Examining the Evidence: Using data to pose and answer ques8ons about Earth s changing climate! Free Polar Explorer: Sea Level app and ac8vi8es

Transcription

1 Examining the Evidence: Using data to pose and answer ques8ons about Earth s changing climate! Free Polar Explorer: Sea Level app and ac8vi8es Margie Turrin & Dave Porter

2 What are the challenges in teaching climate with data? There is so much data and different types of data: How do you select the kind of data to use? Ocean? Atmospheric? Changes in the ice? How do I know it is reliable data? How do I get it into the student s hands to work with in an understandable way? Time! It takes so much 8me to locate the data and spend the 8me to build an ac8vity around it. I found lots of datasets but do I just give them to the students? How do I guide them through the data? What if they have ques8ons that I can t answer? These are some reasons mo=va=ng us to develop Polar Explorer: Sea Level

3 What is Polar Explorer: Sea Level? Developed through the NSF PoLAR CCEP grant a guided tour through the many layers of science that impact climate and ul8mately sea level rise. Uses publicly available vered data that we compiled and organized to provide a scaffolded explora8on that is user driven. Blends physical & social science. An app was the selected medium based our Earth Observer app & pedagogically on work by Segal (2011) which found interac8vely working with visual media can enhance learning and mo8va8on for processing & understanding complex systems. A series of ques=ons frames this map-based data-rich app that move the user through map layers with any level of complexity they chose.

4 Addresses Climate Educa8on Challenges Do you Believe in Climate Change? Climate change is not a belief we have evidence of a changing climate in the many systems that are all part of a rise in sea level. This app demonstrates this through the actual data. I read it in an ar=cle. Users of the app learn directly from the data with no one interpre8ng the informa8on. Independent learning provides insights that cements the understanding. The data sources are reputable science agencies. The data behind the maps in the app are from NOAA, NASA, USGS and other science partners and are referenced for users. Systems thinking, temporal variability & spa=al variability. All these are challenging educa8onally but the app moves the user through all of these.

5 Addresses Misconcep8ons A few degrees: Addresses the myth that few degrees of temperature change will not make a difference. Time traveling with the app shows how ocean temperature in the last glacial and last interglacial were only a few degrees from today s. This climate change is normal: The app shows that prior changes in climate occurred over thousands to millions of years, not at the accelerated rate we are seeing today. Humans are not part of the problem: Sec8ons in the app address the role of humans in altering the balance and reducing the resilience of the Earth. Humans will adapt: The who s vulnerable sec8on points out areas where people will be adversely affected and unable to adapt.

6 Supports for the user: #1: Ques%on driven structure to guide the user #2: Short Introduc%on to each map topic and use #3: 1 minute audio for a bit more on the topic #4. Each map has the data source posted & an informa%on link to a one page support piece with a direct link to the data #5. Slider allows the user to remove the map for orienta8on #4 #5 #3 #2 #1

7 Main Ques=on Categories include: What is sea level? Why does sea level change? Where is sea level changing now? What is happening at the polar regions? What about sea level in the past? What are future predic8ons US Coast? Who is vulnerable?

8 Eleva8on Beneath the Sea Each map is touch interac8ve so the user can interact for more data & measurements Inser8ng some linkages to systems to encourage Systems Thinking i.e. the link between ice sheets and ocean sea level. This sec8on also encourages spa=al thinking since the audio encourages them to explore deep and shallow places in the ocean borom. Also the large scale of the ocean which connects to.

9 Internal Ocean Temperature (Present) Dive down into the ocean to see how far down in the ver8cal structure the ocean has warmed. Here we can see the large scale of the ocean, how slowly it warms compared to the atmosphere and where the warming is being stored.

10 Where is sea level changing now? Can work with layers in the app to build stories. Worked with NOAA to link in their data and it is touch interac8ve for explora8on.

11 What about climate in the past? We can step through ice sheet retreat and how we have learned this through including the data points.

12 What about climate in the past? We can look at ice sheet retreat and the data used to determine this.

13 We can look at polar ice sheets to see their poten8al to affect sea level. What about the polar regions?

14 Who is vulnerable? Communi8es and regions at risk from rising sea level ocean atolls

15 Who is vulnerable? Human Footprint affects the landscape which impacts our resiliency in the face of physical events that would be increased by a rise in sea level.

16 Who is vulnerable? ECONOMIC IMPACT Humans facing increased risk from the natural system as a result of Sea Level Rise. FLOOD MORTALITY

17 Polar Explorer: Sea Level is free & available at the app store There is also a web basåed version available there online version We would love feedback reviews posted on the app. Margie Turrin mkt@ldeo.columbia.edu