Assessment
Listen for students’ initial ideas about how atmospheric CO2 and temperature are connected. Do they see a causal relationship? At this point, they may have many unanswered questions about how increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere lead to climate change. However, at the end of this activity, they should have a good understanding of how increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere lead to warmer temperatures as a result of the greenhouse effect. If the students are still having trouble making this connection, you may want to show the students different models of the greenhouse effect that help explain this phenomenon.
Tips
If you choose to have students take the optional survey in step 7, you may want to ask students to turn in their results anonymously. This will give you an assessment of the range of attitudes in your classroom but will not stigmatize individuals based on their profile results.