Current Phenomenon
This is the anchoring phenomenon and main lesson question for Lesson 1: communities around the world (such as Isle de Jean Charles, Senegal, and Sierra Leone) are experiencing this problem that forces people to move or protect their homes.
What is sea level rise
An ice sheet covers an area of 1,500 km² and has an average thickness (height) of 0.8 km. What is its volume in km³?
What is 1,200 km³
In Frozen, this is the name of Elsa’s younger sister.
Anna
This is the real name of Spider-Man in the Marvel movies.
Peter Parker
This U.S. president issued the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln
(Double Points)
In Lesson 2, analysis of historical data over the last million years shows that as global temperature increased, this decreased while sea level increased; recent rapid temperature rise is most strongly linked to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide from human activity. What is this affecting?
What is ice volume
Greenland’s ice sheet has an approximate area of 1.7 × 10⁶ km² and an average thickness of 1.5 km. Calculate the volume of the ice.
What is 2.55 × 10⁶ km³
This Disney movie features the song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.”
Encanto
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is the name of Tony Stark’s superhero identity.
Iron Man
(Double Points)
This social media platform is known for its disappearing “Stories” and is owned by Meta.
Lesson 3 investigates how this gas contributes to climate change by trapping heat; students often use bottles with different amounts plus water and measure temperature changes under a light source.
What is carbon dioxide (or CO₂)
A cylindrical container of melted ice water has a volume of 1,256 cm³ and a height of 8 cm.
Using V=πr2hV = \pi r^2 hV=πr2h and π≈3.14\pi \approx 3.14π≈3.14, what is the radius of the base?
7.07 cm? (or approximately 7 cm)
In Moana, this is the name of the demigod who helps Moana restore the heart of Te Fiti.
Maui
This is the name of the green, rage-filled superhero who is also a scientist named Bruce Banner.
The Hulk
This is the smallest country in the world by both area and population.
The Vatican
(Triple Points)
Lesson 4 asks this central question and has students calculate the volume of ice in Greenland and Antarctica, then the potential sea-level rise if that land ice melted into the ocean (while noting why Arctic sea ice is treated differently). What questions are we answering?
What is “What would happen if the Earth’s ice melted?
All the ice on a landmass has a volume of 2.7 × 10⁶ km³. The oceans cover about 3.6 × 10⁸ km². Ignoring density differences, how many meters would sea level rise if all that ice melted?
What is 7.5 m
This Pixar movie is about emotions living inside a girl’s mind, including Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust.
Inside Out
(Double Points)
In Star Wars, this is the name of the small, green Jedi master who trains Luke Skywalker.
Yoda
This is the name of the fictional wizarding sport played on broomsticks in Harry Potter.
Quidditch
In middle school, students usually learn that ice floats in liquid water because of this property: the solid form of water takes up more space than the same mass of liquid water, so it is less dense and displaces its own weight rather than its full volume.
What is density (or ice is less dense than liquid water)
An ice cube that is a perfect cube measures 5 cm on each side.
a) Calculate its volume.
b) When it melts, the water fills a rectangular tray that is 10 cm long and 5 cm wide. What height will the water reach in the tray?
What is a) 125 cm³ and b) 2.5 cm?
a) 125 cm³ and b) 2.5 cm?
Double Points
In The Lion King, this is the name of Simba’s evil uncle.
Scar
This is the name of the masked villain in the original Star Wars trilogy who is later revealed to be Luke’s father.
Darth Vader
In music theory, this note is one half-step higher than a regular note (for example, C becomes this).