NASA's Earth Minute: Gas Problem

Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Earth and Space Sciences

Provided by NASA

What it is

This short, animated video explains what greenhouse gases are, how they function to help the Earth, and how they harm the Earth.
This video describes how gases like CO2 cycle through Earth's systems.
This video also explains what fossil fuel are, how they combine with oxygen, and their impact on global warming.

Positives

This video is concise and breaks down complicated ideas and processes into an easy to understand format.
This video does a good job of showing the negative and positive effects of greenhouse gases and how humans have impacted them.
This video shows that the more that people learn about climate change, the more people can do to deal with its effects.

Prerequisites

Differentiation & Implementation

This would be a great video to use in a chemistry class to use as an example of a chemical reaction.
Science classes could also use this when learning about greenhouse gases and what their role is in the Earth's system.
Some related resources are CO2 and Climate Change, Heating It Up: The Chemistry of the Greenhouse Effect, and Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

This resource is an excellent primer on greenhouse gases, the greenhouse effect, and the carbon cycle. This resource is recommended for teaching.

Hosted on youtube.com

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Standards alignment · MS-ESS3-5. + 4 more

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

MS-ESS3-5.Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperatures over the past century.
MS-ESS3-D.Human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, are major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (global warming). Reducing the level of climate change and reducing human vulnerability to whatever climate changes do occur depend on the understanding of climate science, engineering capabilities, and other kinds of knowledge, such as understanding of human behavior and on applying that knowledge wisely in decisions and activities. (MS-ESS3-5)

English Language Arts

SL.6-8.2Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

Science and Engineering

MS-ESS2-1Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process
HS-ESS2-6Develop a quantitative model to describe the cycling of carbon among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.