Lesson overview

In this lesson, students will learn about the impact of climate change on the ocean. They will then complete a card sort and diagram activity to gain a deep understanding of how human activities link to climate change and the consequences of climate change on Earth’s systems, habitats, and people.

Learning outcomes

• Connect climate change to changes in the ocean
• List and describe climate change impacts in the ocean
• Categorise the different aspects of climate change and its impacts
• Create a diagram to show the linkages in climate change

Lesson steps

1. A warming ocean (5 mins)

Share the learning objectives for the lesson using slide 2, and then the facts on slides 4 and 5 to show how impacted the ocean is by climate change.

2. The ocean and climate change (10 mins)

This section develops students' subject knowledge about the impact of climate change on the ocean, covering six key aspects. Hand out Student Sheet Climate change and the ocean individually or in pairs. Read through the information on slides 8 to 12. This is replicated on the Student Sheet.

Students should then answer the questions on the Student Sheet or in their books using slide 13. Review the answers as a class using slides 14 and 15. Students can use this information for peer or self assessment.

3. Climate change card sort (15 mins)

The rest of the lesson builds towards an overview diagram of climate change, its effects, causes, results, and impacts. The first step is to sort the climate change cards into categories.

Activity Overview Climate change diagram activity guides the rest of the lesson.

Put students into groups of between four and six. Hand out Student Sheets Climate change category cards and Student Sheet Climate change cards (preferably pre-cut). Student groups should also have copies of Activity Sheet Climate change diagram activity to help with this and the next sections.

Use slides 19 to 24 to explain the six categories (actions, processes, changes, effects, results, and impacts) with examples.

Students should then work in a group to categorise the cards. Debrief this activity using the questions on slide 25.

4. Climate change diagram (25 mins)

Hand out the rest of the activity materials (A2 sheets, marker pens, and blue tack). Remind students of the objective of the activity and go through the instructions again using slide 27.

5. Review (5 mins)

Complete the lesson with a whole class discussion using the question on slide 28.

National Curriculum (England)

Science KS3

Relationships in an ecosystem

• Relationships in an ecosystem, environmental changes, and effects on living things.

Earth and atmosphere

• Earth and atmospheric science, including climate change and its effects on the environment.

NGSS (USA)

• MS-ESS2-6: Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
• MS-ESS3-3: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
• MS-ESS3-4: Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth's systems.
• MS-ESS3-5: Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
• MS-LS2-4: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.