Professor Chris King,

Director, the Earth Science Education Unit

www.earthscienceeducation.com

Physics Education Research: Climate Change - the big questions

General questions•As you sit here – how might you be contributing to climate change?

•How might the things you have been doing today contribute to climate change?

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

General questions•As you sit here – how might you be contributing to climate change?

•How might the things you have been doing today contribute to climate change?

•Discuss these questions with your neighbour

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

General questions•As you sit here – how might you be contributing to climate change?

• Using energy – lights, air conditioning• Breathing CO2 into the atmosphere• The albedo of the building – pale, reflecting light

•How might the things you have been doing today contribute to climate change?

• Using fuel – journey to work• Using electricity – uses mainly non-renewable fuel• Consuming material – made using fuel• Consuming meat – from animals that generate

methane• Consuming vegetables, corn, fruit - from agriculture

that has changed the environment• Your home has changed the local albedo

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

Physics questions• How can the contributions that humans might be making to climate change be measured?

• How can the impacts of these contributions on climate change be monitored?

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

Physics questions• How can the contributions that humans might be making to climate change be measured?

• How can the impacts of these contributions on climate change be monitored?

Discuss these questions with your neighbour

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

Physics questions• How can the contributions that humans might be making to climate change be measured?• measure heat emissions• measure CO2 emissions• measure surface reflectivity (albedo)• use satellite imagery to monitor environmental change

• How can the impacts of these contributions on climate change be monitored?• measure the global temperature• measure the thickness of ice sheets• measure the height of sea level• measure the power of storms

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

Physics education questions• How could you devise classroom activities to mirror these measurements and monitoring studies?

•How could you evaluate the effectiveness of these activities and the educational strategies in which they are embedded?

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

Physics education questions• How could you devise classroom activities to mirror these measurements and monitoring studies?

•How could you evaluate the effectiveness of these activities and the educational strategies in which they are embedded?

Discuss these questions with your neighbour

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

Physics education questions• How could you devise classroom activities to mirror these measurements and monitoring studies?• measure the albedo of different surfaces in the lab• simulate the melting of sea and continental ice and observe the effects• compare Google Earth images from some time ago with those from today to detect differences• do a ‘thought experiment’ on the issues around measuring sea level• consider how spectroscopy could be used to measure CO2 content of the atmosphere

•How could you evaluate the effectiveness of these activities and the educational strategies in which they are embedded?

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

Physics education questions•How could you evaluate the effectiveness of these activities and the educational strategies in which they are embedded?

• Questionnaire/interview - teachers• Are teachers confident in teaching the materials, do they

find them useful, interesting, fun to teach, educationally valuable?

• Do the materials lead to pupil engagement/interest?• Questionnaire/interview - students

• Do the students enjoy them?• Do they encourage students to consider physics as a

career?• Do students feel confident in explaining them and their

importance?• Test/examination - students

• Do students know the concepts?• Do students understand the concepts?• Can they apply the concepts to new situations?

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

Physics and physics education questions• How could physics contribute to a reduction in climate change?

• How could these strategies be mirrored in the classroom?

Discuss these questions with your neighbour

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

Physics and physics education questions• How could physics contribute to a reduction in climate change?• development of renewable energy sources• increasing efficiency of fuel sources, both renewable and non-renewable• ‘geo-engineering’ – eg. the development of an Earth sun shield

• How could these strategies be mirrored in the classroom?

• test lab-sized models of renewable energy sources for effectiveness and efficiency• simulate and test ‘geo-engineering’ ideas

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

All this thinking is another way of saying:

• ‘What are the ‘big ideas’ of physics that focus on climate change issues?

• How should we teach about these ideas to pupils and students?

• What impact do we want this teaching to have on pupils/students?

• How can we evaluate this impact?

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

All this thinking is another way of saying:

• ‘What are the ‘big ideas’ of physics that focus on climate change issues?

• How should we teach about these ideas to pupils and students?

• What impact do we want this teaching to have on pupils/students?

• How can we evaluate this impact?

Discuss these questions with your neighbour… then return to your institution and implement the ideas!

Climate change – the ‘big educational questions’

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Earth Science Education Unit

www.earthscienceeducation.com

Physics Education Research: Climate Change - the big questions