Inquiry Based Science Education:
New methodologies for teaching Biodiversity and Climate Change on
Secondary Schools”
The relation of sea level rise and climate warming:
Has sea level rise anything to do with climate
warming?
Grade level
Lower secondary
Grades 6 to 8
Expected time 2,5 hours
30 min discussion and building up hypothesis
30 min creating experiments
60 min investigating experiments
30 min discussing results and presentation of results
1 week for gathering information
Scientific inquiry focus:
Overview:
Developing content and problem orientated questions
Student will reflect on the
global distribution of
ice masses.
They will also reflect on
Climate Warming and the
effects for the melting of
the global ice masses.
Discuss and establish criteria for experiments
•
Operating Experiments: “Hands on activties”
•
Reasoning
•
Teamwork
•
Apply transfer knowledge
•
Gathering information about Sea Level Rise and
Climate Change
•
Conversation skills
•
Interpreting results
Through different
experiments they get to
know how many factors
have to be considered.
•
Aims:
To understand that CO2 is a gas that might be a factor for climate warming
To raise awareness about the importance of reducing CO2 immission
To build up knowledge about the significance of sheltering the global ice masses
To learn about the physical and chemical properties of water
To develop scientific skills
Curriculum content geography ( Syllabus) Secondary schools
Grade 6-8
Process related compentences:
Observation
Reasoning
Teamwork
Discussion capacities
Hypothesizing
Solving problems
Planing and doing experiments
Analyzing results and drawing of conclusions
Work in teams and gathering social competences
Communicating and presenting of results in a plenary meeting
Content related competences:
Performing chemical-physical experiments about climate change
Explaining the development of different tempered zones and climates on earth
Understanding and assessing of natural geographical cycles in relation to
anthropogenic interventions
Performing of chemical-physical experiments to explore climate change phenomena
Relating climate diagrams to the adequate global climate zone
Explaining natural geographical cycles and evaluating of the influence of anthropogenic
interventionTeaching sequence
I. Distribution of icebergs, icecaps and glaciers in the world
This section can be introduced by an article about sea level rise
or the PPP “Like ice in the sunshine”.
Discussions about the question
“Will there be any sea level rise because of climate warming?”
Building hypotheses on this topic.
Before planning experiments pupils have to find out about the distribution of global
ice masses. They can do that by using Internet or an atlas.They use a world map to
mark the areas with icebergs, ice cups or glaciers.
II. Experiments for
“The relation of global warming and sea level rise”
Melting icebergs, glaciers, dirty snow and the Gulf Stream…:
Please do not take the following experiments as an imperative recipe: They are only thought
to be a guideline to start. Maybe, there are even better ways to -investigate the relation
between global warming, melting ice and rising sea levels in the classroom. Many
experiments will give unsatisfying results – but why?
What did we do wrong? How can we improve our “scientific approach”?
And one question remains: Can hands-on experiments reflect the real world?
After initial discussions and hypothesizing the students can choose one of the prepared
questions with the equipment boxes to investigate their hypothesis.
If they have own ideas for an experiment, they can feel free to investigate their own
hypothesis.
1. CO2, oceans and icebergs:
Will sea level rise?
Material:
Two small aquariums
Ice cubes
Water
“Sun”: Strong lamp
Two digital thermometers
Clock
Carbon dioxide
Transparent plastic sheet
Place two small aquariums under a strong lamp. Make sure that their distances to the lamp
are equal.
Put ten equally shaped and sized ice cubes into each aquarium and add the same amount
of water, so that the ice cubes can float freely on the surface. Mark the “sea water level”.
Now let CO2 flow into a bottle, wait until the gas has reached the temperature of the
surrounding air and fill it cautiously into one of the aquariums.
Cover both aquariums with a transparent plastic sheet.Thus, the air and the CO2 roughly will
remain in their respective aquariums.
Switch on the lamp and let the “sun” shine on the “ocean” until the last piece of ice is melted.
Measure the temperature of the water and the air within the aquarium.
Aquarium filled with air:
time
0
temperature
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Aquarium filled with CO2:
time
0
temperature
1
2
What about the ice cubes- Do they melt with the same speed?
What about the water temperature - Will it go up or will it go down?
Does the (sea) water level rise or will it not?
When the last ice cube has disappeared: Switch off the lamp and let it be “night”:
Watch the temperatures fall or rise (?)
