Topic: Greenhouse effect

Target group

Second‑grade student of secondary school (basic programme)

Core curriculum

General requirements

I. Geographical knowledge.

6. Understanding the principles of rational management of natural resources and preservation of cultural heritage.

Specific requirements

XIII. Man and the geographical environment – conflicts of interest: the impact of human activity on the atmosphere on the example of smog, hydrological investments on the geographical environment, agriculture, mining and tourism on the geographical environment, transport to living conditions and degradation of the natural environment, urban and rural development on the cultural landscape , man's conflict of interest – environment, processes of revitalization and pro‑ecological activities.

Student:

10) assumes an attitude of co‑responsibility for the state of the Earth's natural environment.

General aim of education

You will learn what the greenhouse effect is.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• give examples of greenhouse gases;

• explain the mechanism of the greenhouse effect;

• discuss the correlation between the increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the increase in the air temperature on Earth.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • lecture.

• activating

  • discussion.

• exposing

  • exposition.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

• The teacher writes the topic of the lesson on the blackboard or interactive whiteboard. Students write it in notebooks..

Realization

• Teacher discusses the phenomenon of the greenhouse effect and exchanges gases contributing to the accumulation of thermal energy in the atmosphere.

• Students discussing on the class forum try to decide whether the greenhouse effect is a favorable or unfavorable phenomenon. Each student can present their own position and give arguments to support it, and the other students will respond to the given argument.

• The teacher explains to students the reason for the increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and gives the relationship between the origin of individual gases and human activity (industry, agriculture).

• Students use the interactive board to organize their knowledge.

• The students consolidate the acquired information, discussing it with their nearest neighbors („tell your neighbor” method).

Summary

• The teacher displays the criteria for success and asks the students to assess their skills acquired during the classes.

• The teacher asks students to carry out the recommended interactive exercise themselves.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Greenhouse effect

Calculations suggest that if the air temperature on Earth depended only on the dose of solar radiation, the average temperature would be about 33°C lower than it is today. This is not the case thanks to the composition of the atmosphere and the properties of some of the gases that make it up: water vapour, carbon dioxide (${\text{CO}}_{\text{2}}$), alsow methane (${\text{CH}}_{\text{4}}$), nitrogen oxide (${\text{N}}_{\text{2}}\text{O}$), freons (CFC) and others. We call them greenhouse gases, and the phenomenon where they block the re‑emission of energy that comes from the Sun and is reflected by the Earth – the greenhouse effect. This is a completely natural phenomenon.

The short‑wave radiation emitted by the Sun passes through the atmosphere unobstructed, heating the Earth’s surface. However, even a strongly heated surface is much cooler than the Sun, so it emits radiation with a significantly longer wavelength. Greenhouse gases do not let this radiation through, so thermal energy accumulates in the atmosphere, increasing its temperature.
Results of studies on the composition of the atmosphere show that, over the last several decades, concentrations of ${\text{CO}}_{\text{2}}$, ${\text{CH}}_{\text{4}}$, ${\text{N}}_{\text{2}}\text{O}$ and freons have increased significantly.

The main source of anthropogenic carbon dioxide is the burning of fossil fuels in power plants, production processes, by means of transport, and when heating houses. Methane comes mainly from agriculture – it is a product of the process of digestion of cellulose by animals. Much of it is formed by decomposing organic matter, for example, in rice fields or landfills. The fuel industry also contributes its share. Nitrogen compounds enter the soil as fertilizers and, from there, enter the atmosphere when they are unused by vegetation. Their another source is animal excrement.

• Greenhouse effect is a completely natural phenomenon.