Activities for the Changing Earth System. Earth Systems Education, Middle School and High School Activities.

This book is intended to help teachers fulfill the need for children and future leaders to understand issues of global change and the science that lies behind them. Important changes are occurring in several of the earth's subsystems. The changes are thought to be the result from the expanding use of technology for the improvement of living standards, increased consumption of fossil fuels, and the growth of the human population. The book is divided into three sections. The first contains teaching materials targeted at the middle school level. The second contains materials for use primarily in high school science classes including biology, chemistry, and physics. The third section contains fact sheets intended for teachers, to assist them in improving their knowledge of a variety of issues in global change. Each activity focuses on Earth as an integrated system and includes an annotated bibliography of useful references. Some of the global change activity topics include: (1) the greenhouse effect and global warming; (2) ozone depletion; (3) shrinking freshwater resources; (4) deforestation and effects on biodiversity; (5) climate modeling; (6) volcanic eruptions; and (7) proxy data for global climate change. (ZWH)