Climate Feedback Loops

Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

• Teaching Tips
  This lesson is loaded with concepts that build from previous lessons related to this resource. As a final assessment or activity, educator may want students to draw a conceptual diagram of the positive and negative feedback loops related to increasing CO2 in the atmosphere. One drawback is no answers provided and may be conducive to teachers imposing their own misconceptions. This series of lessons could also serve teachers in professional development for learning how to implement effective inquiry-based lessons.
• About the Science
  Website and lessons were developed by a collaboration of international chemistry and educational organizations under the UN International Year of Chemistry resolution 2011. This lesson does an effective job of presenting positive and negative feedback loops and how negative feedback loops create a relatively stable climate system. Comments from expert scientist; The applets are easy to follow and the graphics are well done. The material it presents is accurate, but is somewhat limited in time. More examples of negative feedback to warming should be explained, like the volcanos that tend to be much greater negative feedbacks than positive ones. No references in the material.
• About the Pedagogy
  Lesson includes key ideas, applets, keyword definitions hot-linked in the text, and an end-of-lesson quiz, which provides good questions that require critical thinking. Lesson relies on understanding the carbon cycle.
• Technical Details/Ease of Use
  Students are able to work individually on these lessons if they have their own computer. The applets run smoothly (on Macs and PCs) and enhance the final levels of understanding for students. No guide for educators or answer key to the questions available.