AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PALEOCLIMATE CASE STUDY TO TEACH STUDENTS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE IN AN INTRODUCTORY WEATHER AND CLIMATE COURSE

Interdisciplinary approaches to climate change teaching can be effective particularly when students are engaged in collaborative hands-on activities. Students can find STEM discipline courses more meaningful when they participate in problem solving active learning that has real-world applications. This type of learning curriculum has been developed by faculty members of the MSI-REaCH (Minority Serving Institutions Reconstructing Earth’s Climate History) project. This professional development program helps faculty improve student understanding of climate change by providing science instructors with engaging pedagogy that challenges student notions about Earth’s past climates. A major component of the program demonstrates how scientists interpret these changes through marine sediment records. Students enrolled in the Long Beach City College spring 2017 semester weather and climate course were introduced to a tropical paleoclimate case study of the Cariaco Basin sediment record. This high resolution marine sediment record reveals how climate change impacted the Maya Civilization. It offers a compelling story about the collapse and abandonment of the Maya cultural centers and poses a question, could this happen to us? Instructors using this case study can bring together ideas from different disciplines; geology, climatology, sedimentology, archaeology, art history, and sustainability. Implementation of this case study posed seen and unforeseen challenges for both the instructor and students, but the value of the exercise is worthy of further refinement.