if the climate changes? How would you feel if your children and grandchildren do not have that same connection or opportunities because of our changing climate. Show the Wedges Powerpoint Presentation. II. Introduction (40 minutes) a. Motivation. Review the urgency of the carbon and climate problem and potential ways it may impact the students futures. b. Present the Concepts. Introduce the ideas of the Stabilization Triangle and its eight wedges. c. Introduce the Technologies. Briefly describe the 15 wedge strategies identified by CMI, then have students familiarize themselves with the strategies as homework. Participants are free to critique any of the wedge strategies that CMI has identified, and teams should feel free to use strategies not on our list. d. Form Teams. Teams of 3 to 6 players are best, and it is particularly helpful to have each student be an appointed expert in a few of the technologies to promote good discussions. You may want to identify a recorder and reporter in each group. e. Explain the Rules. See instructions in Student Game Materials at back of packet LEARNING ACTIVITIES Lesson Procedure/Methodology III. Playing the Game (40 minutes)

5 a. Filling in the Stabilization Triangle. Teammates should work together to build a team stabilization triangle using 8 color-coded wedges labeled with specific strategies. Many strategies can be used more than once. b. Wedge Worksheet. Each team should fill in one stabilization wedge worksheet to make sure players haven t violated the constraints of the game, to tally costs, and to predict judges ratings of their solution. NOTE: Costs are for guidance only they are not meant to be used to produce a numerical score that wins or loses the game! c. Reviewing the Triangle. Each team should review the strengths and weaknesses of its strategies in preparation for reporting and defending its solutions to the class. III. Reports (depending on the number of groups this may require an additional class period) a. Representatives from each team will defend their solutions to the class in a 5-minute report. The presentation can be a simple verbal discussion by the group or a reporter designated by the group. If additional time is available, the presentations could include visual aids, such as a poster, PowerPoint presentation, etc. b. Students should address not only the technical viability of their wedges, but also the economic, social, environmental and political implications of implementing their chosen strategies on a massive scale. IV. Judging In CMI workshops, the teams triangles have been judged by experts from various global stakeholder groups, such as an environmental advocacy organization, the auto industry, a developing country, or the U.S. Judging ensures that economic and political impacts are considered and emphasizes the need for consensus among a broad coalition of stakeholders. For a classroom, judges can be recruited from local government, colleges, businesses, and non-profit organizations, or a teacher/facilitator can probe each team about the viability of its strategies. CULMINATING ACTIVITY V. Closure/Assessment of Student Learning In addition to addressing the game and lessons learned, discussion questions are provided below that give opportunity to develop and assess the students understanding of the wedges concept and its applications. 1) Given physical challenges and risks, how many wedges do you think each wedge strategy can each realistically provide? 2) In choosing wedge strategies, it s important to avoid double counting removing the same emissions with two different strategies. For example, there are 6 strategies for cutting emissions from electricity, but we project only 5 wedges worth of carbon produced from the electric sector 50 years from now. Can you think of reasons, other than the adoption of alternative or nuclear energy, that emissions from electricity would be lower or higher than we predict? Examples: increased use of carbon-intensive coal versus natural gas (higher), slower population growth (lower), substitution of electricity for fuel, as via plug-in electric cars (higher). 3) Industrialized countries and developing countries now each contribute about half the world s emissions, although the poorer countries have about 85% of the world s population. (The U.S. alone emits one fourth of the world's CO2.) If we agree to freeze global emissions at current levels, that means if emissions in one region of the world go up as a result of economic/industrial development, then emissions must be cut elsewhere. Should the richer countries reduce their emissions 50 years from now so that extra carbon emissions can be available to developing countries? If so, by how much?

6 4) Nuclear energy is already providing one-half wedge of emissions savings what do you think the future of these plants should be? 5) Automobile emissions are a popular target for greenhouse gas cuts. What percent of greenhouse gases do you think come from the world s passenger vehicles? (answer: about 18%) CROSS-CURRICULAR EXTENSIONS Reading, interpretation and presentation of articles. Climate Game Gives Real Options to Save World, NPR, 2007 Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies S. Pacala and R. Socolow, Science, Solving the Climate Problem: Technologies for Curbing CO2 emissions (PDF) R. Socolow, R. Hotinski, J. Greenblatt, S. Pacala, Environment, Can We Bury Global Warming? (PDF) R. Socolow, Scientific American, A Plan to Keep Carbon in Check (PDF) R. Socolow and S. Pacala, Scientific American, Write a story: SEE PDF Write a text: SEE PDF Write an Essay: SEE PDF Economic growth and standard of living Essay Have students complete the following: Do you think the government should try to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases even if it slows down the growth in your country s standard of living? a) Which of the following answers do you think is the best one? 1) No, I don t think the government should make any effort to reduce these emissions 2) No, the government should only take measures to reduce emissions that do not harm business or slow down growth. 3) Yes, measures that leads to a slight reduction in growth is worth it as long as we still get richer year by year 4) Yes, we should do whatever it takes to reduce these emissions even if it costs us quite a bit b) Write a text ( words) where you give the reasons for your answer in a). What will be the consequences for our way of living? Mathematical: Imagine that you buy a cotton sweater made in China. Make an overview of the various parts of the production, transport, marketing and sale of the sweater and how each part implies the use of energy Poem writing: write a poem about what nature might look like in the future for your grandchildren if we do nothing about climate change

7 Create A map with co2 emission globally. You may use these websites to do your country research: CountryWatch.com ( a Glance ( Encarta Encyclopedia ( COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS Check your local environment Find out how your local community is encouraging (or discouraging?) a "climate-friendly" lifestyle: Does it have well-functioning public transport, bicycle paths, recycling bins, etc.? STUDENT MATERIALS See student Game and Instruction Packet

8 Preview the video for suitability for achieving the lesson s objectives and students learning outcomes. Select Segments that are relevant to the lesson topic. Show the program in segments in order for the content to be more easily understood. Leave the Lights On It may reduce the sharpness of the picture BUT it gives the learners a message that Video Media is a PART of the lesson and the students will be responsible for the content in the video. Direct Students Focus to a specific task to complete during the video. Tell the students what they will see and what information from the video they should watch for. Identify the information during or after viewing the video. The teachers should introduce video segments with a question and review unfamiliar vocabulary. Introduce Activities before viewing the video to set the stage for learning. Teachers should provide background information and teach the new vocabulary words. Use Culminating Activities to help reinforce, apply, review or extend the information in the video clip. Pause the Video to check students comprehension. Ask questions, giving the students time to record information from the video. By pausing the video the teacher and students can examine a chart, a formula or an image on the screen more closely. Students could draw a diagram of what they have just seen on the video. Eliminate Sound or Picture The video clip may have unsuitable narration, but the video is outstanding. Turn down the sound and provide your own narration, or have the students describe what they see. Use the closed captioning with students reading along to reinforce vocabulary and improve reading comprehension.

9 Why Use Video in the Classroom? Students: retain more information, understand concepts more rapidly are more enthusiastic about what they are learning make new connections between curriculum topics discover links between these topics and the world outside the classroom. Video is Uniquely Suited to... take students on impossible field trips--inside the human body, or off to Jupiter take students around the globe, to meet new people and hear their ideas illustrate complex, abstract concepts through animated, 3-D images show experiments that can't be done in class bring great literature, plays, music, or important scenes from history into the classroom Using the Power of Visual Images Teachers... reach children with a variety of learning styles, especially visual learners and students with a variety of information acquisition styles engage students in problem-solving and investigative activities begin to dismantle social stereotypes help students practice media literacy and critical viewing skills provide a common experience for students