InTeGrate Announces Publication of Climate of Change: Interactions and Feedbacks Between Water, Air, and Ice

Interdisciplinary Teaching about Earth for a Sustainable Future (InTeGrate), a 5-year STEP Center grant from the National Science Foundation, seeks to increase Earth literacy of all undergraduate students, as well as the number of graduates who are prepared to bring an understanding of the Earth to bear on the resource and environmental issues faced by our society today and in the future. To this end, InTeGrate is pleased to announce the publication of the complete Climate of Change: Interactions and Feedbacks between Water, Air, and Ice module for introductory geoscience and environmental science on the InTeGrate website.

Developed by Cindy Shellito, University of Northern Colorado, Becca Walker, Mt. San Antonio College, and Cynthia Fadem, Earlham College, this two to three week module has students explore short-term climate variability resulting from atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions. The module promotes awareness of past and contemporary cultures and regions strongly affected by permanently altered or increasingly uncertain climates as students consider human adaptation to climate fluctuations. Students investigate the dynamics and impacts associated with climate variability by examining and analyzing atmosphere, ocean, and ice data; completing a series of readings; and engaging in group discussions. Materials and teaching descriptions for gallery walks, interactive discussions, group work, and lab exercises are provided.

This module is part of a growing collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.

Through the development of these modules, InTeGrate strives to infuse Earth literacy across disciplines, engage younger students in the geosciences, and develop a new vision for how geoscience is positioned in higher education.