Energy and Climate Concepts Assessment

This lesson, part of a unit on Earth's changing climate for sixth-grade students, focuses on exploring energy in Earth's system. It reviews key concepts from the previous lesson, introduces new vocabulary related to energy, and guides students in using a digital model to simulate changes in Earth's climate. Students are encouraged to explore the model to understand the relationship between energy absorption, temperature, and ice melting. The lesson concludes with a discussion of findings and introduces a new key concept: the global average temperature increases when energy absorbed by the surface increases.

What does the term 'energy' refer to in the context of Earth's climate?

• The ability to make things move or change

• The measure of how hot or cold something is

• The layer of gases surrounding the planet

• The process of energy being released into space

Which of the following is a new vocabulary word introduced in the lesson?

• Temperature

• Atmosphere

• Kinetic

• Absorbed

What trend has been observed on Earth since 1880?

• Fluctuating temperatures with no clear trend

• Stable temperatures and ice levels

• Increasing temperatures and decreasing ice

• Decreasing temperatures and increasing ice

What is the purpose of using the digital model (sim) in the lesson?

• To replace real-world experiments

• To visualize historical climate data

• To safely experiment with Earth's climate scenarios

• To predict future climate changes

What do the yellow arrows in the sim represent?

• Ocean currents

• Wind patterns

• Ice movement

• Energy flow from the Sun

How can you observe the movement of energy arrows in the sim?

• By clicking on them while the sim is paused

• By changing the color of the arrows

• By increasing the speed of the sim

• By adjusting the temperature settings

What happens to the Earth's surface in the sim when more energy is absorbed?

• It shows more ice coverage

• It reflects more sunlight

• It becomes darker

• It glows more yellow

What is one way to make ice melt in the sim?

• Decrease the amount of sunlight

• Increase the amount of gases in the atmosphere

• Lower the global average temperature

• Increase the reflectivity

What is the relationship between energy absorption and global average temperature?

• As energy absorption increases, temperature increases

• As energy absorption decreases, temperature increases

• There is no relationship between energy absorption and temperature

• As energy absorption increases, temperature decreases

What will be explored in the next lesson?

• The effect of human activities on climate

• The role of ocean currents in climate change

• The historical climate data since 1880

• The impact of different gases on energy absorption