Task
YOU BE THE SCIENTIST!
Everyone is concerned about the affects of global warming, but especially scientists. As a concerned scientist, you will explore some websites to learn about:
1. global warming
2. locations of one of six land biomes on Earth
3. rainfall, temperature and any interesting or unique features/facts about a specific biome
4. plants common to specific biomes
5. animals common to specific biomes
6. possible changes to a specific biome that could result from global warming
You will design and create a total of seven PowerPoint slides including a title slide and one slide each on the six topics above. Then you will meet in a group of six scientists to share slides and discuss which biome is likely to be most affected by global warming. Your team of scientists must reach a consensus of opinion (you have to compromise until you can all agree). You will be given and a Think Sheet (click to see a copy of the Think Sheet) and a rubric (see Evaluation section) to help you.
Then your team will also compile the five characteristics of biomes that each scientist has found (from topics 2-6 above) in a database using Excel. PowerPoint presentations and the database will be shared with the whole scientific community (your class). Following the presentations, teams will participate in two debates: one in which they defend their team position about which biome is likely to be most affected by global warming and a second debate opposing another team's position.