Year 6 - Climate Change
Key Questions
Wouldn’t it be great to have warmer weather?
Key Knowledge
Knowledge – children will know:
Weather reflects short term (minute/hour/day/season etc) conditions while climate is the average daily weather for an extended period time at a certain location.
The changing climate will make our weather more extreme and more unpredictable.
As temperatures rise some regions in our planet will get wetter while other swill get much hotter and dryer.
A changing climate could destroy habitats and endanger (extinction) species reliant on that habitat.
In the UK climate change is likely to result in more rainfall with more intense rainfall and changes to our seasons.
Climate change will effect humans’ quality of life.
Scientists believe there are different reasons for climate change but believe humans actions are contributing to global warming.
Human actions are increasing the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gasses are causing the world to become warmer, known as climate change.
Greenhouse gases are gasses released into the atmosphere which act like an invisible blanket trapping heat from the sun and warming the Earth. This is known as the ‘Greenhouse Effect’.
Humans are releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere because of farming, deforestation and burning fossil fuels.
Burning fossil fuels release a greenhouse gas called carbon dioxide.
Trees, like other green plants, absorb carbon dioxide. Through photosynthesis they convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into sugar, cellulose and other carbon containing carbohydrates that they use for food and growth.
Deforestation increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmposhere.
Cattle release methane gas which is a greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide.
Since the industrial revolution (approximately 150 years ago) humans have been burning a lot of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas to generate energy.