ARCTIC CLIMATE CURRICULUM: ENGAGING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH AUTHENTIC DATA IN A FLEXIBLE, RELEVANT, AND EASY-TO-USE FORMAT

The Arctic Climate Curriculum is a three-module series of classroom and lab activities for high school science students. This suite of activities is designed to engage learners in climate science by working with authentic data from an ongoing Arctic research project. This collaboration is an example of an NSF Broader Impacts effort to bring relevant Arctic climate research into secondary classrooms.

The introduction to the curriculum allows students to navigate around the Arctic environment using Google Earth and then make measurements of meteorological parameters in their own locations. From there, students examine datasets from the NOAA meteorological tower in Eureka, Nunavut, Canada, and engage in a role-playing activity that uses the data to plan a hypothetical trip to the Arctic. The third and final module delves into the quantitative aspects of the dataset. Students use Excel to unravel the relationship between snowmelt, temperature, and albedo. The concept of albedo is further explored as a self-reinforcing feedback mechanism in the global climate system.

Throughout the activities, students are asked to relate the results from Arctic research to their own physical environment. The curriculum aims to build important scientific and quantitative skills by scaffolding the collection and interpretation of authentic scientific data, developing an understanding of the nature of science, prompting higher order thinking skills, building knowledge of the processes involved in climate change, using active learning techniques, and learning key climate and weather concepts that are integrated with educational standards.

To support flexible implementation in a wide range of classrooms, the curriculum is designed so that educators can use the entire curriculum or select the components best suited to their audiences. All activities include a teacher’s guide, a student guide, student worksheets, and supporting data and image files. The entire curriculum is freely available at http://cires.colorado.edu/education/outreach/ICEE/arcticclimate. The U.S. National Science Foundation's Office of Polar Programs supported this work with award ARC 11-07428.