Positives

• Students can practice the meaningful skill of interpreting data.
• There is enough data for students to work in small groups and have each group contribute a different graph to the class.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should know how to plot data on a line graph.
• Students should know what CO₂ is and how it is released into the atmosphere.

Differentiation

• Younger students may need to graph the data or interpret the graphs as a whole class.
• After looking at the data, students in science classes can discuss the effect CO₂ and other greenhouse gases have on the atmosphere and our planet.
• Language arts students can use their observations of the data as evidence in an informative essay about atmospheric CO₂ levels.
• Students can graph other climate-related datasets, such as global temperature rise, sea level rise, or phenological data.