Global Climate Change Lesson Template

Please Note: This lesson plan should be your own work and written in your own words with
sources cited. You are encouraged to take inspiration from National Geographic and other
sources, but you are expected to create your own unique plan.

YOUR NAME: Miriam Nazaret Roman Fernandez

LESSON TITLE: Coastal erosion in Norfolk (UK)

RECOMMENDED GRADES: Year 7 (English System)

TIME NEEDED: 1 hour

OBJECTIVES:

Students will:
-Understand how climate change is responsible for coastal erosion
-Get to see how this is impacting local communities (houses on the cliff will collapse into the
ocean).
-Use a model to predict how many meters sea level will rise in the upcoming years
(prediction).

MATERIALS:
What materials will need to be gathered or prepared for this lesson?

Interactive

- http://flood.firetree.net/
- https://climatekids.nasa.gov/greenhouse-effect/
- https://climatekids.nasa.gov/sea-level/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UdBdVpucyY
- https://natgeo.novoed.com/#!/courses/climate-change-winter-2021-b/lecture_pages/
1191474

Technology
-Internet
-Projector
-Computer

Images of Happisburg some years ago and now a picture of my own model I created for this
course.

For experiment land/sea ice impacting the global sea levels:

-2 containers
-clay
-pins
-ice cubes
-water
PREPARATION:
What should be prepared in advance?

The experiment should be set up in advance, this is arranging the clay inside of the containers
and placing the pins on the clay, then pouring a bit of water in each container.
Only when the experiment is about to start, the ice will be taken out of the freezer and pour into
two different parts of each container: one in the water and the other on the clay.

Also the projector and all websites should be ready to go with a click.

DIRECTIONS:

Students need be reminded of climate change meaning, specifically related to the oceans.
Questions about what causes climate change and how to relate that to the global sea level rise
will be asked to get them introduced to the topic.
For example, what causes a rise in temperatures in our planet? Which of those are human
related? What are GHG? What causes ocean levels to rise? How does abnormal rise in GHG
and temperature affect global sea levels? Real discussion between students with different ideas
and opinions.

After the discussion, https://climatekids.nasa.gov/sea-level/ and

https://climatekids.nasa.gov/greenhouse-effect/ will be played and the teacher will make sure
they understand the logic with some more questions like, how do sea levels get to rise? Is there
only one way in which sea levels rise? What is water expansion? etc.

Teacher will make the experiments: the one with the containers and the clay and the other
about temperature and water expansion seen during the course. (What’s needed and how to
carry the experiment is included in MATERIALS and PREPARATION).

After all this, students will have a better understanding about what causes temperatures to be
higher and global ocean level to rise.

Once they have all the pieces of the puzzle, it’s time to put them together. Teacher will show the
model below (made by herself).
Teacher will show this video where they can see commentaries from people living in these
areas of Norfolk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UdBdVpucyY

To finish off teacher will use http://flood.firetree.net/ to type in a random year in the future for
them to see where the sea levels at that specific moment would be and how would that be
different from the picture of Norfolk in 2015.

PRIOR SKILLS & UNDERSTANDINGS NEEDED:

What skills and knowledge would students need in order to successfully complete this activity?

Firstly, students need to know prior to this class our planet is a closed system with every major
component highly correlated.
Secondly, what is climate change and what causes it.
It would be really helpful if they could arrive to this class with a clear understanding about Green
House Gases and the fact that they are not “bad” per se but rather the huge increment caused
by human activities, like deforestation, agricultural activities and burning fossil fuels.
MODIFICATIONS:
Suggest ways in which the lesson might be modified for specific student audiences, different
abilities, etc.

For students with different abilities (for example sight and audition problems) the teacher would
have the class recorded with subtitles (one of the apps that translates directly when talking
would do the job) and would make sure that pins in the experiment are safe for everybody,
otherwise something safer to stick on the clay should be used so students with sight problems
could interact.
For remote learners, this will be prepared the same way but over Zoom. Having all the links
ready to screen share with the students.

EXTENSIONS:
How might this lesson be extended to enhance the learning?
One of the main objectives of this class is being able to travel to Happisburg and see in situ the
coastal erosion talked about in class. We would need half a day for this.

VOCABULARY:
What new vocabulary will students need to learn to complete this lesson?

Climate Change
Green House Gasses
Deforestation
Agricultural activities
Fossil fuels
Albedo
Land vs Sea ice sheets
Global sea level

ASSESSMENT:
How will students be assessed for this lesson?
A piece of paper with the incomplete model seen in class would be facilitated at the end of the
class for the students to complete and correlate with arrows. They are expected to write down
what happens in every step.

RESOURCES:
What outside materials would support this lesson? Please include links.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UdBdVpucyY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW3dSWkhog0
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate/flood-map-england-and-wales-areas-risk-flooding
https://coast.noaa.gov/slr/