CORE VALUES: USING PALEOPROXIES TO TEACH CLIMATE CHANGE

A common misconception about the current state of Earth’s climate is that it is an extension of natural cycles. In order to better understand our current climate regime, students must be given the opportunity to gain insight into the timescale and magnitude of past climate changes. Paleoproxies, such as tree rings, ice cores, and ocean sediment cores, can offer valuable insight on Earth’s climate past by providing information about variables such as temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric and oceanic composition.

In this presentation, we will share our newly developed hands-on experience, in which students use several related but very distinctive proxy models to look for evidence of changes of one particular climate variable: temperature. Students will investigate the proxy models using adaptations of methods developed by paleoclimate scientists. Students will draw the best, most likely scientific conclusions from the body of evidence they gather during their investigation. In addition to teaching students about Earth’s climate and the concept of proxies, students will learn valuable scientific skills, such as graphing techniques, data analysis, and how incredibly interconnected the Earth system is.

We will demonstrate how to introduce paleoproxies to your students, and offer strategies on how to incorporate paleodata into the classroom. Additionally, we will provide strategies on how to make climate science interesting and accessible to any student, and how to customize the paleoproxy curriculum to different grade levels. We will also provide resources that will allow classrooms to directly connect with climate scientists currently doing research in the field.