Interpreting Earth's Climate Record - Decoding the Weather Machine

NOVA, Public Broadcasting Service

Learn how scientists have pieced together a continuous 800,000-year record of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and ocean temperatures in these videos from NOVA: Decoding the Weather Machine. Use this resource to review the difference between inference and observation and to consider the relationships between carbon dioxide, Earth's temperature, and climate change.

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Notes from our reviewers

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These videos are a good length to interject into any lesson. This would be a good example of "how we know about ancient climates". This is a good piece about how scientists do their work and about the evidence scientists use to draw conclusions.
Ice cores and ocean sediments hold clues to our past climate. The first video provides the viewer with a comprehensive overview of using ice cores to analyze past climates and how scientists compare those climates to today's climate. The second video discusses how chemical information encoded in the shells of ancient ocean organisms are used to infer a record of ocean temperatures stretching back millions of years. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
These videos are part of a collection called NOVA: Decoding the Weather Machine (2018) which includes a lesson and additional videos. See [link https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/nova-decoding-the-weather-machine/] These videos could be used to support students as they learn about the various ways we study our climate system. Standards are identified in the resource. Teacher links are provided: [link https://pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nvdtwm-sci-climaterecord/interpreting-earths-climate-record-decoding-the-weather-machine/]. These links identify science phenomena addressed, and provide guidance on building science practices using this resource. A list of questions to guide classroom discussion is provided.