Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: What is a greenhouse?

20 minutes

Find Out: Examining the natural greenhouse effect

25 minutes

Take Action: The enhanced greenhouse effect

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: What is a greenhouse?

Preparation

Create a mini greenhouse in a plastic bottle, e.g. cut off the top of the bottle, add in soil and a small plant (making sure it doesn’t reach over the top of the bottle opening), water the plant and cover the bottle opening with some plastic wrap and secure with a rubber band.

Alternatively, you could share this short video with your class if you aren't able to get your hands on a model!

DIY Mini Greenhouse - TeachStarter (https://youtube.com/shorts/_l2luPnMLZc?feature=shared)

Step 1

Share your greenhouse model with students. Invite students to suggest what they know about how a greenhouse works.

Suggested answer: a greenhouse is a building or structure with glass or plastic walls and a glass or plastic roof. They are used to grow plants, especially in cold places. Greenhouses create a sheltered environment for plants by using solar radiation to trap heat. Sunlight enters the greenhouse through the plastic or glass coverings and starts to warm the soil and plants inside. The warmed air near the soil rises up as the cooler air drops down towards the soil. This cycle raises the temperature inside the greenhouse more rapidly than the air outside, creating a sheltered, warmer microclimate.

Step 2

Pose the following questions to your students:

Do you think a greenhouse would be effective all year round?
Would some seasons or climates be better suited to a greenhouse than others? Which ones and why?
What do you already know about the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere?

Find Out: Examining the natural greenhouse effect

Step 1

Watch the following video with your students and once complete, take a moment to discuss key concepts in the video and clarify any questions.

What Is The Natural Greenhouse Effect? | Environmental Chemistry | Chemistry | FuseSchool (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpa0aFY--pE)

Key concepts

What is a greenhouse gas?
What is the greenhouse effect?
What does the natural greenhouse effect ensure for Earth?

You might like to explain to your students that the greenhouse effect has been around since the formation of the planet. Naturally occurring gases – such as methane and carbon dioxide – collect in the Earth's atmosphere. These allow the light from the sun to reach the Earth's surface but trap the sun's heat that reflects back up into the atmosphere. In this way, it acts like a greenhouse in which you can grow your veggies.

Step 2

Encourage your students to annotate the blank image below, found on their student worksheet showing how the natural greenhouse effect works; you might like to play the video above again to assist them. A worked example is also shown.

Take a moment to work through their image together, ensuring that they match up with the information presented in the video.

Take Action: The enhanced greenhouse effect

Step 1

Distribute the Climate Change Fact Sheet to your students and ask them to read pages 2 and 3.

Students should answer the following questions on their worksheets

Why is the greenhouse effect now an issue for global warming and climate change?
What are the main causes of the increasing greenhouse effect?
What started this process off?
What are the main greenhouse gases, and where do they come from?

Step 2

Explain to your students that the natural greenhouse effect is a normal process on Earth, however, since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been responsible for higher concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which means that we are now experiencing the enhanced greenhouse effect.

Step 3

Similarly to their annotation of the natural greenhouse effect in the previous section, Invite students to work as individuals or small groups to add to the same image as above to show how the enhanced greenhouse effect works. Another blank version of the image can be found on the student worksheet.

They can refer to the image they created before of the natural greenhouse effect for guidance on what features and annotations can be added to explain the enhanced greenhouse effect and use the information from the videos they have watched, as well as the climate change factsheet and any other research they conduct.

Encourage students to research to add as much detail as possible into their diagram. They may like to extend the image (or create their own) to include other sources of greenhouse gases they learnt about from the factsheet or other research. Providing information about where these greenhouse gases come from and how they contribute to the greenhouse effect. It should be clear from looking at the two diagrams the difference between the natural and enhanced effects.

A worked example can be found here: Enhanced Greenhouse Effect - Worked Example.

Step 4

Allow students time to complete their images. You could share the images with your class using a gallery walk. Use a gallery walk format to provide peer feedback on student work. Display the students' work around the classroom and place a piece of blank paper next to each work for writing feedback. Invite groups to rotate around the room and provide feedback to the creators of the work. As groups view the works, they are required to record one thing they like about the work displayed. One thing they wonder about it, and one thing to improve the work or where to go next. Consider doing this before work is submitted to the teacher so that students can incorporate any feedback to improve their work.

Reflection

Set the stage for your students to reflect on their learnings from this lesson by creating a newspaper headline that captures the most important points from the lesson.

Reflect on the following with the class

How does their headline differ from what you would have said at the start of the lesson?
What excites you about the future?
What worries you about the future?

Climate Science: All About The Greenhouse Effect

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