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Temp Work

How has Earth’s temperature changed over time?

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Temp Work

How has Earth’s temperature changed over time?

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How has Earth’s temperature changed over time? Scientists say there’s a difference between weather and climate. Even if a given month is cooler than average, the long-term trend shows that Earth has gotten warmer over the past century.

In this lesson, students use positive and negative integers to compare recorded monthly temperatures to their long-term averages and consider actions they can take to take care of the planet.

REAL WORLD TAKEAWAYS

  • In recent years, monthly temperatures have been higher than the long-term average.
  • Humans have the power to slow global warming by reducing their CO2 emissions.
  • Five high-impact changes recommended by scientists are: (1) eat a plant-based diet, (2) avoid flying, (3) do not own a personal car, (4) use only renewable energy to fuel your home, (5) have fewer children.

MATH OBJECTIVES

  • Operate with decimals and compare values
  • Use positive and negative numbers to describe how values differ from a baseline in a real-world context
  • Plot positive and negative values on a vertical number line

Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.
Grade 6
Positive & Negative Integers
Grade 6
Positive & Negative Integers
Content Standards 6.NS.5 Understand that positive and negative numbers are used together to describe quantities having opposite directions or values (e.g., temperature above/below zero, elevation above/below sea level, credits/debits, positive/negative electric charge); use positive and negative numbers to represent quantities in real-world contexts, explaining the meaning of 0 in each situation. 6.NS.6 Understand a rational number as a point on the number line. Extend number line diagrams and coordinate axes familiar from previous grades to represent points on the line and in the plane with negative number coordinates. (a) Recognize opposite signs of numbers as indicating locations on opposite sides of 0 on the number line; recognize that the opposite of the opposite of a number is the number itself, e.g., ‐(‐3) = 3, and that 0 is its own opposite. (b) Understand signs of numbers in ordered pairs as indicating locations in quadrants of the coordinate plane; recognize that when two ordered pairs differ only by signs, the locations of the points are related by reflections across one or both axes. (c) Find and position integers and other rational numbers on a horizontal or vertical number line diagram; find and position pairs of integers and other rational numbers on a coordinate plane. 6.NS.8 Solve real-world and mathematical problems by graphing points in all four quadrants of the coordinate plane. Include use of coordinates and absolute value to find distances between points with the same first coordinate or the same second coordinate.
Mathematical Practices MP.3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. MP.4 Model with mathematics.

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