Have you ever wondered why summers are hotter than they used to be? Or, how is it that we have had record-breaking high temperature days even in March? Did you notice that the Cardinals’ Opening Day this year on March 26 was St. Louis’ warmest March day in recorded history, with the temperature reaching 93 degrees Fahrenheit?
In their Weather & Climate Global Change Unit, sophomores in our Integrated Chemistry course studied the chemistry of climate change through a poster-making project. Through the project, they asked how chemistry can help explain long-term climate trends. They studied what evidence supports changes in global and regional temperatures, and they asked how data can be used to support scientific claims about climate change. Lastly, they asked how effective science communication changes depending on the audience.
In groups of two to three students, they researched a climate-related topic in connection with the class unit. Then, the students created a digital poster that answered the anchoring question about hotter summers using authentic scientific data and chemistry concepts. Their poster included one hand-drawn graph and was to be tailored to a specific target audience as assigned once their research was complete. For example, some students prepared their poster and presentation as if their audience was a group of fourth-grade students. Others acted as if they were presenting to eighth-grade students. Additional groups spoke to AP students, teachers, or parents.
On Friday, April 10, students in Upper School Science Teachers Laura Bradford’s and Stephanie Matteson’s classes presented their posters in Integrated Chemistry while pretending their target audience was in the room. The presentations were recorded, saved online, and linked to their posters through a QR code. Check out some of their final posters below, and be sure to scan the QR code to learn from their brief presentations too!
This was a new project for our 10th-grade students, and the teachers were pleased with how it unfolded. “We have some impressively creative students, and the students did a wonderful job of adapting their climate chemistry topic for a specific audience,” noted Ms. Matteson. “I can say I really enjoyed the first iteration of this project.”
Students really embraced this new project too! “My group and I worked very well together and conducted lots of research. It was extremely rewarding to see that work come together in our final poster,” reflected Audrey Walker ’28. “For me specifically, it was challenging to create a model that incorporated all of the chemistry aspects, but in the end, it was very awesome to see the model come to life! I am very proud of my model and how it came together because I worked very hard to understand the concept. I took a lot of time creating a draft and working through the processes, so seeing it come together was awesome.”
The sophomores also expanded their understanding of the reason warmer summers have been occurring, as well as about themselves as learners. Audrey added, “Before this project, I knew about climate change and that it heavily affected increasing temperatures during the summer, but this project taught me more in-depth reasoning behind warming summers. Also, I learned that as a learner, I learn very well from visual models like the one I created.”
If you’re on campus these next couple of weeks, be sure to check out the chemistry of climate change posters!