The maths of carbon
In this lesson, students will view a clip from the documentary 2040 and examine data related to CO2 in the atmosphere.
Overview
In this lesson, students will view a clip from the documentary 2040 and examine data related to CO2 in the atmosphere. They will participate in a whole class graphing activity to explore how CO2 levels have changed over time. Students will then calculate percentages from ‘parts per million’.
Finally, students will reflect on the implications of rising CO2 in the atmosphere and be introduced to the concept of carbon ‘drawdown’.
Learning intentions:
Students will...
- understand that carbon dioxide is a gas that naturally exists, although in very small proportions, as a component of Earth’s atmosphere
- learn how atmospheric gases (such as CO2) are measured in ‘parts per million’ and also how to convert parts per million into a percentage measurement
- learn how to construct and interpret a time series graph and use appropriate vocabulary to explain the changes in a given quantity or phenomena over time
Success criteria:
Students can...
- identify several key gases in the Earth’s atmosphere and describe the way they are measured in ‘parts per million’
- convert parts per million into a percentage measurement
- construct a time series graph from a simple data set
Credits and acknowledgements:
Curriculum material and mapping has been developed and written by Cool.org.
Cool.org, GoodThing Productions and Regen Studios would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of Good Pitch Australia, Shark Island Institute, Documentary Australia Foundation, The Caledonia Foundation, and our philanthropic partners in the development of these teaching resources.
Watching the film
If your school or institution has a ClickView subscription, you can access 2040 on the ClickView platform.
If you do not have access to ClickView, you can purchase an educational licence to screen the film to your class and request a streaming link to share with your students. Please complete the Host a Screening form on our website and our team will be in touch to assist you.
The educational licence is for primary and secondary schools who wish to utilise the film as a learning tool or host on-site screenings for the school community.
Curriculum mapping
What you'll need
- Lesson materials
- A device capable of presenting a video to the class
- Tall glass with 10 increments on it, marked as a scale from 0 to 100 (i.e., going up by 10s)
- Jug of water
- Coloured liquid or coloured rice
- Whiteboard and markers
- Sticky notes – 1 pad
- Large, blank wall space OR whiteboard OR window (with room for students to move around in front)
- Chalk or non-permanent marker (to write on wall/board/window)
Lesson materials
More from this unit
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