Modelling Climate Change

This booklet is part of the ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ series published by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP) and produced in partnership with the Walker Institute for Climate System Research. Climate scientists do not have a ‘climate in a test tube’ to try out their ideas, so to understand the climate and why it changes, they create computer models that they use to do 'experiments'. The booklet provides an introduction to the way in which the climate can be modelled and the science behind the models. The activities include practical experiments, simple examples of climate modelling, and analysis of observed data.

The Modelling Climate Change booklet contains an illustrated overview of the topic with suggestions for teachers on how to introduce the ideas in the classroom, plus student activity sheets and notes for teachers and technicians.

The downloadable resources include:
• Student activities: zip files containing the activity sheets in PDF and editable Word formats.
• PowerPoint presentations: these contain a complete set of the images used in the booklet and activity sheets.
• Computer spreadsheets: including a simple model of the Earth’s energy balance and data on the climate.

This publication was produced in partnership with the University of Reading's Walker Institute for Climate System Research. To accompany the publication, the Walker Institute have produced a simple climate model.

The ‘Innovations in Practical Work’ publications are supported by low-cost practical resources available from Mindsets:
• SEP publications and resources from Mindsets
• Practical resources for Modelling Climate Change

• URL: http://stem.org.uk/rx3vk