The Science of Climate Change

• This short film describes the greenhouse effect, the importance of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, how scientists study climate change, and how we know our actions are the primary cause of climate change today.
• The film includes a series of interviews with climate scientists about the physical science of climate change and a description of the science used to study the atmosphere from long ago. 

Positives

• The film is an excellent overview of climate science and can serve as an introduction to a unit on climate change.
• The resource is available in English and Spanish and includes a transcript in both languages.

Additional Prerequisites

• Although the transcript can be printed and read, this resource is best suited for online use.
• Students should feel comfortable reading and interpreting graphs.
• Students should be familiar with terms like parts per million (ppm), CO₂, greenhouse gas concentrations, and atmosphere.

Differentiation

• The discussion on climate solutions only accounts for the last two minutes of the video. The global and dangerous nature of climate change may be overwhelming for some students, so following the video with a lesson on climate solutions and inspiring hope may be helpful.
• Questions are asked throughout the video and are answered by the scientists. Students with a stronger understanding of climate science can be challenged to pause the video and try to answer those questions themselves.
• This video can also be used in Earth science classes during lessons about the history of the Earth before human civilization or in history classes when discussing the impacts of various human civilizations over time.
• Use this image series and this interactive table to learn more about solutions to climate change.

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