ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors explain how they designed lessons in response to the conceptual difficulties noted in written responses of students regarding the greenhouse effect (GHE) and those noted by teachers who taught this topic. It is a part of a larger project in which the authors collaboratively developed or modified existing instructional materials with middle school teachers from schools in a Midwestern state in the United States. These materials focused on the following broad topics: Earth's energy budget, differential heating of the Earth's surface, weather and climate (climate system and climate variability), GHE, carbon cycle, and global warming and climate change impacts. Each topic consisted of multiple lessons that used a variety of materials such as hands-on experiments, readings, physical models, visuals, simulations, and extant data on climate factors. The authors describe the theoretical and methodological frameworks, and our practitioner research study.
