In this activity, students analyze, interpret and make inferences from web-based data on Great Lakes water levels.

Most scientists agree that climate change will affect the levels of the Great Lakes. While sea level is expected to rise, changes in the Great Lakes region are likely to result in lower water levels, though there will be differences from lake to lake. In this activity, students analyze, interpret and make inferences from web-based data on Great Lakes water levels.

In this hands-on lab, students simulate a portion of the greenhouse system using carbon dioxide.

The Earth’s climate depends on the amount of solar radiation received and the atmospheric abundance of clouds and greenhouse gases. Certain gases have been increasing in concentration in the atmosphere on a timeline concurrent with increasing global temperature. In this hands-on lab, students simulate a portion of the greenhouse system using carbon dioxide.

This set of 4 lessons for midde and high school focuses on sugar maple and buckeye trees as species that will be affected by climate change.

Activity A: What do climate models predict about tree ranges?
This lesson introduces examples of how General Circulation Models [GCMs] predict possible scenarios of climate change. Three methods of visualizing change are introduced, and students compare how the climate niches of sugar maples and buckeye trees are likely to be altered.

Activity B: How can trees migrate?
The seeds of maples and buckeyes are “dispersed” in an outdoor simulation of how far a tree species might be able to spread over several tree generations.

Activity C: How does temperature affect maple seed germination?
Students examine research data on seed germination at different temperatures to infer some of the impacts of temperature on species survival.

Activity D: After the maples, then what?
Students study an outdoor area that has sugar maples and other species. They catalog the size and relative abundance of species in the plot and infer what species is likely to succeed if maples disappear.

In this activity, students construct a concept map of things that may increase or decrease as a result of a changing climate.

Teacher Activity A: Which Great Lakes factors will increase and which will decrease as a result of climate change?
As we consider the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes, there are a number of ways of visualizing those effects. In this activity, students construct a concept map of things that may increase or decrease as a result of a changing climate.

Teacher Activity B: What will people see on the long walk to the water’s edge?
Students examine information about how climate change will likely impact the Great Lakes of North America and assume that they are in a part of the region experiencing a water level decline of over two meters! They listen to [or read] a story in which they imagine that they have spent a lifetime visiting the Great Lakes. With their “memories” and their science information, they describe the changes they have noticed in the Lakes during their lifetime.

These activities explain some of the beneficial environmental functions wetlands contribute and what may happen to some estuaries as climate change occurs.

These activities explain some of the beneficial environmental functions wetlands contribute and what may happen to some estuaries as climate change occurs.