1. Learn to access and analyze carbon dioxide data sets on carbon dioxide, and connect the data with their own lives;
2. Learn and work with key chemical concepts of chemistry including molecules, combustion, energy, and issues of inter-generational climate justice.
3. Use knowledge of chemistry concepts to discuss and reflect on carbon dioxide levels with fellow students and others (civic engagement);
4, Identify and discuss ways that people and communities experiencing climate injustices can address the challenges they are facing
5. Reflect and practice science communication and build science literacy skills through a civic engagement assignment.
6. Recognize how carbon dioxide produced by combustion creates climate and intergenerational injustices.

I designed this activity for use in any science or to be modified for a non-STEM course. I assign this as a discussion assignment it in my first-quarter college level General or Introductory Chemistry course, and have taught it multiple times in my 26-student community college chemistry courses. I usually introduce this activity during Week 7 of my introductory chemistry course, and during week 2 of my general chemistry course, to coincide with students' learning the Gas Laws chapter in their chemistry text.

Timing can also depend on which key science concepts you want to use as you introduce/integrate climate justice and civic engagement elements into your course. For instance, this activity could be included during week one when students are typically learning types of matter (coal is solid, gasoline or oil are liquids, and carbon dioxide is a gas), or later in the quarter when learning to draw Lewis structures, the shapes, and polarity of molecules (carbon dioxide is linear and contains polar bonds, while other greenhouse gases like methane are tetrahedral with non-polar bonds), or when learning types of reactions (carbon dioxide is a product of oil, methane, coal, or wood combustion reactions and these are also all redox reactions).

The activity takes place in a discussion post, or during one 50-minute lecture period in a live class, with a civic engagement component completed as homework or integrated into a discussion post, due a week later. Associated discussion and homework can be completed in-class or online, depending on the course modality. Following completion of the lecture and in-class discussion portions, students have a week to complete the discussion post, the civic engagement assignment, and reflection.

The activity engages students with the two introductory videos, readings, and a class discussion. As an online discussion post, students read and watch the assigned paper(s) and videos and answer discussion post-prompts, which are all included as links and prompts within the discussion-post directions. If this activity takes place in a live classroom, videos can be shown in class, and readings can be assigned as pre-work. Students also complete a civic engagement assignment, where they choose to complete one of the following:

• CO₂ Birthday: Look up the CO₂ birthday of someone they know who is 10 years younger or older than them and they practice science communication with this person;
• My Life In CO₂: Create and publish social media post, or as a graphic comic, or writing assignment of their "Life in CO₂", that includes a bulleted list of the CO₂ level in the year corresponding to interesting moments in their lives (for example, their birthday, their first pet, the year they moved to current city or country, when they started kindergarten/high school/college, graduated, etc...). Practice science communication online or in person with someone in your home or community.
• CO₂ Through History: Create and publish social media post, or as a graphic comic, or writing assignment, that connects CO₂ levels with significant historic events. Practice science communication online or in person with someone in your home or community.

Following interactions and conversations with their community, the students reflect on their community discussions in a written self-reflection that is due as part of the online discussion, or if meeting in person, in a written assignment due a week later. No special equipment is needed for this activity.

About one hour of class time is needed to implement this activity with a class of about 26 students, or one week if completing as an asynchronous online discussion post.

Example Asynchronous Discussion

Discussion Title: Gases - Let's Explore Fossil Fueled Climate Change and your CO₂ Birthday

We've been studying gases this week and will continue with this theme by taking a closer look at greenhouse gases, and the health impacts and solutions for addressing fossil fueled climate change. Watch the short videos posted below and respond to the questions in your first post. Be sure to respond to at least one of your peers in a second post.

