On Thursday and Friday we will be hearing about classroom approaches. In addition to the examples we'll see from our presenters, we'd like to know what has worked for you. Do you have a favorite lab activity, method or project that has proven to be effective for teaching about climate?

This is a great way to share knowledge among the group, so please chime in!

For my lectures, aside from the lecture slides and animations from the internet, I rely heavily on the use of the personal response system, in my case, iClicker. With all the distractions at the students' fingertips today, I have found that the only way to keep them focused on my screen, is by constantly asking for feedback from them. No more than a slide or two, before I ask a question. Also, no, I don't just lecture - after speaking about a topic, I break them up into groups and have them work on questions I provide. It's hard to pick a favorite lab activity, but I will mention a lab activity based upon a CD-ROM I managed to develop in the 1990's. It uses data from the Arctic region and asks students to examine the data changes over time. You can see the lab activity online here - http://physics.gmu.edu/~hgeller/EnergyAndTheEnvironment/Lab10ArcticObservator...

I like to take Harold method and flip it! I start with a lab or activity to give students a frame of reference for classroom discussions that occur AFTER completing the lab. This has work very well in my physics classes.

One of my favorites stems from the idea that climatologists have been heavily criticized for their ability to communicate the science to the general public. So, in class I allow them to debate a topic that we have learned about in groups. They use their notes, text, some literature sources that I give them (and those they find on their own) and I suppose some other sources, too. The students seem to have a really good time with it, including the obvious frustrations of conveying a complicated point with inherent uncertainty/ unknowns. They seem to also take away some of my points about the complexity of different issues. One recent debate was on whether society should be concerned about global warming impacts on hurricanes.