What are your thoughts on how the content from this section (as well as previous sections) might support components of a MWEE?

MWEE initial thoughts

MWEE initial thoughts

by Joselyn Hermoso -
Number of replies: 3

I attended one workshops here in Baltimore City and part of the topics discussed was about the impact of Carbon Concentration in the atmosphere. The  facilitator sent us this link for reading: 

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/1/15724164/9-questions-climate-change-too-embarrassed-to-ask. And I found this article very relevant to what we need to learn and teach to our students in dealing with environmental issues and awareness. Global warming has been part of the controversial talks and issues to be taken cared of, if  not solve right away. Because, my students are living in the city and they're in high school now, I would want them to know and understand the importance of our systems and how they can either help or destroy the systems around them. Also, this is article covered several topics  in Biology gearing towards NGSS. 

I would like to focus on two questions as written on the article and with high hopes that my students will be able to dive in as well. (1) How do we know that global warming is real? (2) How has the world affected the global warming so far? 

I would want my students not just to know what is global warming but  I would want them to be aware that this is really happening. I would want them to know the reality of it, the causes and impact from one smaller scale down to bigger scale. They live in highly industrialized city where a lot of human activities are happening  from their own homes, to community, to city, to state and thus far. I would want them to realize the huge  impact of a big climate change. By giving them this big picture about global warming and hoping they will be able to see that they're part it. What they do  can actually contribute to it. Lastly, I want them to trace the data of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration (NASA Earth Observatory or NOAA) from the given time frame and analyze these changes. 

 

In reply to Joselyn Hermoso

Re: MWEE initial thoughts

by Elise Trelegan -

Great thoughts here, Joselyn. I had forgotten about that piece in Vox - it's a nice breakdown so thank you for posting it. 

The two questions that you're considering - I think you're setting this up really nicely by calling out two pretty broad, driving questions that will allow your students to dig in.

1. How do we know that global warming (or less specifically, climate change) is happening? (note: I might use the word happening rather than real... by setting up a "real versus fake" dichotomy might cause you more trouble than not. Just a thought). And 2. How have people impacted global warming so far. 

With these questions I can totally see you using some of the resources from these modules to create some of the background content for your students to explore and maybe identify a more specific aspect of human impacts that they are interested in developing an investigation around. You've already called out some of these ideas like home energy usage, school energy usage, car emissions from idling at school drop off lanes or in traffic, etc. I bet your students will come up with even more creative ideas to explore with your facilitation. The next step is to consider how your students might actually get out to collect data that can contribute to their understanding. We'll be talking a lot about this during day 2 of our in-person workshop but this is a great point to start thinking about it. 

In reply to Elise Trelegan

Re: MWEE initial thoughts

by Joselyn Hermoso -

Thank you so much for the feedback. I greatly appreciate it.  I like the idea of using the "happening" and like you said, its more of  reality vs fake. This will allow my students to dig deeper into personal experiences and issues that they see around them.

I'm excited to see and explore the resources and bring it back to my classroom. 

In reply to Joselyn Hermoso

Re: MWEE initial thoughts

by Annale Carlos -

Thank you Joselyn for sharing the article. I agree, it is a good material to use in dealing with environmental issues and awareness. I will use it in my carbon cycling on earth lesson.