Video 1 (16 min) : Fossil Fueled Climate Change and Community Health (16 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D_Np-3dVBQ

Video 2 (9 min): PBS Global Weirding episode: Is Carbon Dioxide Really a Pollutant?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfq72W3RP_

Video 3 (1 min): Learn how to make a box fan filter to protect from COVID-19 and PM2.5 smoke particles when fires are blowing smoke into our region. Discuss how filters remove particles, but not small molecules like CO₂.

https://youtu.be/3vzKQ8i7o60

https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/09/15/video-how-to-make-your-own-home-air-purifier/

Respond to these questions in your first post:

a. A box fan filter does a great job of removing particulate pollution, like smoke particles, and aerosols that carry COVID-19 and other air-borne respiratory diseases. Does the box fan also remove CO₂ molecules? Why or why not?

b. What are your favorite solutions to addressing and stopping the CO₂ emissions that are causing fossil fueled climate change? Now imagine your proposed solutions have been implemented: can you describe one positive outcome that you envision for the world or your own community, that will result from reducing CO₂ emissions and addressing the climate crisis? (For example: As transportation transitions to all-electric and there are no tailpipe CO₂ emissions and air quality improves, who benefits and what will the world smell like and/or what kinds of human health outcomes do you envision?)

c. Science communication is an important skill for budding scientists and future healthcare workers like you. Choose one of the following community engagements to practice your science communication skills. Remember your goal in these conversations is not to change anyone's mind. It's just to connect with your community and talk about the rise of CO₂ in your lives and the interconnections with climate and climate justice. Complete one of the following:

• CO₂ Birthday: Look up four data points: (1) your CO₂ date of birth; (2) CO₂ when you were 15 years old; and (3) and these same two data points for a family or friend who is at least 10 years younger or older than you,at https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/data.html. Discuss the difference in CO₂ with your friend or family member. Who has the bigger change in CO₂ from birth to 15 years old?  Were they surprised by the difference? 
• My Life in CO₂: Create and publish a social media post, graphic comic strip, or essay of "My Life in CO₂" that includes a list of interesting points in your life. Have an online or in person discussion with someone about your post and the changes in CO₂. Some ideas include listing the CO₂ levels for your birthday, when you started school, when you started college, when you moved to your current city or country, when you became a citizen, when you got your first pet, when your child(ren) were born, etc...) Look up the CO₂ levels for various years here: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/data.html.
• CO₂ Through Human History: Create and publish a social media post, graphic comic strip, or essay that connects CO₂ levels with significant historic events.  Have an online or in person discussion with someone about your post and the changes in CO₂. Some ideas include listing the CO₂ levels throughout human history, such as when the pyramids or other famous architectural feats were built, Gettysburg address (1863), Juneteenth 1865,  Dr. MLK Jr's I Have a Dream speech (1963), women allowed to run the Boston Marathon (1972), Mt. St. Helens eruption (1980), fall of the Berlin Wall (1989), 9/11 (2001), Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Spill Disaster (2010), COVID-19 pandemic (2020). Make sure to also include your own CO₂ birthday and the CO₂ level measured today.  Look up the CO₂ levels for various years here: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/data.html.

Remember to comment on a fellow student's post to receive full credit for this discussion.

Example In-Person or Synchronous Online Class Discussion: 

The following PowerPoint file can be used or modified for facilitating this activity for teaching in-person or in a synchronous online classroom. The slides include links to the videos, an introduction to carbon dioxide, CO₂ ice core and Mauna Loa Observatory data, description of the CO₂ Birthday activity, discussion prompts, and civic engagement ideas.

PowerPoint slides detailing an introduction to carbon dioxide data and the CO2 Birthday activity and Discussion. (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 15.6MB May18 23)

Instructor Class Preparation: I check documentary links, and if teaching a synchronous class online, I create a Jamboard and/or multiple-choice polling questions, create a slide deck and/or handouts with directions for finding and analyzing CO₂ data, and create the out-of-class assignment for students to reflect on their science communication and civic engagement assignment.

This work is supported by the C-JUSTICE grant NSF 2043535

Teaching tips and notes for this lesson is still a work in progress. I have taught this lesson multiple times since 2021 in my synchronous and online introductory chemistry courses and I have not received any questions or faced any challenges in explaining the content to students.

