From Isotopes to Temperature: Working With A Temperature Equation

Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

• Teaching Tips
  Instructor version is available by request to the author (a link is provided). PowerPoint and associated files are available for download from the activity sheet. Even though these PowerPoint slides are very dense, they are given as a .ppt file and could be broken up and modified easily.
• About the Science
  This activity is designed to improve students' quantitative skills. Activity relies heavily on Excel use, and students need to very comfortable with formulas in Excel to follow the activity. Modeling aspect of this activity may be engaging for some students.
• About the Pedagogy
  The dataset and conversion equation used in this module were contrived though are based on actual datasets and conversion equations used for corals. The spreadsheet is based on the PDB standard and the equation given in the presentation uses SMOW standard. Instructors need to clarify the difference between the standards. Comments from expert scientist: The resource is very sound, and despite being fairly fundamental in paleoclimatology it often can confuse students. However, here it is clearly presented and explained, with relevant background and application information.
• Technical Details/Ease of Use
  Forming groups of students (especially pairing students of different level of experiences in Excel) will enhance the effectiveness of the activity. Strong guidance of students is required in order to ensure they don't simply follow the instructions but understand the relevance in terms of paleoclimatology. Include a final discussion on the relevance of what students learned on their understanding of global temperatures.