Watch the glass walls of the aquarium and the plastic sheet on top.
How is the influence of the plastic foil - try the same again without the cover
Teachers notice:
CO2 is considered to act - like other gases - similar to window-panes in a greenhouse,
letting in the sunlight but stopping long wave infrared rays going out. Emitted from the sunlit
heated surfaces, these are partly absorbed, partly reflected back into the greenhouse by the
glass and cause a higher temperature inside . Additionally, the glass keeps off wind and
prevents the warmth from being blown away.
On earth, the sunlight reaches the earth´s surface and warm it up, as a result “warm” infrared
light will be emitted. Several gases of the atmosphere, including CO2 ,will absorb a part of
these rays and emit it in all directions – partly back down to earth, too. This effect, called the
“greenhouse effect”, prevents the escaping of all energy into space, so temperature on earth
is on average approximately about comfortable +15°C instead of –18°C as we had without
atmoshere. . What normally is called the “fight against the greenhouse effect” should be
called “The fight against the additional greenhouse effect” which causes rising temperatures
on our planet.
Take a photograph of yourself with an infrared camera. You will get a funny picture because.
warm regions like your cheeks will be red, the tip of your nose will be blue.
Take a window-pane and hold it between you and the camera. The camera will not see you!
Now take a black balloon. You cannot see through it because it is black. But the infrared
camera can!
Will the CO2-cover speed up the melting of the ice cubes?
Maybe it will but – unfortunately – sometimes it will not and you will have to think about the
reasons.
These “mishaps” might be of greater value than a “clean” result because you have to think
over the experiment. What went wrong and why? What can we do better?
And even if everything runs fine:
Thermic capacity of CO2 is lower than that of air, thus less energy is needed to warm it up.
This might be one reason for the quicker melting ice cubes. Or is it so that things that warm
up easily will give off heat more quickly? Can our experiment “mirror” the real atmosphere at
all?
The vapour capacity of CO2 is much lower than that of air making it more difficult for water
molecules to leave the water surface. As a result, almost no droplets will develop on the
glass walls and the plastic sheet on top of the aquarium. This leads to more sunlight and
consequently more heat within the aquarium.
All in all: The experiment might look simple, but it is not simple at all and there is a lot more
to “inquire”…
2. People say sea water level will rise because
warm water needs more room…
Material:
Two small aquariums
Water
“Sun”: Strong lamp.
Transparent plastic sheet
Two measuring cylinders
Place one small aquarium under a strong lamp and put the other one at some distance. The
first one will be heated (“Pacific ocean”). Let the other be undisturbed (“North Atlantic”)
Add some cold water to a height of about 1 cm, take a pen and mark the “sea levels”. Cover
both aquariums with a transparent plastic foil .
Switch on the lamp and let the “sun” shine on the “Pacific Ocean”.
“Hot”
Time (minutes)
Temperature
°C
Sea level rise
(mm)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15
Is there any “sea level rise”?
What do you think? Does warm water expand at all?
Think of a thermometer and try to conceive a new method to evaluate the amount of
expansion.
3a. People say that melting icebergs will cause
sea levels rise.
Material:
Small aquarium
Ice chunks big and small (but must fit in the aquarium)
Water
Magnifying lense
“Sun”: Strong lamp.
Transparent plastic foil (“Cloud cover”)
Put the ice chunks into the aquarium and add water until the ice will float freely. Take a thin
water resistant pen and mark the “sea level”.
Switch on the lamp and let the “sun” shine on the “ocean”.
Watch the “icebergs” melt. Will big and small ones melt at the same speed?
Watch the “sea level”: Does it rise? If you are not sure whether is goes up or down, use a
magnifying glass!
Teachers notice:
Think of a free glass of cold lemonade with lots of ice chunks. You have filled it up to the very
rim (because it is free!?) Will the water spill over when the ice is melting?
Check it out, it will not!Ice cubes float in the water because they are lighter than water. But
the top of the “icebergs” surmount the waters surface and even the rim of the glass.
The biggest part of the iceberg is under the water displacing water.
Remember that freezing water in a fridge leads to breaking bottles? Freezing water expands
by 11%, so ice havs a greater volume than liquid water. Melting icebergs reduce their volume
to this of the water they consist of, thus filling the space taken by the lower part of the
iceberg.
