Activity: What are the causes and effects of ENSO? CLEAN

ASSIGNMENT : Activity: What are the causes and effects of ENSO? CLEAN

Published: June 29, 2012

Updated: June 29, 2012, 11:00 am

Lead Authors: Patrick Callahan, Sarah Bednarz, Texas A &, amp, M University, From the On The Cutting Edge activity collection Posted by Patrick Callahan, Barnard College

Topics:

Grade Level: College (13-14)

Time Required: 4 Hours

Content Source: What are the causes and effects of ENSO?

SUMMARY

Activity takes five to six 45-minute class periods for first investigation.

Selected for the CLEAN Collection. The activity description was developed by CLEAN reviewers.

This activity addresses naturally occurring climate change involving ENSO (El-Niño Southern Oscillation). In this activity, students play the role of a policy maker in Peru. First, they determine what sort of ENSO variation is occurring. Then, they must decide how to allocate Peru's resources to manage for possible weather-related problems.

GOALS

Goals developed by lead author:

Content/concepts goals for this activity:

effects of climate events on human systems

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity:

map analysis
synthesis of evidence to draw conclusions

Other skills goals for this activity:

oral presentation skills
group collaboration

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION AND TEACHING MATERIALS

Explore >> What are the causes and effects of ENSO?

TEACHING NOTES / CONTEXT FOR USE

Teaching notes and context for use developed by CLEAN Reviewers:

Teaching Tips

To be specific the learning goals for this lesson that come from the driving question of "What are the causes and effects of ENSO?" are:

The student will learn the economic impact of an El Niño using Peru as an example.
The student will understand the various policies that the Peruvian government should establish to mitigate the negative economic impact from an El Niño.
The student will learn how to analyze satellite data as presented on a map.
The student will hone oral presentation and group collaboration skills.

About the Science

Students learn about ENSO and then role play policy makers who must decide how to allocate Peru's resources to manage possible ENSO related problems.
Background information provided in the form of briefings, which are integrated into the activities at appropriate times. Students use the briefings to analyze data and write their responses in logs.
Weather-effects maps for analysis from NOAA and NASA.
Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.

About the Pedagogy

Students use their learning about ENSO to take the role of a policy maker in Peru. Students determine how to allocate resources based on predicted weather and climate.
Lesson contains worksheet-type work along with the role playing game.
Lesson seems well-scaffolded and organized in a way to allow students to build and use their knowledge.
Assessment is likely based on the student presentations and worksheet, although this is vague in the lesson plan.

Technical Details/Ease of Use

All materials printable.
Color printing is necessary for the maps and briefing sheets.
Information on second and third investigations are not included.
All material available in download.

ASSESSMENT

Assessment developed by lead author:

Determining whether students have met the goals

oral presentation

More information about assessment tools and techniques.

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

Related URLs These related sites were noted by our reviewers but have not been reviewed by CLEAN

Direct link for this activity is: http://www.missiongeography.org/III-3-1.pdf. The entire collection of mission geography is at: http://www.missiongeography.org/revcrit.htm#912

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Short description developed by lead author: This NASA Mission Geography module focuses on the evidence for global climate change. In the specific activity on ENSO, students role play policy makers deciding how to allocate Peru's resources to manage for possible ENSO related problems.