Joanne Abramson (Royal Sunset High School, SLZUSD), Lauren Bishop (Butler Academic Center, ACOE)

How Will Climate Change Affect Health in the Bay Area?

Essential Question/Problem

Learning Objectives (Science Standards)Grade 9-12: Life Science6b. Students analyze and describe changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate and human activity.

Grade 9-12: Earth Sciences4c. Students describe how the electromagnetic spectrum reaches the Earth and how it is reflected back. Additionally, students classify atmospheric gases with respect to their absorption of infrared radiation and analyze how this causes the greenhouse effect. 8a. Students graph the composition of the atmosphere, including the greenhouse gasses.

Grade 9-12: Physical Science3a. Students know heat flow and work are two forms of energy transfer between systems.

Grade 9-10: ELA (Reading)2.4. Students synthesize content from several sources, paraphrase ideas and connect them to other sources.

2.5. Students extend ideas in secondary sources through analysis, evaluation and elaboration.

Integrated Health Standards

21st Century Skills•Communication and collaboration•Forming logical explanations•Problem solving•Data analysis•Health and information literacy

Scientific Investigation in 2 Phases

•What is the atmosphere composed of? •How is the composition of the atmosphere changing over time?•What are greenhouse gases?•What is the electromagnetic spectrum and how is it involved in global climate change?

The second phase of the project involves student groups exploring health issues that are increasing with global warming:

•Why is this problem related to global warming?•Who is affected and how can they help themselves?•How is this condition affecting the human body?•What can they do to decrease the contributing factors?

Probable Health Impacts to the Bay Area

Possibly fatal responses to heat waves, especially in

urban areas

Research-Based Instructional Strategies•Interactive journals•Anticipation guides for each lecture•Note taking strategies•Graphic organizers and sentence stems.

Capstone Project/Investigation and AssessmentsThe summative assessment of student groups will be a rubric based on their written, oral and visual products. The written product is an individual essay on their topic including the causes, potential remediation on a personal and global level, and interrelation to other health topics. The visual element is a group poster with pictorial, graphic and written components. The 21st century skills are assessed with an oral presentation of the poster and a demonstration pertaining to their topic.

Implementation Plan and Next StepsWe need to work out a reliable version of the greenhouse gas lab that does not use glassware to accommodate unique security requirements. Group demonstrations need additional development.

ResourcesGraphs of Change (NASA)http://climate.nasa.gov/keyIndicators/Earth Observatory Global Mapshttp://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/GlobalMaps/The Greenhouse Effect (plus diagram)http://climate.nasa.gov/causes/Electromagnetic Spectrumhttp://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/waves3.htmlGreenhouse Effect Animationhttp://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/greenhouse/KQED Quest: CA at the Tipping Pointhttp://www.kqed.org/quest/television/climate-watch-california-at-the-tipping-point-part-onePlaying with Prisms Mini-lab (Adapted from http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/activities/students/prisms.html)Carbon Cycle Game http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/climate/carbon_cycle.htmlThe Very, Very Simple Climate Model http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/climate/cli_model.html

Smog in Oakland

Global warming is changing our climate resulting in a variety of alterations to atmospheric, plant and animal cycles. What impacts to the health of people in the Bay Area can be anticipated as a result of these changes?

Increase in intensity and scope of mosquito vectored

disease

Increase in natural disasters which may affect air quality

Increase in production of smog and ozone, changes in pollen levels and/or fungal pathogens leading to respiratory problems

Malnutrition due to rising food costs and declining

availability

The first phase focuses on the physical and environmental factors that lead to global warming including:

Photo Creditswww.sfgate.com www.saidaonline.com blog.altuse.com/2010_04_01_archive.html www.jumpthecurve.net/.../ www.urbanheatislands.comhealthguide.howstuffworks.com www.impactlab.com/?tag=rain