GLOBAL WARMING

Developing Critical Thinking Workshop

 

STEP 1. Which of the following questions would make for the most valuable student investigations?

1.What should we know about Global Warming ? 2.Which is the greatest problem facing us from Global Warming ? 3.What are the causes of Global Warming ? 4.What can we do about the Global Warming ? 5.What should we do with Global Warming ? 6.Who is most threatened by Global Warming ? 7.What is already being done about Global Warming ? 8.How will Global Warming effect us ?

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Compare and contrast the qualities of the above questions in order to make a wise choice. You will decide what makes for more powerful questions.

Paste the above choices into your word processor and then order them from most to least valuable.
Be thinking about what makes some more valuable than others.

Have a look at what Jamie McKenzie calls "Scaffolding for Success" before moving on to Step 2.

STEP 2. Gathering Information

You now need more background information. Start with the article below. What are the most important issues?

Review the questions and your ranking order.

STEP 3. Developing Powerful Questions

Once you have picked the best question for the Global Warming module, start mapping the related questions that might help you develop good answers.
For an example of mapping the questions click on this globe.

The better your collection, the more likely it is that you will have a successful investigation.

Do you need more information?

• The NY Times -- Global Warming Issue, 1 December 1997 .
• The NY Times -- Resources on Global Warming . A collection of web sites and books related to global warming.
• Douglas V. Hoyt (Sun-Earth Researcher) . A collection of web sites related to global warming.
• The Global Warming Project. A good collection of student activities to research and examine global warming issues.
• Issue Brief on Global Warming An overview of global warming, prepared by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
• Web-based student activities. Designed to help students investigate global warming using web-based resources. 
• Global Warming Central Pace University's source for information on the Global Warming Debate. Lots of good links

There's so much information on the www that students can easily suffer what Jamie McKenzie calls "infoglut"

What should we do?

How can powerful questions and the use of mapping subsidiary questions help students to manage infoglut?
The challenge during the gathering stage is to find some way to organize the findings.

The goal is coherence. We want students to arrange findings in ways that will cast light on the main question. Not all information gathered is relevant!

How would it help to organize the list of Global Warming Web sites by the following categories?