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Lessons and Standards
8th Grade Summary
Middle school students learn about climate change, with a focus on heat islands, and explore ways to create a more resilient community now and in the future.
Students explore heat maps from three different urban areas, collect and analyze temperature data to determine if heat islands exist around the Living Lab, and learn how they can make a difference now by sharing their stories about the impacts of heat islands on themselves and their families, and how they can make a difference in the future by considering a career in Botany with a specialization in urban greening.
During their classroom day, students build a sense of community and begin exploring the concept of heat islands. They compete to build the tallest tower, with limited supplies, in a team-building challenge. Students then review why climate change is occurring, the impacts of climate change, the definition of heat islands, and why science leaders are concerned about the increasing number of heat islands in urban areas. Students make observations and predictions about heat islands using online interactive heat maps from three different urban areas and learn that climate change may not impact everyone equally.
During their day at the Living Lab, students 1) do a short experiment to understand how thermal energy heats different materials at different rates, 2) collect and analyze temperature data using heat guns and GIS mapping technology to determine if there are areas around the Living Lab which may be “heat islands,” 3) meet a science leader who shares their career pathway and challenges and obstacles they have faced along the way to becoming a science leader, 4) learn how a career in botany could be used to create a more resilient community in the future, and 5) share their story of how heat islands are impacting their family and friends and their ideas about how we can create a more resilient community by creating a virtual reality tour of City Heights that will be shared with teachers, parents, peers, and local policymakers through Ocean Discovery Institute’s social media platforms. Collectively, these experiences build students’ belief that science is something they can do and a scientist is someone they can become.
NGSS Alignment:
Performance Expectations
MS-ESS3-5: Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
HS-ESS3-6: Use a computational representation to illustrate the relationships among Earth systems and how those relationships are being modified due to human activity.
DCI
ESS3.D: Global Climate Change: Human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, are major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (global warming). Reducing the level of climate change and reducing human vulnerability to whatever climate changes do occur depend on the understanding of climate science, engineering capabilities, and other kinds of knowledge, such as understanding of human behavior and on applying that knowledge wisely in decisions and activities.
ESS2.D Weather and Climate: Current models predict that, although future regional climate changes will be complex and varied, average global temperatures will continue to rise. The outcomes predicted by global climate models strongly depend on the amounts of human-generated greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere each year and by the ways in which these gases are absorbed by the ocean and biosphere.
Crosscutting Concepts
Systems and System Models – students understand that a system is a group of related parts that make up a whole and can carry out functions its individual parts cannot. They can also describe a system in terms of its components and their interactions.
Stability and Change – Stability might be disturbed either by sudden events or gradual changes that accumulate over time.
Lesson Media:
Schedules
Additional Resources
- Learn about Heat Island Effect
- Heat Island Effect video explained (case study location: Phoenix)
- “What are Heat Islands?” article (US Environmental Protection Agency)
- “What is an Urban Heat Island? article (Climate Kids NASA)
- Extension Lessons
- Urban Heat Island Lesson Plans (Arizona State University)
- Classroom Data Links
- Hope in the Water
- Expose your students to sustainable food systems in the Blue Workforce – from aquafarmers to scientists.
- Includes short videos and classroom resources.
- Letters to a Pre-Scientist: https://prescientist.org/for-teachers/
- Black in Science: Organization that supports and amplifies Black voices in the field of Marine Sciences.
