Georgia S6E6.c
The Standard
Construct an argument evaluating contributions to the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
Georgia Standards of Excellence for Science · Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the uses and conservation of various natural resources and how they impact the Earth.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students compare data on global temperature, greenhouse gases, solar activity, volcanic events, and land use. They make a claim about the strongest causes and support it with evidence and reasoning.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student selects relevant data from several sources and explains how each factor affects temperature. They show that human greenhouse gas emissions best match the long-term warming trend, while natural factors alone do not.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may use one hot or cold day as evidence about global climate. Some confuse ozone depletion with climate change. Others assume all causes contribute equally or that correlation alone proves cause.
How to Assess It
- Give students a temperature graph and graphs for carbon dioxide and solar activity. Ask: “Which factor better explains the temperature trend, and what evidence supports your claim?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups temperature, carbon dioxide, solar, and volcanic graphs, then have them build an evidence board linking causes to observed changes.
Ask, “Which factor best explains recent warming, and which evidence rules out another explanation?” Students write a claim, evidence, and reasoning.
Play Evidence Match: teams pair cause cards with graph segments, earn points for accurate matches, and justify each link aloud.
Give students the school’s electricity use and an emissions factor; they calculate emissions and propose two realistic reductions.
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