3b. People say when icecaps melt sea levels
will rise…
Material:
Small aquarium
Ice chunks big and small (must fit in the aquarium)
Water
Magnifying glass
“Sun”: Strong lamp.
Transparent plastic foil (“Cloud cover”)
Fill some water into the aquarium. Take a thin water resistant pen and mark the “sea level”.
Let the ice chunks slowly glide into the water. It does not matter whether the ice will float or
not.
“What happens to the sea level”?
Switch on the lamp and let the “sun” shine on the “ocean”.
Watch the “icebergs” melt. Will big and small ones melt at the same speed?
Watch the “sea level”: Does it rise? If you are not sure, use a magnifying glass!
Teachers notice:
Add water to water and you will get more water, no matter what physical condition the water
might have. Dropping ice into water seems to be quite a simple experiment. If you do it after
having checked out the physics of (floating) icebergs, your students might have varying
views about what might happen here…
4. Everyone knows that “cool girls” wear white
while “hot guys” wear black…
Does “white” and “black” have any effect on
ice and snow?
Material:
Two soup plates
Snow
Soil and gravel
“Sun”: Strong lamp
Two digital thermometers
Place two small aquariums under a strong lamp. Make sure that their distance to the lamp is
equal. Take snow (when available) or put ice cubes into a robust carrying bag and crush
them with a hammer.
Take the soup plates and make two equally sized heaps of snow. Cover one heap with dirt.
Switch on the lamp and let the “sun” shine on the “snow covered landscape”.
Measure the core temperature of both heaps
Time (minutes)
Temperature °C
(pure snow)
Temperature °C
(dirty snow)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15
Teachers notice:
People say: “Black attracts sunlight…”. Obviously black things heat up quicker than white
ones. The reason is that black things absorb (“swallow”) sunlight converting it to heat. So no
light is reflected. White things don´t absorb light but reflect it.
For melting, ice and snow take a lot of melting heat from the surrounding air or water.
Therefore the environment will cool down. The ice and snow will remain at 0°C until it has
completely changed to liquid water.
5. People say global warming will lead to more
rain…
Small aquarium
Two small bowls
Water
“Sun”: Strong lamp
Cover: Glass pane
Put the two jars in the aquarium. Fill water into one of them whereas the other remains
empty.
Cover the aquarium with the glass pane. Place the lamp over the jar filled with water and
switch it on.
While the “sun” warms the “ocean” watch the “sky”: What happens to the pane and the glass
walls of the aquarium? Will the empty jar stay dry?
This experiment might take long before you can notice anything at all.
But feel free to repeat it with warm or hot water!
You might also place a beaker filled with water on top of the glass pane…
Will you be able to move the water from one jar to the other without touching them?
6. People say that melting icebergs will destroy
the Gulf Stream …
Material:
Small aquarium
Water
Two transparent plastic beakers
One drop of a mixture ( for the right density) of blue food colour and methylene blue
Ice cubes
Fill the aquarium with water
Fill cold water and some ice cubes into one of the beakers.
Once the cold water is really cold remove the ice cubes. Then fill hot water into the other
beaker
Place them down into the “ocean”.
Watch what happens to the beakers, one will float at the surface, the other one will not.
Drop a coin in each beaker to keep them on the ground.
Give a drop of the blue colour mixture onto the bottom of the hot beaker (bottom!).
Or try it this way:
Mix a little food colour and methylene blue. Take two jam-jars and fill them with hot and cold
water. Close them firmly, place them upside down into an aquarium with luke water. Give
some drops of colour onto the bottom of the hot jar and watch the colour move…
Watch what happens to the food colour?
Will there be something like the “Gulf Stream”?
The experiment will probably take some time, so be patient.
What happens if you – much later - put ice cubes onto the water surface between the hot and
the cold jar?
Drops of color rising from the hot jar to the surface and slowly descending above the cold
one.
Teachers notice:
Hot water is less dense and lighter than cold water. So it will move up to the surface while
the denser and heavier cold water will flow to the bottom of the aquarium. As long as the
aquarium is hot on one side and cold on the other hot water will stream towards the colder
regions.
Adding a little colour to the hot water you will see the stream at or right under the surface
slowly descending in cooler parts of the aquarium.
Methylene blue has turned out to be too light, moving up even in cold water. Food colour is
too heavy and doesn’t move upwards sufficiently. Both liquids mix easily so you can combine
both qualities.