Week 13: Climate in Iowa

  

 Week 13: Climate in Iowa

Learning in Lab:

This week in lab we continued our discussion over climate change and the immediate implications that it will bring within the next decade. We started our section by discussing the pedagogical approach of coupled inquiry and how it benefits student learning. We were presented with data from Iowa statewide testing scores that show the students who used inquiry-based learning performed better than their peers who experienced a traditional style of instruction. Then, we practiced this idea of couple inquiry through investigating how climate change is affecting those right here in Iowa. My group worked with five different articles along with a series of graphs to develop a claim. It was interesting to see how climate change is affecting Americans, the CDC reported that over 600 people died weather related deaths last year. Iowa is also experiencing changes in climate such as a few number of snowy Decembers, higher rates of precipitation, increase in flooding, etc. To combat these issues, Iowa is moving toward wind powered or solar panel energy to reduce the amount of fossil fuels emitted into the atmosphere. Changes in climate does not only affect humans, it also has great implications on the livestock here in Iowa. Changes within the next 16 months are necessary to see a difference in the next 10 years with our climate. 


Climate Change Research

Learning in Lecture:

This week in lecture we talked about the effects of climate change and what contributes to these changes. We started the lecture by looking at a statement put out by a website that there was no global warming for 18 years. We spent time fact checking this source and realizing that 99.9% of scholarly articles prove the effects of climate change to be significant. Then, we looked at what contributes to climate and why some regions are warmer or colder than others. The acronym that helps us remember these factors is L.O.W.E.R. Near Water. L is for latitude, regions closer to the equator will be warmer than the ones that are closer to the North and South pole. O is for ocean currents, the temperature of the ocean current effects the temperature of the air that passes over it. W is for wind and air masses, an air mass is a large volume of air that takes on the climatic conditions of where it is formed. E is for elevation, the higher in altitude a place is, the colder the temperature it will have. R is for relief, this is when precipitation is created when an air mass rises to cross a mountain barrier, an adiabatic process is one in which no heat is gained or lost by the system. 

Climate Change in Iowa

Textbook Connections:

1. What did you learn? 
This weeks pressbook continues the conversation around the climate vs weather topic. Weather is what happens on a day to day basis, and climate is an average of the weather over a 30-year period. This chapter describes the factors that determine whether an area is hot or cold according to L.O.W.E.R (latitude, ocean currents, wind and air masses, elevation, and relief). Climate change is happening right here in Iowa which affects the precipitation levels, temperature, agriculture, and habitats. Due to climate changes, Iowa will experience extreme increase in precipitation which results in more flooding. The opposite of this however is more periods of drought as well. One section I found interesting was the results from the 2008 flood. I was too young to remember when this happened, but it was shocking to see the impact that this flood had on our University. Climate change will also negatively affect agriculture. Drought will impact crop production along with extreme precipitation that leads to the flooding of crops. This happened throughout Iowa this past summer with several consecutive days of rain, which flooded many fields throughout Iowa. Habitats, just as those of the Goldfinch that we studied in class, may be affected due to a mismatch in their feeding cycle. Ways that we can help reduce the impacts of climate change can be tracking our carbon footprint, educate ourselves about these issues, and talk to politicians on why we need action. 

2. What was most helpful?
I thought the pictures from the University of Iowa during the 2008 floods were helpful to wrap my mind around the extreme weather conditions. Viewing the direct impacts that relate to the city and state that I live in helped me conceptualize the urgency for change. 

3. What do you need more information on?
I would like more information on the L.O.W.E.R factors that determine whether an area is hot or cold. These factors were a little confusing to me when I initially read them. 

4. What questions, concerns, or comments to do you have? 
One question I have is, does the El Nino and La Nina have anything to do with the changes in weather over the years? 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 10- Rock Cycle

Image
      Week 10: Rock Cycle Learning in Lab : This week in lab we looked closer at what constitutes as a rock and how the three different rock types are created. We started with a formative assessment where we were given a list of items and had to determine if they were considered a rock, and why we thought that. After completing the assessment, we learned that a rock is naturally made, therefore items like a gravestone or marble statue are not considered rocks since they were make by humans. Limestone, cooled lava, and sediments are considered rocks because they are made through natural processes. We then experimented with the rock cycle by creating the three different types of rock, sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Sedimentary is when materials are cemented and tightly packed together. We created this by cheese grating three different colors of starburst, then compacting them together into a little ball to represent the small minerals combined together. For our igne...
Read more

Week 6: Intro to Earth Science

Image
    Week 6: Intro to Earth Science Initial Thoughts : 1. How do the phases of the moon occur? I think that the phases of the moon occur because the Earth is orbiting the sun constantly, as the Earth orbits it block part of the sun from shining on the moon. When the Earth covers more of the sun, then there is a smaller part of the moon showing at night, but when the Earth covers less of the sun or none at all, it is a full moon.  2. What causes the seasons? The sun is closer to either the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere. In the summer we are closer to the sun in the Northern Hemisphere so it is hotter, whereas in the winter we are further away from the sun so the weather is colder.  3. what causes a lunar eclipse?  I think a lunar eclipse is when the moon goes in front of the sun? Learning in Lab : This week during lab we did hands on discovery over each of these questions. We used a lightbulb, and two balls to see what position the Earth and moon ...
Read more

Week 8: Timeline of our Universe

Image
    Week 8: Timeline of Our Universe Learning in Lab : This week during lab we listened to six different presentations that cover the timeline of our universe. We started with the origin of the universe, which was my presentation, and we described that our universe was created at one single point called the Big Bang. During the Big Bang, Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation was left behind and protons and electrons combined to from hydrogen atoms. We understand today that space is continuously expanding. Then, we learned about the lifecycle of stars as they go from a nebula to a protostar, to the main sequence and transition into either a high mass or low mass star. Our sun is considered a low mass star. The more mass something has, the greater gravitational pull they have. Then, we learned about galaxies and how there are billions of galaxies out in space. Galaxies have several different shapes such as spiral, elliptical, and irregular. Our galaxy is spiral and our sun is pl...
Read more