Students who demonstrate understanding can: Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
Clarification statement: Examples of factors include human activities (such as fossil fuel combustion, cement production, and agricultural activity) and natural processes (such as changes in incoming solar radiation or volcanic activity). Examples of evidence can include tables, graphs, and maps of global and regional temperatures, atmospheric levels of gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, and the rates of human activities. Emphasis is on the major role that human activities play in causing the rise in global temperatures.
Official wording from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013). NGSS is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the NGSS were involved in the production of this page, and they do not endorse it. View on nextgenscience.org
Graphs of global average temperature since the late 1800s show a clear upward trend, roughly 1 degree Celsius of warming, with most of it since 1970. Rather than simply being told the cause, students practice asking sharp scientific questions about the evidence: Which factors could change Earth's temperature? What data would show whether each one is responsible? How do the patterns in carbon dioxide records, solar output and volcanic activity compare with the temperature record?
Possible factors include natural ones, such as changes in the sun's energy output and large volcanic eruptions, and human ones, such as burning fossil fuels, making cement and some farming practices that release methane. Measurements show that atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen from about 280 parts per million before industrialization to over 420 today, while the sun's output has been nearly flat for decades. Greenhouse gases absorb heat radiated by Earth's surface and slow its escape to space, which is why their increase matters.
When students weigh these lines of evidence, the data point to human activities as the major cause of recent warming.
Global warming describes a long-term rise in the worldwide average. One cold season in one place is weather, not a change in the global trend.
Ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect are different problems. Warming is driven mainly by increased greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
Without any greenhouse effect Earth would be far too cold for most life. The problem is the extra warming from added gases.
Satellite measurements show solar output has been nearly steady or slightly lower since the 1980s while temperatures kept rising.
A classmate claims recent warming is caused by the sun getting brighter. Write questions that would test this claim, and say what the data show.
Answer: Asking what solar measurements show, how different layers of the atmosphere changed, and what else rose with temperature reveals that rising greenhouse gases, not the sun, best explain recent warming.
Put several graphs side by side, global temperature, carbon dioxide, solar output and major eruptions, and have students write questions before they draw conclusions. A simple model with two sealed jars under a lamp, one with extra carbon dioxide, can show trapped heat, but discuss its limits honestly.
Assessment items usually present graphs and ask students to pose a question that would clarify the evidence, or to identify which factor best matches the temperature trend.
Original questions written for this standard. Choose an option or type your answer, then press Check. Every question has a worked explanation.
Answer: D) About 1 degree Celsius
Global temperature records show roughly 1 degree Celsius of warming, with most since 1970.
Answer: A) Carbon dioxide
Burning coal, oil and gas releases carbon dioxide, which traps heat in the atmosphere.
Answer: B) They absorb heat given off by Earth's surface and slow its escape
They absorb outgoing heat energy from the surface, keeping more of it in the atmosphere.
Answer: 140 (also accepted: 140 ppm)
420 - 280 = 140 parts per million.
Answer: D) Have large eruptions increased at the same rate as temperature has risen?
A useful scientific question compares the timing and size of the factor with the warming trend.
Answer: cement production (also accepted: making cement, farming, agriculture, raising cattle, livestock, deforestation)
Cement production releases carbon dioxide, and some farming such as raising cattle releases methane.
Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth's systems.
Use a model to describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of Earth's systems result in changes in climate.
A full lesson with slides, activities and an exit ticket on causes of rising global temperatures, pitched to grades 6-8 and editable in PowerPoint or Google Slides.
Make a lesson →A printable, differentiated worksheet on MS-ESS3-5 with an answer key, ready in about a minute.
Make a worksheet →Turn causes of rising global temperatures into a quiz students answer online that marks itself, with a class summary for you.
Build a test →Asking questions to clarify evidence. Students question data about natural and human factors rather than only describing climate change.
Human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, cement production and agriculture, and natural processes such as changes in solar radiation or volcanic activity.