Hleping Students Understand Global Climate Change

The word GEM stands for generate, evaluate, and modify. Add technology to this and you have T-GEM. This article describes in detail the three phases of GEM and incorporates an online conce... See More

The word GEM stands for generate, evaluate, and modify. Add technology to this and you have T-GEM. This article describes in detail the three phases of GEM and incorporates an online concept mapping tool to present information related to global climate change. Readers are also introduced to NetLogo which contains three tabs: “Interface,” “Information,” and “Procedures” related to environmental modeling. With these tools students can explore global climate change.

utilizing technology to correct thinking

Based on GEM (generate, evaluate, modify), this article addresses how the addition of technology applications such as mapping tools and modeling software can expose and correct misconception... See More

Based on GEM (generate, evaluate, modify), this article addresses how the addition of technology applications such as mapping tools and modeling software can expose and correct misconceptions related to climate change. The author introduces two free online tools, Cmap and NetLogo, that can prove very useful to getting students to expose and confront their thinking. NetLogo allows students to manipulate variables such as clouds and carbon dioxide to see how Earth’s temperatures are affected, while Cmap possesses features that allow students to build collaborative maps and assess their maps. Students will enjoy the interactivity of both of these sites and will no doubt utilize them for additional projects.You may have to get your district to unblock these sites; I found that when I tried to access the Cmap site that it was blocked.