Global warming is an established theme of geography schemes of work because it so dramatically links people, places and the environment. Key stage 1: begin to develop an understanding of climate change by taking a digital photograph of the same view from the classroom once a month for a school year (PoS 1b). Use these photographs to develop geographical vocabulary (PoS 2a), and for classifying and sequencing games (PoS 5a).
KS2: global warming is an ideal topic for PoS 6e “an environmental issue, caused by change in an environment”. There are some web based resources written for children, eg www.epa.govglobalwarmingkids.
Give lower juniors a set of questions to investigate (What is global warming? Why is it happening?); let upper juniors choose three or four questions of their own (Pos 1a).
KS3:Pupils can begin to explore the complexity of the arguments about the causes and effects of global warming in greater detail (PoS 6j). Provide a “discussion text type” writing frame (We are discussingI, Some people think thatI, Others thinkI, My opinion isI). Pupils could draw on a selection of articles on newssearch.bbc.co.ukcbbcnewsdefault.stm.
KS45:The article suggests that people’s behaviour is at odds with the reality of global warming. Set GCSE students a mini-project to carry out a questionnaire survey to find out the views of different groups about global warming and what we should be doing.
For A-level students organise a role-play: scientists “for” and “against” global warming; representatives from countries such as the US, the Netherlands, Bangladesh; farmers; industrialists etc. See a recent article by Melanie Phillips and the correspondence it has provoked: www.melaniephillips.comarticlesarchives000255.html
