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Geography: Energy Exchange

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environment

society

science

sustainability

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www.fundisaforchange.com

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Rationale:

How does this course support teaching about climate change?

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This course has been developed to support FET phase Geography teachers to meet the requirements for CAPS teaching about climate change. The course covers core content knowledge taught in Grades 10-12, focusing on those sections dealing with climatology.

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This course focuses on the Grade 10 curriculum, with a forward-looking approach to Grades 11 and 12. The broader aims of Geography (as described in CAPS) are used as the central themes in this course.

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Objectives:

  • Strengthen your subject content knowledge of climate change;
  • Alter your perspective to be more proactive;
  • Engage more deeply with current climate change issues;
  • Encourage collective responses to local challenges;
  • Enhance your teaching approach / strategies; and
  • Support your assessment practice.

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Approach used:

  • In line with the CAPS, the course covers:

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  • Subject knowledge,
  • Teaching approach / strategies, and
  • Assessment practice.
  • Actions to support change to address a climate-related matter of concern.

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Forum activity- When teaching climate change what should we focus on?

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Given that we know that climate change is real, there is need to mitigate, adapt and build resilience, why do so many teachers (still) find it difficult to engage with the topic?

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Groupwork activity

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One of the significant issues to be addressed by the teacher when teaching climate change is the psychological distance

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Watch the YouTube video below to get the message that teachers can pass to learners to address Psychological distance

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https://youtu.be/huIUDGihEsI

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Relevance of the course to the CAPS Grade 10-12 Geography curriculum

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This first Climate Change course focuses on the basic energy exchanges that drive the global climate system. The key question addressed by this unit is: How is energy added to and withdrawn from the Earth System?

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Related topics within the CAPS, showing relevant grades and terms

KEY CONCEPTS AND PROCESSES GRADE TERM

How is energy supplied and added to the system? *

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How is energy transformed through various processes? (e.g. the hydrological cycle)

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How is energy transferred across the system? (e.g. Earth’s energy balance and the global air circulation) *

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Energy transfer (e.g. pressure belts, cold and warm fronts, high and low pressures) *

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Impact of energy system change on communities, woman and livelihoods e.g. youtube and online articles about a Tropical cyclones such as Idai and Freddy for discussion

  

 

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ENERGY EXCHANGE

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Key question addressed:

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How is energy added to and withdrawn from the Earth System?

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  • Energy from the sun enters the Earth System in the form of short-wave radiation.
  • When it enters the atmosphere, some of this solar energy is reflected, scattered and absorbed. Only about half of the radiation arrives at the Earth’s surface.
  • The atmosphere, which is made up of gases such as carbon dioxide and water vapour which re-radiate energy back into the atmosphere and then back towards the Earth.
  • This exchange of energy is usually referred to as the ‘greenhouse effect’ because it causes the warming of the Earth.

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The climate-energy system showing how energy is transferred by the sun,

the Earth and various gases, resulting in the enhanced greenhouse effect

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Source: EPA (2012)

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The role of global circulation in the Earth’s energy balance

  • More solar energy is received at the equator and less at the poles, this process causes a global circulation system.
  • The movement of the Earth around the sun affects when and where different amounts of energy are received
  • The Tri-Cellular Model (Hadley cell, Ferrel cell and the polar cell) shows how energy is redistributed across the globe and ensures there is not a surplus at the equator and deficit at the poles, which would be caused by the differential heating of the Earth’s surface by the Sun.
  • South Africa is a relatively dry country, with an average annual rainfall of about 464 mm due to its subtropical location.

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Tricellular model

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Watch the video below about Global Circulation

https://youtu.be/9KOWnbM3fys

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Improve Your Teaching Practice/Pedagogy

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Transformative learning

  • The overall objective of the Fundisa for Change programme is to enhance transformative ESD and environmental learning through teacher education.
  • At a school level teachers should enhance transformative learning.
  • As a result, before discussing in depth several possible methods of teaching Energy Exchange, teachers need to comprehend transformative learning.
  • Transformative learning (TL) is the phase of the educational process where learning becomes authentic and real rather than just the transmission of information.
  • TL is reflective, experiential, student-centered, and demands self-directed learners as well as teachers who are prepared to use a range of teaching techniques and offer meaningful, pertinent, problem-based assessments.

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Watch the YouTube video below by Prof Heila Lotz-Sisitka about Transformative, Transgressive Learning

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https://youtu.be/23xdhNehFe4

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A variety of possible methods of teaching about climate change and related topics such as Energy Exchange can be found in the Fundisa for Change booklet focusing on methods and processes

Find below the link to the booklet focusing on methods and processes

https://www.fundisaforchange.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Methods-Processes.pdf

Possible methods of teaching about climate change

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Improve your assessment practices

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Assessing Significant Learning

  • The depth and quality of learning outcomes attained by pupils are assessed when measuring significant learning.
  • It focuses on the application, synthesis, and transfer of knowledge to real-world situations rather than just simple knowledge recall.
  • The model on the next slide which demonstrates that evaluating significant learning requires a holistic approach that considers both the learning process and its outcomes.
  • The assessment of significant learning should focus on evaluating students’ ability to apply knowledge, think critically, solve problems, and transfer learning to real-life situations.

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See below the adapted Dee Fink (2003) model to demonstrate how to assess ‘significant’ learning, and you can apply it to your Change Projects in relation to teaching climate change (Energy Exchange).

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Assessment strategy

Assessment strategy is provided in the Handprint Care for Teacher Education materials. The method that can be used to evaluate Significant Learning is explained in depth in Rob’s presentation, “Planning together through co-engaged assessment for and of learning all along the way.”

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Watch Prof. Rob’s video on “Planning together through co-engaged assessment for and of learning all along the way” for more information.

https://youtu.be/vxbqcBR4HAg

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