Transcript Controversial issues in the classroom

Scientific Controversy
 Ground rules
 Climate Misconceptions
 Trends and Consequences
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Caused by interaction of ethics, politics,
economics with existing scientific evidence
Students need to know the nature of scientific
evidence and how it is generated.
Most students do not receive formal training on
the nature of science.
Students need to understand clearly the purpose
of classroom activities ….how we reason using
scientific evidence to form justified opinions.
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Teach the science first
Teach with data
Use Active Learning Techniques
Clearly define your role and your teaching
approach
Lead by example, but don’t preach
Create a safe environment
Find out what students know and think
about an issue before beginning an inquiry.
Seasons are caused by the Earth’s distance
from the Sun.
Day and night are caused by the Sun going
around the Earth.
The Sun goes around the Earth.
The oxygen we breathe does not come from
plants.
Dinosaurs and cavemen lived at the same time.
The ozone hole is a hole in the sky.
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Learning outcomes depend less on what
teachers present and more on how learners use
the ideas to construct their own meaning.
Students are often not able to apply what they
know.
Helping teachers deal with their own
misconceptions and helping students apply
knowledge and skills is basic to the teaching
standards.
Understanding science is more than knowing
facts.
Assumptions adults make:
Strategies to encourage
good concept development.
1. Examine student questions
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Which require factual answers?
Which call for opinions?
What words may need definition and understanding?
Which contain assumptions?
Which can be answered with data (conversely, which
are impossible to answer?)
 Where will the facts come from?
 If an expert is used, what qualifies this person?
2. Encourage both independent and
collaborative work.
3. Provide opportunities for students to act
on their conclusions.
4. Encourage a search for information when
making decisions to help them
avoid overestimating their knowledge.
Thinking about issues and
impacts of a climate trend,
energy trend, innovation, or
prediction.
Increased stress
on families
Tourist
businesses suffer
Less dependence
on foreign oil
Fewer traffic jams
People take
fewer vacations
Fewer cars on the
road
Fewer gasoline
cars on the road
People take
fewer vacations
More people use
car pools
Roads don’t need
repair as often
More people buy
electric cars
People don’t buy
cars as often
People drive
fewer miles
Fewer cars on the
road
Lower
greenhouse gas
emissions
Gas is
$6.00 per
gallon
More people
telework
Fewer cars on the
road
Lower
greenhouse gas
emissions
People have to
spend more on
gas
Less money for
food
Increase in
hunger
Less money
heating and
cooling houses
Key
First Order
Consequence
Second Order
Consequence
Third Order
Consequence
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Process of decision-making
 List relevant choices
 Identify potential consequences of each
choice
 Assess the likelihood of each
consequence actually occurring
 Determine the importance of each
consequence
 Combine the information to decide
which choice is most appealing
Common Climate Misconceptions
(Additional explanations are found
in the notes section of each slide. )
Recent global warming is
caused by the sun.
The output of energy from the sun
has been monitored by satellites
for thirty years and has not
increased during this period of
rapid global warming.
There is no scientific consensus on
the existence or causes of global
climate change.
Every major international scientific
institution dealing with climate,
ocean, or atmosphere agrees that the
climate is warming rapidly beyond
natural variability and the primary
cause is human-induced carbon
emission.
Global warming is caused by the
ozone hole because the hole lets in
more radiation. (Ozone hole created
by chemicals like hair spray.)
Global warming is caused by increased
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
These trap infrared radiation from the
warmed surface of the Earth.
Current amounts of greenhouse gases
are far greater than they have been in
the past due to human activities.
Climate is simply long-term
weather and therefore can’t be
predicted.
Climate is the statistical analysis of
weather.
Millions of weather observations
have been made at thousands of
locations around Earth over more
than two centuries.
The atmosphere is large and small
amounts of carbon dioxide or a few
degrees of temperature change can’t
make much difference.
Small changes in the atmosphere’s
composition or temperature can
have a large effect.
The rate of increase over the past 50
years is nearly twice that of the past
century.
Weather anomalies can be used as
evidence for or against climate
change.
The huge snowstorms in the past 2
winters show that global warming
isn’t happening.
There is a link between climate change
and weather, but any particular
weather “event” cannot “prove” that
climate change is happening.
Carbon is destroyed when fossil
fuels are burned and CO2 is
released in to the atmosphere.
Carbon released from combustion
doesn’t have an impact on the
climate system.
Carbon stored by plants and
fossilized into oil or coal does not
disappear when it burns.
Fossil fuel combustion emits some
common air pollutants that have
local and global effects on human
health and the environment.
The only greenhouse gas emitted
by human activities is carbon
dioxide from burning fossil fuels.
The principal greenhouse gases that
enter the atmosphere because of
human activities are carbon dioxide
(CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide
(N2O), and fluorinated gases.
The Earth gets closer to the sun in
summer and is farther away in
winter.
The tilt of Earth’s axis is the
“reason for the seasons”.
Plants gain their mass from water
and nutrients through roots.
Plants acquire mass from
carbon dioxide through the
process of photosynthesis.
Fossil fuels have been around since
the origins of the Earth.
Fossil fuels are “buried solar
energy” originally captured by
living organisms millions of years
ago.
The carbon cycle and water cycle are
linked.
Water carries carbon about the cycle.
The cycling of each type of matter
(nitrogen, carbon, water) are
independent, though they may
affect each other.
Human activities have the effect of
transferring carbon stored in plants
and fossil fuels to the atmosphere.
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http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/faqs/index.html
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100728
_stateoftheclimate.html
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/education/
http://cires.colorado.edu/education/outreach/climateCo
mmunication/CC%20Misconceptions%20Handout.pdf
http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/co2_cy
cle.html