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This is the third lesson of the climate engineering lesson series. In this activity, students will think more critically about the design and function of the technology they suggested for the first lesson. They will design their final climate engineering technology and create an Engineering Blueprint through this activity.
- Grade level
- Grades 6-12 (ages 11-18)
- Materials
- 5 resources available
- Questions?
- Contact the lesson team
Needs review before publishing
- The Lesson Plan Introduction section on the cover page is empty, so it isn't shown. Add text to the cover page or confirm it should be left out.
- The slides PDF (documents/Lesson_3_PPT.pptx.pdf) isn't named as an Equidox-remediated file like the other lessons' PDFs. Confirm it is accessible.
- Claude drafted the Global Connections section, and the global competence and UNESCO SDG 13 entries under Standards, from the lesson materials. Review and edit them.
Overview
Objectives
By participating fully in this activity, students will:
- Apply knowledge from current climate engineering research to improve their personal designs
- Be required to adjust their design to meet specific criteria
- Learn how to develop engineering schematics/blueprints to illustrate their technology and its features.
- Develop their engineering thinking.
Grade Level
Grades 6-12
Standards
These are Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations.
- MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing human impact on the environment.
- MS-ETS1-2 Engineering Design. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
- HS-ESS3-2 Earth and Human Activity. Evaluate competing design solutions for developing, managing, and utilizing energy and mineral resources based on cost-benefit ratios.
- HS-ESS3-4. Evaluate or refine a technological solution that reduces impacts of human activities on natural systems.
- HS-ETS1-3 Engineering Design. Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
This lesson also supports these international frameworks:
- Global competence (Asia Society and OECD): Investigate the world; Communicate ideas; Take action
- UNESCO learning objectives for SDG 13 (Climate Action):
- Cognitive 5: prevention, mitigation and adaptation strategies
- Socio-emotional 3: collaborating on agreed strategies to deal with climate change
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
- SD Goal 4: Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
- SD Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.
- SD Goal 13: Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Materials Required
- White poster board (one sheet per student)
- Colored pencils
- ALTERNATIVE – Computers with graphic design tools
- Worksheet 1
- Worksheet 2
Learning Sequence
Needs review: The Lesson Plan Introduction section on the cover page is empty, so it isn't shown. Add text to the cover page or confirm it should be left out.
Activity Details
Activity set-up
- Review activity 2, especially the principles of cloud formation and marine cloud brightening (MCB) as a possible geoengineering solution.
- Briefly review student designs from lesson 1.
Selecting the best climate engineering design
- Students use the decision matrix included with worksheet 1 to evaluate their top three ideas from lesson 1 and identify the strongest idea for moving forward.
- Some ideas for scaffolding students’ decision making are included in the lesson plan.
Creating an engineering blueprint
- Students finalize their design making any necessary adjustment to meet criteria.
- Each blueprint must contain a title, a descriptive subtitle, drawings of the technology from at least two perspectives, labels and a table of important features.
- The checklist for the Blueprint is provided in the PowerPoint and in worksheet 1.
- ALTERNATIVE – Use graphic design software to create a blueprint and/or rendering of the design.
Demonstration, discussion and reflection
- Some discussion prompts are included in the lesson plan.
Conclusion
Students evaluate their top designs from lesson 1 for feasibility and develop blueprints and/or visual renderings of their top design.
Global Connections
Needs review: Claude drafted the Global Connections section, and the global competence and UNESCO SDG 13 entries under Standards, from the lesson materials. Review and edit them.
Start where you teach
Have students base their design criteria on a climate impact they identified where they live in the first lesson, so each blueprint answers a local problem as well as a global one.
Bring in other perspectives
Add a row to the decision matrix asking who, elsewhere in the world, would be affected by the design, and how those people could be asked for their views.
Share beyond the classroom
Before the Culminating Event, students can share their blueprints with another class, families or local engineers, who respond with what is the same as and different from what they expected, and what they would ask the designers.
Lesson materials
Download the files below to teach this lesson. PDFs are accessible versions; PowerPoint and Excel files can be edited for your class.
Teacher resources
Full lesson plan
Lesson slides
Needs review: The slides PDF (documents/Lesson_3_PPT.pptx.pdf) isn't named as an Equidox-remediated file like the other lessons' PDFs. Confirm it is accessible.
Worksheet 1 with answers
Student resources
Worksheet 1
Worksheet 2
Credit and contact
Credit
Created by the Indiana University Climate Engineering team: Paul Goddard, Ben Kravitz, and Adam Scribner.
Contact
Questions about this lesson, or need a file in another format? Contact:
- Paul Goddard – pgoddard@iu.edu
- Ben Kravitz – bkravitz@iu.edu
- Adam Scribner – jascrib@iu.edu