Climate change is a complex topic, and this article breaks key aspects down into accessible, bite-sized sections. It concisely explains some of the science ideas associated with climate change – heat energy, computer climate models and nitrogen cycling. It also delves into New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions and ways in which local scientists are working to reduce them.
The article contains several images that can be used to support learners to make sense of and interpret diagrams, giving them multiple opportunities to develop the science capability ‘Interpret representations’.
Teacher support material
Check your school resource area for the article from the 2017 level 4 Connected journal ‘Where to next?’, download it as a Google slide presentation or order it from the Ministry of Education. The slide presentation includes multimedia that supports the article, including slides with information about a low-carbon future.
The teacher support material (TSM) can be downloaded from TKI. (Look for the Word and PDF download icons under the article abstract.) The material lists the key science and nature of science (NoS) ideas featured in the article. The notes provide explicit NoS links to sections of text. They also include three learning activities that will support students to explore and develop the science capability ‘Engage with science’.
Related content
Climate change resources – planning pathways provides pedagogical advice and curriculum links to help educators with their planning. It includes an interactive that groups Hubs resources according to key teaching topics. The article Thin Ice in the classroom introduces the film Thin Ice – The Inside Story of Climate Science, which looks at our planet’s changing climate, and suggests a range of Science Learning Hub resources designed to support its use in the classroom.
We’ve created a climate change collection – annotated resources to unpack the science of climate change and associated socio-scientific issues. Log in to make this collection part of your private collection – just click on the copy icon. You can then add additional content, notes and make other changes. Registering an account for the Science Learning Hubs is easy and free – sign up with your email address or Google account. Look for the Sign in button at the top of each page.
To delve deeper into some of the topics covered in ‘Global action’, check out:
Check out our entire range of Connected articles here. We’ve curated them by topic and concepts.
Activity idea
Want to take action on an individual scale? The activity Being smart with water has ideas on how to take action on lessening our water footprint at home and at school.
Useful links
The Ministry of Education's Climate Change Learning Programme is a level 4 programme focused on climate change that includes specific student activities; the wellbeing guide focuses on student wellbeing and hauora when navigating climate change as an area of learning and action. Many of the suggestions are relevant to other learning levels.
The Connected journals can be ordered from the Down the Back of the Chair website. Access to these resources is restricted to Ministry-approved education providers. To find out if you are eligible for a login or if you have forgotten your login details, contact their customer services team on 0800 660 662 or email orders@thechair.minedu.govt.nz.
Acknowledgement
The Connected series is published annually by the Ministry of Education, New Zealand.
