INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION: HOT NEWS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

Abstract:

Educational outreach by the Climate Studies Center (CSC) at the Institute for Quaternary Studies, University of Maine, focuses on disseminating information about the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2), and the United States' portion of the International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition (US ITASE). This is accomplished through the use of web sites, classroom posters, school visits, CSC facilities tours, written curricula materials, videos, and teacher workshops. The CSC has also formed partnerships with the Boston Museum of Science, the American Museum of Natural History, and other facilities to develop and disseminate educational material.

In this one-hour session, teachers will work with the GISP2 Climate Card. This classroom exercise is an exciting and user friendly way to understand climate change. The GISP2 Climate card is based on data from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 which contains the longest, most detailed, record of the Earth’s climate. The GISP2 Climate Card is standards-based, web-formatted, classroom tested, and comes with a written teacher guide. The exercise is appropriate for Earth Science, Physical Science, General Science, and Environmental Science classes in grades 6 – 12. The GISP2 Climate Card can be found on-line at http://www.secretsoftheice.org, click on "learning resources", under "activities’ click on "interpreting ice core data." Free classroom materials will also be distributed to all participants.