Climate change is a gradual process. If you simply measure air temperature, atmospheric carbon dioxide or sea-ice thickness in any given year, you won’t be able to see the full picture of how the planet’s weather patterns are changing. That’s why graphs showing change over time can be such a powerful teaching resource to help students better understand climate trends.

In this teaching resource, we have gathered 24 graphs previously published elsewhere in The New York Times that relate to climate change. In the first section, we discuss teaching strategies for using these graphs in the classroom. In the second section, we present a collection of graphs organized by topic: melting ice, rising seas, changing ocean temperature, changing air temperature, rising carbon emissions, impacts on humans, intensifying storms and contradicting attitudes.

_________

Part I: Strategies for Teaching With Graphs

Each week in “What’s Going On in This Graph?,” we spotlight an engaging graph previously published elsewhere in The Times and pair it with a simple set of questions: What do you notice? What do you wonder? What do you think is going on in this graph? On Wednesdays, teachers from the American Statistical Association provide live facilitation in our comments section to respond to students as they post analyses and consider what story the graph is telling. Then, at the end of the week, we add an end-of-activity “reveal” that shares the original article containing the graph, highlights from the moderation, related statistical concepts and helpful vocabulary.

The philosophy behind our approach is to let students begin analyzing graphs with the skills they will most naturally and successfully use — simple noticing and wondering. From there, students can simultaneously build confidence and acquire new conceptual understanding. Over time, as their critical thinking skills develop and their vocabulary grows, students’ analyses become more sophisticated.