In this part of the unit, students are exploring how global temperatures have changed over the past hundred years.  Students will examine tables and graphs about global temperatures and carbon dioxide levels, human consumption of food, and human consumption of natural resources.  They will find patterns in the graphs.  Based on this data, students will construct an argument about how human activities (increase in population and consumption of natural resources) cause global temperatures to increase.

"This undergraduate class is designed to introduce students to the physics that govern the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere. The focus of the course is on the processes that control the climate of the planet.AcknowledgmentsProf. Ferrari wishes to acknowledge that this course was originally designed and taught by Prof. John Marshall."

This course provides students with a scientific foundation of anthropogenic climate change and an introduction to climate models. It focuses on fundamental physical processes that shape climate (e.g. solar variability, orbital mechanics, greenhouse gases, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and volcanic and soil aerosols) and on evidence for past and present climate change. During the course they discuss material consequences of climate change, including sea level change, variations in precipitation, vegetation, storminess, and the incidence of disease. This course also examines the science behind mitigation and adaptation proposals.

Students explore heat transfer and energy efficiency using the context of energy efficient houses. They gain a solid understanding of the three types of heat transfer: radiation, convection and conduction, which are explained in detail and related to the real world. They learn about the many ways solar energy is used as a renewable energy source to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses and operating costs. Students also explore ways in which a device can capitalize on the methods of heat transfer to produce a beneficial result. They are given the tools to calculate the heat transferred between a system and its surroundings.

Do you ever wonder how a greenhouse gas affects the climate, or why the ozone layer is important? Use the sim to explore how light interacts with molecules in our atmosphere.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Describe the efforts to reduce the influence of immigrants on American culture
Describe the evolution of twenty-first-century American attitudes towards same-sex marriage
Explain the clash over climate change