Heat: Workings of Heat

• This digital text tells a story about how something simple, like an asphalt road, will be impacted as global temperatures rise above the range of temperatures that the road was designed for. 
• Students will learn how the heat of the sun affects the road and the global climate, prompting them to think about the potential impacts of a changing climate on infrastructure, people, and other living things. 

Positives

• There is an option to listen to the text being read, which is an excellent differentiation tool. 
• The article is short and uses one main example that students can related with.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should know the term Holocene and should be familiar with the chemical formulas for the major greenhouse gases. 
  

Differentiation

• Social Studies classes could consider what other assumptions about the Holocene climate have been engineered into aspects of our civilizations. How could these assumptions be problematic as temperatures rise? 
• This resource lends itself well to a discussion in pairs, groups, or as a whole class. What did students find surprising? How did this resource change their understanding? 
• Science classes can connect this resource to lessons about albedo, differences in the properties of materials, melting glaciers, and climate solutions such as insulation, painting roofs white, planting urban trees, and using permeable materials for roads and sidewalks.
  
• Other related resources include Planetary Balance, A Tour of Temperature, and Maps of Temperature.
  

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.