Climate change

The ‘Climate change’ course will be developed for Year 7 and 8 students (Curriculum levels 4-5). 

Draft outline of the modules:

1Introduction and
climate basics
  • What is climate change and why is it bad?
  • What is climate?
  • What key factors affect climate?
2Atmosphere and
the Greenhouse effect
  • The Atmosphere
  • How does the greenhouse effect work?
  • What are the different greenhouse gases and where do they come from?
3Carbon footprint
  • Ecological footprint – introduction
  • Carbon footprint
4Who’s responsible?
  • What countries have the highest carbon footprints?
  • Which human activities have the highest carbon footprints?
5Oceans and Ice
  • Sea temperature
  • Reduction in land ice
  • Reduction in sea ice
6Extreme weather
  • Hurricanes, storms, floods and cold waves
  • Droughts and heat waves
7Impacts of climate change
  • Sea level rise
  • Water shortages
  • Food shortages
8Reducing carbon emmissions
  • Economic/Technological solutions e.g. solar economy, clean tech.
  • Political solutions e.g. carbon tax
  • Reducing carbon footprint at home
9Increasing
carbon storage and biocapacity
  • Introduction to biocapacity
  • Carbon offsetting and storage – planting trees/reforestation etc
  • Organic farming and better
10Summary
  • What have we learned?
  • Where to from here?