Department of Teaching and Learning

College of Education

Florida Atlantic University

EDG 5931: Special Topics – Global Climate Change Education

Class and Contact Information:

Location: Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Boca Raton, FL (http://www.gumbolimbo.org/)

In-person Dates: Thursdays 1/14, 1/28, 2/11, 2/25, 3/18, 4/8, and 4/22. Time: 6-8:50PM

Course Description:

3 semester hours.  A review of factors that affect weather and climate; methods for studying climate change; natural and human-related causes of climate change; global and local environmental, ethical, societal, and economic impacts, renewable energy and sustainable development; and curricula and instructional methods for teaching global climate change.

Required Texts:

American Meteorological Society. (2009). Climate Studies: Introduction to Climate Science.

                American Meteorological Society. Washington, DC. AMS Website:

http://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/online/index.html

Henson, R.(2008). The Rough Guide to Climate Change: Symptoms, Science and Solutions.

                New York, NY: Rough Guides Limited.

Schneider, S. (2009). Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate.

                National Geographic Society.  Washington, DC.

                http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/SAACS/saacs_book.htm

Suggested Climate Change Books:

Craven, G. What’s the Worst that Could Happen? A Rationale Response to the Climate Change

Debate. New York, NY: Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Faris, A. (2009). Forecast: The Consequences of Climate Change from the Amazon to the Arctic,

from Darfur to Napa Valley. New York: NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Flannery, T. 2005. The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing The Climate and What it Means

It Means For Life on Earth. New York, NY: Grove Press.

Friedman, T. (2008). Hot, flat, and crowded. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Gore, A. (2006). An Inconvenient Truth. New York, NY: Rodale.

Gore, A. (2009). Our Choice. New York, NY: Melcher Media.

Krup, F. & Horn, M. (2008). Earth: The sequel. New York, NY: Environmental Defense Fund.

Lovelock, Gaia (2006). The revenge of Gaia: Earth’s climate crisis and the fate of humanity.

New York, NY: Basic Books.

Mooney, C. 2007. Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming.

Orlando, FL: Harcourt Inc.

Weisman, A. (2007). The world without us. New York, NY: St Martin’s Press.

Science Education

Elementary Science Education

Cothron, J. Giese, R. & Rezba, R. (1996). Science Experiments by the Hundreds. Kendall  Hunt.

(Teacher Edition).

Liem, T.L. (1987).  Invitations to Science Inquiry, about $45 from Amazon.com.

Rezba, R. J., Sprague, C., McDonnough, J. T., Matkins, J. (2007). Learning and Assessing Science

Processes Skills. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt.

Settlage, J. & Southerland, S.A., (2007). Teaching Science to Every Child: Using Culture as a

Starting Point. New York, NY: Routledge. (ISBN# - 0-415-95637-4).

Secondary Science Education

Chiapetta, E.L., & Koballa, Jr, T.R. (2005). Science Instruction in the Middle and

Secondary Schools. (6th ed.) Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Publishing an imprint of Prentice-Hall.

Cothran, J. Giese, R, & Rezba, R., Students and Research: Practical Strategies for Science

Classrooms and Competitions. Kendall Hunt.

Llewellyn, D. (2005). Teaching high school science through inquiry. Thousand Oaks, Corwin

Press and Arlington, VA, NSTA press.

Supplemental Texts: (recommended for students interested in developing curriculum for both formal and non-formal environmental education programs at all levels)

McTighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (2004). Understanding by design: Professional workbook.

Association for Supervision Curriculum Development (ASCD). Alexandria, VA. 

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2000). Understanding by design: Study guide. Association for

Supervision Curriculum Development (ASCD). Alexandria, VA.

GUIDELINES USED IN DEVELOPING COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Florida Science Standards

http://learningcenter.nsta.org/state.aspx?action=start&state=FL (Easiest way to view) or

http://www.fldoestem.org/page231.aspx

Access Points

http://www.floridastandards.org/Standards/AccesspointSearch.aspx

AAAS Benchmarks for Science Literacy

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National Science Education Standards

http://www.nsta.org/publications/nses.aspx

http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/Literacy/

Guidelines for K12 Global Climate Change Education (National Wildlife Federation and the North American Association for Environmental Education)

http://online.nwf.org/site/PageNavigator/ClimateClassroom/cc_naaee_guidelines

Course Objectives:

Global climate change has become a major issue affecting our planet. In this special topics course, students will learn about the

• factors that affect weather and climate;
• methods for studying climate change;
• natural and human-related causes of climate change;
• global and local environmental, ethical, societal, and economic impacts
• renewable energy and sustainable development; and
• curricula and instructional methods for teaching global climate change.

The course will incorporate a pilot program, American Meteorological Society’s Online Climate Studies Curriculum, This program was funded by NASA and includes a textbook, an investigations manual, and an online website that is updated on a daily basis. Each chapter includes two investigations that lead course participants through the analysis and interpretation of real-world climate data and information.