Bias in Charts: Temperature and Climate Change
Lesson Plans
Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12English Language Arts, Mathematics
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by Project Look Sharp
What it is
- In this lesson from Project Look Sharp, students will analyze two graphs to determine how the data can be manipulated to perpetuate biases.
- Students will grow skills in media literacy by understanding that the same data may be presented in different ways, using different scales, or different time periods to support a narrative or media message.
Teaching tips
Positives
- Media literacy is a vital skill that students will need beyond the classroom.
- This is an excellent example of how data can be misconstrued to encourage confusion or misinformation.
Prerequisites
- Teachers will need to create a free account to access the materials.
- Students should understand that climate change is an agreed-upon certainty in the scientific community.
Differentiation & Implementation
- To increase students' inquiry skills, teachers can give students time with the two charts to record what they notice before asking them to look for and analyze specific parts.
- Teachers can ask students to think further into bias by discussing who may stand to benefit from climate change denial. Teachers can introduce students to this article, which discusses the climate change denial campaign used by fossil fuel companies beginning as far back as the 1960s.
- To make connections to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, teachers can discuss how many of the SDGs are interdependent and especially reliant on Goal 13, Climate Action. Teachers can highlight how misinformation or information presented to mislead can be detrimental to achieving sustainable development.
From the scientist review
This lesson teaches students about bias and how it can present itself in charts and graphs. Students will learn the importance of understanding if a source has bias and credibility, and how the correct data can be presented in a misleading way. The lesson does contain a brief discussion about how political leaning can affect an organization's bias. The information presented is accurate, and this resource is recommended for teaching.
Ready to use it?
Hosted on projectlooksharp.org
Want this to fit your class?
Add your location for local examples, questions, and action ideas.
