This activity from NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory introduces students to the scientific understanding of the greenhouse effect and the carbon cycle. The activity leads them through several interactive tasks to investigate recent trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

View Lesson
Discipline
Earth and Space Sciences
Grade Level
9-12
Lesson Area
Soils and Climate
Lesson Type
Activity
Lesson Keywords
Carbon Cycle
Climate Change
Climate

Next Generation Science Standards

Grade Discipline Core Idea
9-12 ESS2.D: Weather and climate

The role of radiation from the sun and its interactions with the atmosphere, ocean, and land are the foundation for the global climate system. Global climate models are used to predict future changes, including changes influenced by human behavior and natural factors.
9-12 ESS2.E: Biogeology

The biosphere and Earth's other systems have many interconnections that cause a continual co-evolution of Earth's surface and life on it.