Evidence for a Changing Climate

Lab Brief #11

🎯 Your mission

Predict it first. Then prove yourself right (or wrong).

⚡ The twist

Today's mountain was yesterday's ocean floor.

What you'll learn

No single measurement carries the case. Surface temperature records, ocean heat content, retreating glaciers, sea level rise and shifting species ranges are independent lines of evidence, and they agree — which is what makes the conclusion hard to escape.

Key words

line of evidence
One independent kind of measurement bearing on a question.
convergent evidence
Several independent lines pointing to the same conclusion.

Make a hypothesis first

Guess: where will the water go first?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Get ready

🧰 What you need

climate data sets
graph paper
coloured pens

⚠️ Safety first

Have an adult check your set-up before you start, and tidy everything away afterwards.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "line of evidence" and "convergent evidence" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Plot four independent climate data sets on a shared timeline and mark where they agree. Write one sentence on why four agreeing records are stronger than one long one.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

Convergent evidence is strong because the lines are:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

Which is NOT a line of climate evidence?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🌋 There are 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth right now.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

Next: Feedback Loops in the Climate System All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: Today's weather, tomorrow's beach, next century's coastline — all this.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Look at the sky for 5 minutes and try to predict tomorrow's weather.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's the slowest change you can think of?”

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Evidence for a Changing Climate

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