• Grade level: Middle School, High School
• Subject Area: Language Arts

Brief Description

    Students present their research reports on global warming, along with any other associated products (models, diagrams, Web-pages, etc.) to the rest of the class and school.
Objectives

    Students will:

• Prepare global warming materials for a group presentation.
• Collaborate on the presentation of their global warming reports to the school or class.
• Convert their printed reports into HTML for publication on the Web (Optional).
• Develop and refine their presentation skills.

Materials and Resources

    In developing our lessons and activities, we made some assumptions about the hardware and software that would be available in the classroom for teachers who visit the LETSNet Website. We assume that teachers using our Internet-based lessons or activities have a computer (PC or Macintosh) with the necessary hardware components (mouse, keyboard, and monitor) as well as software (operating system, TCP/IP software, networking or dial-up software, e-mail and a World Wide Web client program, preferably Netscape, but perhaps Mosaic or Lynx). In the section below, we specify any "special" hardware or software requirements for a lesson or activity (in addition to those described above) and the level of Internet access required to do the activity.

1. Special hardware requirements: none.
2. Special software requirements: none.
3. Internet access: none.

Activity Description

    Coordinate an Earth Day for the class or school, including the principal and others members of the community, where students present their reports on global warming. Prepare flyers for students to take home and encourage parents to attend the student presentations.

    As an alternative, if server space is available, consider publishing the students' global warming reports on the World Wide Web. See our Professional Growth modules in the Internet Resources below to learn more about Web publishing.

• Students present their finished global warming reports to the whole class and the entire school. This activity can be a small class presentation, where students present their report and related materials to the other members of the class, or it can be a large community and school event in which everyone is encouraged to participate.
• Students can present in teams, with each student presenting a portion of the finished report. Allow time for others to ask questions and make suggestions.
• If an Earth Day has been planned, include the student reports as centerpieces for the activities. Concentrate on what the students learned about global warming, the Greenhouse Effect, and climate modeling, as well as the criteria they developed for analyzing scientific claims. Use the Internet Resources below to find more information on Earth Day activities.
• Collect all of the student reports and publish them as a book or on the Web to broaden their use outside the school.

Internet Resources

For those who are interested in publishing their work on the Web, there are a variety of useful resources available to help along these lines. The following sites are places you can go to learn about making HTML documents.

• Earth Day Event Ideas
  [http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/edn/EDOG/EDOG2.html]
  A list of Earth Day ideas.
• EcoNet Earth Day Resources
  [http://gopher.igc.apc.org/earthday/]
  A wealth of Earth Day resources.
• Professional Growth, Intro to Web Publishing module [/big/dropoff/B9_Professional/TPD_Module_3.html]
  A LETSNet module that introduces Web publihsing.
• Professional Growth, Basic HTML module [/big/dropoff/B9_Professional/TPD_Module_4.html]
  A LETSNet module on HTML.
• Professional Growth, Advanced HTML module [/big/dropoff/B9_Professional/TPD_Module_5.html[
  A LETSNet module on advanced HTML.
• Student Conference on Global Warming
  [http://www.covis.nwu.edu/TeacherPointer/teachers/Gp24984.html]
  A Web page created by Doug Gordin, a teacher.

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