Climate Changes: Fact or Fake? Low-Cost Hands-On Experiments to Verify It

Abstract

Climate changes (CC) remain a polemic topic, often causing conflicts. Scientific data indicate that the average planet temperature is rising mainly for anthropogenic actions, but this understanding must be widespread to influence the public opinion on attitudes and policymaking. Since our brains did not evolve to respond to slow/complex threats, as CC, we designed rapid, simple, interactive, hands-on educative activities. Inexpensive/reused material was employed to demonstrate the atmospheric alterations effects on global warming. We used plastic cake boxes with analogical thermometers or digital thermohygrometers and CO2 release by effervescent tablets to mimic the greenhouse effect. The system demonstrates the influence of CO2, water vapor, smoke, weather, etc. on the air temperature and humidity. CO2 enhanced temperatures within the boxes, by up to 6°C. Interestingly, in the presence of vegetation, increased temperatures were associated with decreased air humidity and simultaneous water condensation on the box cover, apparently indicating increased evaporation and water drop formation. Educators of different disciplines (Earth Science, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Environmental Education, Ecology, etc.) and students can perform simple, transdisciplinary, hands-on activities within 50 min, evaluating different factors on the air temperature, and promoting transdisciplinary discussions during classes. In addition, the public can rapidly grasp CC principles in science fairs, promoting science literacy.