Using climate models to predict the future of the planet

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 Geography and Information Technology/Computing.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Alan Condron from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA. A climate modeller, he is investigating past incidences of climate change to model future changes to our planet’s climate.

• This resource also contains an interview with Dr Alan Condron about his work and career path. If your students (or you) have questions for Dr Condron, you/they can send them to him online. All you need to do is to go to his article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). Dr Condron will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Dr Condron’s research and challenges them to design a computer model.

• The PowerPoint reiterates some of the points in the article.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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