Curriculum: Visualizing Changes in the Great Lakes

Teacher Activity A: Which Great Lakes factors will increase and which will decrease as a result of climate change?

As we consider the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes, there are a number of ways of visualizing those effects. In this activity, students construct a concept map of things that may increase or decrease as a result of a changing climate.

Teacher Activity B: What will people see on the long walk to the water’s edge?

Students examine information about how climate change will likely impact the Great Lakes of North America and assume that they are in a part of the region experiencing a water level decline of over two meters! They listen to [or read] a story in which they imagine that they have spent a lifetime visiting the Great Lakes. With their “memories” and their science information, they describe the changes they have noticed in the Lakes during their lifetime.