When I teach it in a face-to-face class, this activity can be done in one 50-minute class period. I show the videos in class, and I assign the students to complete the readings outside of class. When assigning readings, I ask students to come to class with a 2-3 sentence summary of what they read. This way, students have time to process the information before the in class discussion takes place. Videos can also be assigned to be watched before class. As with the readings, I recommend assigning students to write a summary of what they've watched to bring to class on discussion day. Students will need to use a computer in class to look up their CO₂ birthday from the data link provided, or you can provide the CO₂ data for them. I recommend providing them with the link, as data retrieval and analysis is a valuable skill for students to gain.

Student feedback from this activity has been entirely positive and generated enthusiastic discussion and comments between students and in their faculty evaluations of my class. Some students were surprised that carbon dioxide levels are so different between themselves and the person they compare with. And many didn't know that filters cannot remove carbon dioxide. Most of my introductory chemistry students are allied health majors preparing to enter nursing school programs, and many expressed gratitude in their anonymous written evaluations for learning chemistry in a way that connects their chemistry learning with climate change science and inter-generational climate justice.

1. Learn to access and analyze carbon dioxide data sets on carbon dioxide, and connect the data with their own lives.

To assess students ability to find data, I do a formative assessment during class, walking around to check and help as students look up their CO₂ birthday from the provided data set. If done online asynchronously, I will check that they have looked up a reasonable CO₂ level for their and their partner's CO₂ birthdays.

2. Gain knowledge of key chemical concepts of chemistry including molecules, combustion, energy and issues of inter-generational climate justice.

To assess student's knowledge of key chemical concepts of chemistry including molecules, compounds, drawing Lewis structures, balancing equations, redox, and shapes of molecules, and connect these to local and global issues related to climate and inter generational climate justice, I conduct a summative assessments. This includes adding questions related to what they've learned into graded activity sheets, quizzes, and exams. These include a mix of calculations and conceptual questions.

3. Use knowledge of chemistry concepts to discuss and reflect on their and their partner's CO₂ Birthday and related it to inter generational climate justice with others (civic engagement).

I also conduct formative assessment of chemistry concepts and their reflections on the intergenerational climate justice connections of what they are learning. Often, I ask students to students to share their understandings and reflections with a student sitting next to them and then report back to the larger group. When my class is online, the reflection is moved to an online discussion forum where students discuss what they have learned and comment on another students' post as well. These concepts are then repeated in summative assessments, such as in quizzes and exam-essay questions, which I grade for understanding of combustion chemistry and its scientific and social connection to the climate.

4. Identify and discuss ways that people and communities experiencing climate and health injustices can address the challenges they are facing.

As in 3 above, formative assessment is done through listening to students during class discussion. For the summative assessment I grade students' class activity sheets, quizzes or exams which test for students' understanding of the ways people and communities experiencing climate injustice can address the challenges they face.

5. Reflect and practice science communication and build science literacy skills through a civic engagement assignment.

To assess this, I observe student learning and understanding as they take part in online discussions and/or in class conversations using an informal formative assessment.

6. Recognize how Carbon Dioxide produced by combustion creates climate & intergenerational injustices.

I do an informal formative assessment of students' understanding through observing their discussions of the videos and readings.

This work is supported in part by NSF-IUSE grant (DUE 2043535).

List of suggested data set and videos to assign or show in class:

CO₂ Data Set at NOAA Global Monitoring Network:

https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/data.html.

Videos:

Video 1 (16 min) : Fossil Fueled Climate Change and Community Health (16 min): This video describes intergenerational climate justice and the impacts of rising carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, on human health and climate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D_Np-3dVBQ

Video 2 (9 min): PBS Global Weirding episode: Is Carbon Dioxide Really a Pollutant?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfq72W3RP_

Video 3 (1 min): Learn how to make a box fan filter to protect from COVID-19 and PM2.5 smoke particles when fires are blowing smoke into our region. Discuss how filters remove particles, but not small molecules like CO₂.

https://youtu.be/3vzKQ8i7o60

https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/09/15/video-how-to-make-your-own-home-air-purifier/

Other supporting resources:

Graphic comic timeline of climate change by xkcd