Investigating Global Warming and Climate Change

Beyond the Basics: Local to Global Climate Impacts and Classroom Applications K-5

Lesson 3

Activities grounded in climate science

Lesson 3 Activity 1 Earthworms and Their Temperature Preferences

• We know that recycling is one way to combat climate change. Let’s meet the “world’s smallest recycling center,” a.k.a. the worm!
• Worms eat dead plant material and including some of OUR garbage) and contribute nutrients (their poop), back to soil keeping it healthy for new plant growth. If it weren’t for worms, there would be no healthy soil, no plants, etc.
• Their movements through the soil create spaces for air that are very important for plants and other animals.

Earth Worms like all animals have specific needs for survival, including water, food and temperature

• Your teacher will provide a plastic containers, soil, newspaper, and earthworms.

• Help you to:

• Layer the bottom of the container with newspaper (bedding).

• Add a layer of soil on top of the bedding.

• Place the earthworms in the soil.

• Moisten the soil (not soggy) with water.

• Place a thermometer in each bin to monitor the temperature.

Observations of worms living at different temperatures

Building Mini-Worm Bins

Earth Worms like all animals have specific needs for survival, including water, food and temperature

• Place the mini-worm bins in locations with varying temperatures (e.g., a sunny windowsill, a cooler area with no sun).

• You teacher will divide your class into data collecting teams.
• Each team will be assigned an observation time and observe the earthworms daily in both bins, noting the temperature in the bin, and worm activity (movement, eating, etc.).

• Record temperature readings and observations in your team’s data sheets.

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Observations of worms living at different temperatures

What are your results?

• Were there differences between the two locations?
• What were the temperatures in the “warm” location that the worms had the most activity?
• What were the temperatures in the “warm” location that the worms had the least activity?
• What were the temperatures in the “cool” location that the worms had the most activity?
• What were the temperatures in the “cool” location that the worms had the least activity?
• Do earthworms thrive in a specific temperature range?

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Earth Worms like all animals have specific needs for survival, including water, food and temperature

Your teacher will have the class predict how the worms will react to:

• a cold surface
• a room-temperature surface
• a hot surface

• Each research team will be given a tray and a cold, a hot, and a room-temperature moist paper towel.

• You will place several worms on each paper towel.

• Observe the worms’ behaviors at the start, after 5 and 10 minutes.

• Record their observations with an explanation for the worms’ behaviors.

Experiment - Worms Exposed to Different Temperatures

What are your results?

• How did the worms react to the cold, room –temperature and hot surfaces?
• Discuss how extreme temperatures can cause stress or even death to earthworms.
• What might be the impact of climate change on earthworm populations?
• How can you help protect earthworms and their habitats?

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Activities grounded in climate science

Lesson 3 Activity 2 Tree growth and Climate

Forests are like living libraries. They store information about their past.

Dendrochronology is a way of reading the tree’s own journal to reveal the natural history of the tree and its environment.

The word Dendrochronology derives from the Greek words:

Dendro meaning “tree”

chrono meaning “time”

logy meaning “study of”

It means “the study of tree time” or the science of tree ring dating; the analytical technique of assigning each of a tree’s growth rings to an exact year.

We can read the rings inside a tree to find out

• How old the tree is.
• What the weather conditions were like during each year of that tree’s life.
• Very old trees can give clues about what the climate was like long ago, even before the weather was getting measured and recorded.
• Scientists use Dendrochronology to study the “long ago” history of climate and can compare these changes to what is happening in “recent” history.

Trees keep records of climate

How do you see the rings of a tree without cutting it down?

• Tree rings collected with an increment borer.
• The borer cuts out a core of wood from the tree.
• This process does cause a small injury to the tree.
• It heals quickly and tree will continue to live.
• A photograph of the core allows the data to be studied by researchers all over the world.

A tree does not have to be cut down to study its rings!

We will study tree growth and climate using

“Tree Cookies”

The Patterns In Tree Rings Tell A Story!

The “Cookie” has a number of rings. One light ring plus one dark ring equals one year of the tree’s life.

• Trees grow more in warm, wet years, the ring will be wider.
• Rings are thinner in years when it is cold or dry.
• In very dry years the tree might hardly grow at all.
• A forest fire can char the bark, leaving a darker scar on the ring.
• We can learn about the climate and stresses by studying the characteristics of its rings.

What might be differences in tree rings with climate in different areas on our planet?

• Trees in the temperate zone only record the growing season, so the winter season will not be seen in the ring record.
• Trees in tropical regions grow year round and therefore show no real obvious annual growth rings. Climate data is difficult to piece out and use.
• Trees do not grow in all places on Earth.

Tree Ring Data

International Tree-Ring Data Bank

Tree of My Life

The rings of a tree’s trunk tell its story from year to year. Using the tree ring diagram create your own life story.