StimulatingUnderstanding of Computational science through Collaboration,Exploration, Experiment, and Discovery for students with Hearing Impairments
a collaboration of the Shodor Education Foundation, Inc., Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf, Barton College, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, and Interpreters, Inc.

Activities:

In 2002 an EPA web site suggested a link between rising global temperatures and shrinking ranges for trees in the US. The students start by checking to see if this connection is reasonable. They compare the geographic and temperature range of several maple tree species. The species that grow in a limited temperature range also grow in a narrow north south geographic range. This doesn't prove a relationship but it suggests that more investigation may be appropriate.

The students then use an Excel spreadsheet to identify the hardwood trees that grow in their part of the U.S. Using U.S. Geological Survey and U. S. Department of Agriculture sites the students gather information on their trees to enter into a Stella model. The model calculates how the tree's range will change over the next 100 years. Using this model the students can determine which trees are in danger of becoming extinct.

The students are introduced to the concept of uncertainty. We have varying degrees of certainty about different aspects of global warming. For example scientists can't tell us how much the world will warm up by in the next 100 years. Scientists agree that it will warm by between 2 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the next century. Using this range the students calculate the uncertainty of their findings. They state their predicted range changes with an uncertainty of + ___ miles.

Materials needed:

Computer with internet access or CD with this lesson

Preferred but not required: Stella model downloaded from this lesson. Stella Runtime a free download or Stella Research.

This project is supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Science Foundation.