Cover lesson · Science · Year 8 · Intermediate

Data visualisation: climate change trends

DCF: Data and computational thinking → Data and information literacy

Name: Class: Date:

Cover teacher — you need no subject knowledge

Print: this sheet, one per pupil, plus one sheet of squared or graph paper each. The dataset is printed on this sheet as Table 1, so no computers are needed. If the room does have computers, the same figures are in global-climate-indicators.csv and pupils may chart them in Excel or Google Sheets instead of on paper.

Run: 5 min read Table 1 and write two things you notice · 8 min fill in the chart plan · 22 min draw the chart · 10 min write the interpretation · 5 min swap sheets and check against the success criteria. Pupils may pick either a line graph or a bar chart, as long as the plan and the chart agree.

Collect: this sheet and the graph paper, stapled together, for the class teacher.

What you are doing

Table 1 holds three real measurements of the Earth's climate, taken every five years from 1990 to 2023. Your job is to turn one of those columns into a properly labelled chart, and then write four sentences saying what the chart shows. A chart with no axis labels, no units and no source is worth nothing, so those are the marks.

Table 1: global climate indicators, 1990–2023

Year	Temperature anomaly (°C above the 1951–1980 average)	Sea level rise (mm, cumulative since 1983)	Carbon dioxide (parts per million)
1990	0.44	22.5	354.45
1995	0.46	38.1	360.97
2000	0.42	54.2	369.71
2005	0.68	70.9	379.98
2010	0.72	88.4	390.10
2015	0.90	105.1	401.01
2020	1.02	120.3	414.21
2023	1.18	131.5	421.08

Sources: temperature — NASA GISS surface temperature analysis; carbon dioxide — NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Mauna Loa annual means; sea level — NASA Sea Level Change portal. Copy the source line onto your chart.

Step by step

5 min — Read Table 1. Write two things you notice in the box below. One of them must use a number from the table.
8 min — Fill in the chart plan. Work out your scale before you draw anything.
22 min — Draw the chart on graph paper. Axes, labels, units, title, source. Plot every one of the eight years.
10 min — Write your interpretation in the lines below: the overall trend, the total change, and the one year that does not fit the pattern.
5 min — Swap with a partner. Could you read their chart without them explaining it? Tick the criteria and write one improvement.

Two things I notice

My chart plan

Which column am I charting?
Line graph or bar chart, and why?
What goes on the horizontal axis (with units)?
What goes on the vertical axis (with units)?
Lowest and highest values I must fit in
One big square will be worth…
My chart title
Source line I will copy on

Sketch your axes here first

Rough them out in this frame, check your scale reaches the highest value, then draw the real thing on graph paper.

My interpretation

Use these four sentence starters, one per line.

"Between 1990 and 2023 the… increased from… to…"
"That is a total change of…"
"The year that does not fit the pattern is… because…"
"This data came from… which means I can/cannot trust it because…"

Success criteria

I chose a chart type that suits data collected over time, and I can say why.
Both my axes are labelled with what they show and the units.
My scale is even and reaches the largest value in the column I chose.
I plotted all eight years accurately and gave the chart a title and a source.
My interpretation quotes real values from the data and names one anomalous year.

If you finish early

Chart a second column on the same axes. What problem do you hit when carbon dioxide (421) and temperature (1.18) share one vertical scale, and how would you solve it?
Work out the change per decade for your column: total change ÷ 33 years × 10. Show your working.
Between 1990 and 2000 the temperature anomaly went down. Write two sentences explaining why one ten-year window is not enough evidence to judge a long-term trend.