Teacher Preparation

Overarching learning goal: By participating in this activity students will understand the connection between climate change and extreme weather events, recognising the predicted extreme weather events for Australia and understanding some of their impacts.

Teacher content information:

Extreme weather and climate change from Cool Australia on Vimeo - https://vimeo.com/79269861

For more reliable information about climate change in Australia, visit the Climate Council.

The IPCC:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was created to:

provide policymakers (governments) with regular scientific updates about climate change;
highlight the impact climate change will have on the planet in the future; and,
offer some ideas about how to tackle the challenges of climate change's potential effects on the planet.

In 2021-22, the IPCC released their sixth assessment report. This is the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change.

The report makes a number of important points:

It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.
Global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered. Global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades (B1). The report describes five possible climate futures, where #1 is not great and #5 is extremely bad. If we want to keep global warming at less than two degrees, which the IPCC says is the best-case scenario, we need to reduce our CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions significantly and start right away.

'Net zero' or 'carbon neutral' are terms that refer to achieving an overall balance between greenhouse gas emissions produced and greenhouse gas emissions taken out of the atmosphere. Getting to net zero means we can still produce some emissions, so long as we're doing something else to reduce the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere at the same time, kind of like balancing a set of scales (more info).

Psychological safety. The IPCC Report sets a hard challenge. While this real-world issue is essential for students to understand, there is no doubt it can make them feel sad or anxious about the future is becoming darker and scarier by the day.

So, reassure students that we can have a hopeful and optimistic outlook on this report, rather than one of doom and gloom. Explain that optimism involves looking objectively at a situation and making a conscious decision to focus on the good (more info), and that hope is the belief that you can make an impact (more info). Explain to students that you are going to look ahead, identify what needs to be improved, and then work on the skills and confidence so that they can go out and do it.

If you're interested in learning more about how to approach challenging topics around climate change and sustainability in your classroom through a Hope and Optimism lens, consider our PD course.

Student and classroom organisation

Step 1.

Begin this activity by engaging students in a brief discussion around the following questions (answers included):

What do you think the term “extreme weather event” means? - The definition of an extreme weather event is unusual, severe or unseasonal weather; in other words, weather at the extremes of the historical distribution (the range that has been seen in the past).
What is the different between an extreme weather event and a natural disaster? - Natural disaster is a broad term describing major adverse events resulting from natural processes of the Earth, such as volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, hurricanes, bushfires and droughts. Extreme weather events are those natural disasters that are weather related.
What are some examples of extreme weather events? - Flood, drought, hurricane, tornado, severe snow storm and heat waves.
What is the relationship between climate change and extreme weather events? -
"Rising temperatures can have several effects on the factors involved in weather. For example:
- They increase the rate of evapotranspiration, which is the total evaporation of water from soil, plants and water bodies. This can have a direct effect on the frequency and intensity of droughts.
- A warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour. The atmosphere now holds 4% more water vapour than it did 40 years ago as a result of increasing temperatures. This increases the risk of extreme rainfall events.
- Changes in sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) also have an effect by bringing about associated changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation. This has been implicated in some droughts, particularly in the tropics.
These changes don't automatically generate extreme weather events but they change the odds that such events will take place." - Skeptical Science

Ask students to read through the quotes from We Are the Weather Makers on the Student Worksheet and complete the associated activity to find three examples of extreme weather events since the publication of We Are the Weather Makers.

Once complete ask students to share the examples of extreme weather events that they found.

Step 2.

Ask students to watch the clip on climate change and extreme weather events and complete the associated questions.

Working with a partner, ask students to brainstorm the causes and effects of one extreme weather event mentioned in the video. Students should consider the social and environmental impacts of this weather event. They can use mindmeister or bubbl.us to record their brainstorm.

Once complete, ask students to share their responses with the class.

Step 3.

Break the class into small groups. Ask each group to pick one of the following extreme weather events predicted to become more common in Australia with climate change.

Ask groups to prepare 7 focus questions that they would like answered about their weather event. Ask students to write these on a sheet of paper and on the table provided on the Student Worksheet. Groups should then hand their sheets of paper to the teacher. You should redistribute the questions to new groups who should undertake the research necessary to answer the questions. Each group should prepare a Prezi presentation to share their research.

Groups should then present their research. The group who created each set of questions should write the answers to their own set of questions in the table on the Student Worksheet

Reflection

A lot of what we hear about climate change and extreme weather events sounds very bad and often quite frightening. However, although often associated with tragedy and terrible loss, we do hear good news stories.

Ask students to undertake research online to find a good news story associated with an extreme weather event. These stories will probably emerge after the event, as communities come together after the event.

Homework/Extension

1. Ask students to imagine they have to explain the link between climate change and extreme weather events to a Grade 4 student. Students should write this a short statement explaining this link.

2. Ask students to complete the Family disaster plan.

Weather Makers - Extreme weather

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