Category Archives: Instructor Notes

Essay Titles

Here’s a list of suggested titles for your final essay. Feel free to propose a title of your own if none of these grab you: Should we trust what a climate model tells us about the future? “The structure of … Continue reading

Posted in Instructor Notes | 1 Comment

Rubric for Briefing Papers

The third assignment for the course is to write a succinct briefing for a (real!) politician on a specific policy issue related to climate change. You’ll need to pick a specific politician (e.g. a city councillor, mayor, MPP, MP, PM, foreign leader, … Continue reading

Posted in Instructor Notes | Comments Off on Rubric for Briefing Papers

How Africa Suffers From Climate Change

Climate Change is a global phenomenon affecting continents all over the world, we hear about how climate is changing and regions in North America and Europe are getting warmer. Africa is also suffering from climate change in a way that is much … Continue reading

Posted in Instructor Notes | 5 Comments

Chasing Ice

Welcome everyone to the fall 2012 class for PMU199 Climate Change:  Software Science and Society. The students taking this year’s course will be blogging here soon. In the meantime, I mentioned in class today an excellent new movie called “Chasing … Continue reading

Posted in Instructor Notes | 1 Comment

Rubric for your class presentations

For the assignment 2 presentations, here’s the rubric I mentioned in class. There are five key elements we’re looking for in grading the presentations: Summary of original article. E.g. Did you give the audience a good sense of what the … Continue reading

Posted in Instructor Notes | Comments Off on Rubric for your class presentations

Now you can add avatars to the blog

I’ve added a new feature to the blog that allows you to upload a photo of yourself (an avatar) that will then appear next to each of your comments. To upload your photo, go to your profile page (by clicking … Continue reading

Posted in Instructor Notes | 2 Comments

The final course assignment

For your final assignment, you are asked to write a 1500 word (approximately!) essay that addresses the question “Do computer models matter in the challenge of tackling climate change?”. You can tackle this question in any of a number of … Continue reading

Posted in Instructor Notes | 2 Comments

Climate Models

This week we’ll be looking at running some experiments with climate models. Before we get started, it’s helpful to understand the different types of models that are created for different purposes. In a paper published last year in Nature, Moss … Continue reading

Posted in Instructor Notes | 1 Comment

Assignment 3

For assignment 3, you are to work in teams of four or five people. You are asked to design a scientific experiment that is relevant to tackling climate change. You won’t be expected to perform the experiment, but you will … Continue reading

Posted in Instructor Notes | Comments Off on Assignment 3

Presentation Schedule

Folks – here’s the schedule for your presentations over the next few weeks: Thursday 10 March 2:10pm Dustin, Jessica — Al Gore’s new thoughts on climate change 2:25pm Lindsay, Mateo — Climate change threatens Europe’s living standards 2:40pm Aron, Kalkidan … Continue reading

Posted in Instructor Notes | Comments Off on Presentation Schedule